Have you ever seen Motard style bikes with alloy wheels ?
These bikes are designed to be ridden hard on race tracks that have a mix of bitumen ( road surface ) and dirt, with berms and jumps.
Alloy rims are not as strong as spoked rims and spoked rims are generally lighter. They are also easier to repair, you can get most dings out by mounting the rim in a vice, using a dial guage to check alignment, then rotating the wheel and tightening various spokes until the rim pulls straight and true.
If your riding on the street and want to jump up kerbs, pop wheelies or ride off road tracks then stick to spoked rims.
If you only ride on the street and only consider the look of your bike then Alloy rims will be ok.
Matt..
The only motard style motorcycle I know off which has alloy wheels is the Sachs X-Road 250.
For your Kawasaki D-Tracker 125 you probably better of buying some aluminum or even carbon fiber rims and let a shop re-spoke your wheels with lightweight spokes.
But if I had a Kawasaki D-Tracker 125 I would probably first concentrate all modifications efforts on increasing performance from the engine. In stock configuration I think the performance specs are less than a standard Honda Wave 125i...
its a bike of my friend, and she recently hit one of those franking concrete block that dividing road from jungles, so rim and frame is bent a lot, so while repairing i still look for things to modify to improve rigidness and look mostly as she is learner. so alloy wheels would be for safety reasons as i know she'll never check spoke tightness and i don't want to repair rim every time she fall.
Magnesium in combination with aluminum are the main ingredients for alloy wheels, magnesium is very subject to fatigue and will lead to serious cracking if not replaced in time. Generally it's accepted that magnesium road-racing wheels are to be replaced at least every season! Too much disadvantages in my opinion to use this material for Supermoto wheels were cornering can exceed forces normally encountered on the fastest race motorcycles.
Any supermoto with alloy wheels should be classified as a joke.
Normal Topic
Locked Topic
Sticky Topic
New Post
Sticky Topic w/ New Post
Locked Topic w/ New Post
Sunday 04-Jun
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Autho... (0)
- The Affordable Road Legal Ducati V4 Desmosedici... (0)
Thursday 01-Jun
Thursday 25-May
- Thai Made Honda Rebel 500 Officially Launched i... (0)
- The Suzuki GD110HU - Fuel Efficient Urban Commuter (0)
Wednesday 24-May
Tuesday 23-May
Sunday 21-May
Saturday 20-May
Friday 19-May
Permanent Import of Motorcycle
Temporary Import of Motorcycle
Free Classified Ads
Motorcycle Prices
has anyone ever wondered? where to get decent alloy wheels to fit our small dtrackers?
(c'mon its a road bike why to leave spokes??? hey kawi's hope to see dtracker on alloy in stock version in 2012 just before the end of the world)