Advice: Spoked wheels vs alloy wheels

Up until around the late 1960s, every motorcycle featured wire-spoked wheels, but it wasn’t long before one-piece cast alloys rose to popularity.

From the ‘70s onwards, this new design became the standard for road-going motorcycles, offering higher performance and a more consistent ride.

However, spoked wheels are still commonplace in the motorcycling world, as they offer a level of versatility and reliability that one-piece alloy hoops simply can’t match.

So which design is better? That all depends on the type of motorcycling you want to do.

When it comes to off-road motorcycles, like motocross, enduro and adventure bikes, spoked wheels are superior as they can bend and flex, allowing them to absorb impacts on rough terrain.

On the other hand, the rigid nature of alloy wheels allows them to manage higher amounts of power, and tend to be smoother and more predictable in fast corners.

Generally speaking, alloy wheels are cheaper to manufacture, partly because they don’t require human hands to assemble. Spoked wheels, however, can usually be repaired simply by replacing an individual spoke.

An alloy cannot be repaired so easily, and a damaged wheel often needs to be replaced entirely.

It’s also worth noting that spoked wheels generally use inner tubes, whereas alloys are tubeless. This isn't always the case; it is possible to have spoked wheels with tubeless systems, while mousse tubes (which are solid, rather than filled with air) are also popular with off-road riders.

Replacing a tube can be finicky and time consuming, particularly when you’re out on the trail, while a flat tyre on a tubeless setup can usually be plugged and reinflated quickly.

Riders are often attracted to wire-spoked wheels for the old-school aesthetic, and they can be found on modern retro bikes like the BMW R Nine T and Triumph Bonneville range, even though they are not designed to go off-road.

This article was originally published on January 15, 2020.