[UT]: Traditional Wheel or Alloy Wheel

[jasmeetsinghchawla]

Alloy wheels are:

1. Typically lighter than steel wheels.
2. Stronger than steel wheels.
3. They improve maneuverability and braking feel/response because of their lower unsprung weight.
4. They dissipate heat faster than steel wheels.
5. More attractive.
6. Allow the use of tubeless tyres on motorcycles without altering rim design (holes for spokes need not be offset).

Steel wheels are:
1. Cheaper

2. More resilient to damage

In two wheelers the alloy wheels are heavier than the spoke wheels

[mithun]

In two wheelers the alloy wheels are heavier than the spoke wheels

Why ? What's the reason ? Would you please explain ?

[VivekGK]

Why ? What's the reason ? Would you please explain ?

Basically, it's because for spoke wheels, there's just the disc + steel spokes. Nothing really solid. In the case of alloys, they have to be built strong, because there are fewer spokes - three, five or six at most. You'll notice that most alloys with more spokes have thinner spokes.

In the case of cars, they use disc wheels, which are pressed from high guage steel and thus heavier. Alloy is always lighter than steel.

[moeed]

^^ Thanks for the info.

[whizzkid_ram]

it is not spoke wheel it is a alloy.....

but a spoke like alloy design..

Is that alloy???

[vipin_s]

Whatever the advantages we see on web w.r.t 'alloys' are related to costly alloy wheels of cars and high performance bikes, these alloys are light weight and high performance friendly, their material properties are 'doctored' to perform better, manufacturing methods are also kind of high tech and proprietory.

Comparing those alloys with alloys on splendor/pulsar is no good, these 'alloys' are actually are called cast alloy wheels far far cheaper than actual alloys we normally talk about (or compare with)

[mithun]

Whatever the advantages we see on web w.r.t 'alloys' are related to costly alloy wheels of cars and high performance bikes, these alloys are light weight and high performance friendly, their material properties are 'doctored' to perform better, manufacturing methods are also kind of high tech and proprietory.

Comparing those alloys with alloys on splendor/pulsar is no good, these 'alloys' are actually are called cast alloy wheels far far cheaper than actual alloys we normally talk about (or compare with)

Are you saying that say if you compare the stock spoke & alloys of the same bike(say a Pulsar 150), are you saying that the spoke will weigh less when compared to the low-cost alloys ?

[viv.nomad]

another spoke wheel beauty

[shrinathrao]

what is the best wheel

Hello Friends,

Just a question came up in my head, thats regarding the best wheel

We all saw many revolutions in the indian 2 wheeler industry in the last 10 years right from a 100 cc single cylinder bike to 225 cc single cylinder bikes like karizma, the liquid cooled R15 to the powerful twin cylinder ninja , these all were the engines which changed the 2 wheeler industry.

If engines are primary factors then even wheels are also important.

Now my question here is we also saw changes from the traditional spoke based rims to alloy based wheels, which changed the two wheel industry in india, but whats the difference this both have among each other.

Some say the spoke wheels are not designed for powerful bikes but then CBZ classic and the first generation of pulsars are a live example where the spoky wheels showed their performance.

Today we see every 5bikes out of the 10 bikes on the road have alloy wheels.

People have many misconceptions about the spoke and alloy wheels thinking that the latter is stable and better than the former.

The later performs good on high speeds than the former but again if you see the likes of Harley which are legends they still use spooke based wheels in may of its models.

Many people i have seen upgrade their old spoky traditional wheels to alloy wheels and they say it looks good and other things like it sticks to the road and grip is better than the spoke based ones.

I am not able to understand how much practical are this alloy wheels as compared to the old traditional spoke wheels.

[Sunny]

Thread Merged

[krimurali]

Wheel with many spokes for Thunderbird

I have recently purchased a second hand Thunderbird and going in for some modifications. See my other thread. Now in this forum I would like to ask whether I can go for the wheels as shown below to give a retro and more classic look.





Please also advice where i can get these "wheels with many spokes" in Chennai. Thanks for your advice.

Regards
Murali

[Satyamzma]

Re: Wheel with many spokes for Thunderbird

both have their own advantages but i think Bikes like RE should continue with Spokes... They are light weight & look good..