The wheels currently used in the motorcycle industry are basically of two types:
The Alloy Wheel
in which the outer rim and the central hub are connected by rigid spokes.
The Wire Wheel
in which the outer rim is connected to the central hub by a tensile structure composed of wire spokes..
Although both typologies have advantages and disadvantages, beyond the subjective aesthetic preferences the characteristics of the wire wheel often make it preferable in motorcycles than in the spokes one, and therefore more widespread.
In fact, the spoke wheel is lighter and requires practically no maintenance, but the rigidity of the structure makes it less suitable for less regular road surfaces such as dirt roads or off-road vehicles, but also for more demanding ordinary roads.
The wire spokes constitute a tensile structure, that is enough rigid but capable of absorbing the mechanical stresses caused by the roughness of the road surface. The alloy spokes the spokes can break following an impact with an obstacle.
In case of breaking of an alloy wheel, it becomes dangerous and unusable. A wire wheel is able to continue even in the presence of some broken spokes. These can be easily replaced, while the alloy wheel must be replaced in full.
The spoked wheel therefore remains the most used in those contexts that can contemplate irregular or mixed routes, such as motocross, enduro, motard, but also tourism if the biker does not want to preclude the possibility of dealing with off-road routes.
Wire wheel and tubeless tire
On the other hand the wire wheel is usually not compatible with the tubeless tire, because without the inner tube the air escapes from the spoke holes. With our exclusive BARTubeless system it is instead possible to combine these two technologies, obtaining the best from both: the tubeless wire wheel.
