alloys or spoke wheels

[streaky]

new 1200 gs orderded,end of may,spokes or alloys,cant make me mind up,any i have seen have alloys,what ya all reckon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Deleted account W]

Order one of each, alloy on the front and spoke on the back.

Best of both worlds :slideface

 

[chippelmike]

Alloys or spokes.

It just HAS to be spokes !
Mike

 

[Tobers]

It looks better with spokes. They are harder to clean, but worth it I reckon.

Spokes are also a bit heavier than alloys - unsprung weight etc. Still worth it though.

 

[BBB61]

Spokes would be better if you want to take it off road, but if not, the alloys will be much easier to clean.

Bob

 

[RichieS]

spokes

Why are spokes better off road? And do alloys give a better road ride? And why cant you just choose instead of there being a price difference from BWM?

 

[swebb]

Depends entirerly on your useage and opinion, in my opinion, the alloys look better (pauses for the roar of the baying crowds) and are easier to clean, but, if you intend to anything more serious than mild greenlaning, Spokes are better (apparently, i'm not sure why)

primarily it comes down to your useage requirement, if you don't "need" them, then it comes down to aesthetics.... which do YOU prefer?

good luck

Stu

 

[TEESTAR]

i think the reason why spokes are better off-road is that they can flex and give more than alloys, so more able absorb rough terrain
But i think if your riding mostly on-road the alloys will give better handling plus they look better in my opinion

 

[oddball]

My two peneth, if its a Yellow bike then its got to be spokes. Red or Blue then it has to be alloys.

Im sure the alloys are easier than spokes to clean but you will find with the alloys there is a round side and a recessed side. Cleaning the recessed side is hard work unless you have a gyno qualification.

The recessed side of the alloy is mounted facing the swing arm/shaft drive on the rear making getting your hand in there very tight.

The finish on the alloy is first class and they do clean up a treat every time Ive found, not done loads of miles but enough.

As for taking it off road, 's car park is as far as mine goes off road.

 

[kiwiAdventure]

Try and get a spoke wheel fixed and made true.

You can fix an aluminium wheel a few times before you have spent the extra money to buy spokes. I've done some hard rock tracks and have not dented the alloys. You have to keep the air presure up a little.

 

[Marty Hill]

Try to find someone with spokes. Having seen both, it should be easy to decide. I have spokes.

Cheers,

 

[motozen]

I prefer the look of the alloys, but I ordered spokes because the roads of the north east of North America after the winter are littered with countless potholes.. My RT's alloy wheels hit one of those and ended up with a flat spot. According to bike magazines, the weight of the front wheels are the same, the spoke rear wheel weighs slightly more than the alloy wheel. My intentions are to ride Labrador's unpaved road, as well as Alaska's and head to Mexico.. The strongest wheel is the spoked wheel.

Why does BMW charge more for spokes? Because they can and also because spokes cost more.

As for resale, I doubt someone will not consider buying your GS because it has spokes.. on the other hand, someone will walk away because it has alloys..

 

[Mr K]

Chose Northern Alloys..........How many rally teams use wire wheels?

 

[Alex]

Apparently the spoked wheels fitted to all 1100,1150 and 1200 gs are not repairable. I had a flat spot on my front spoked wheel caused by riding a kerb at speed, and to repair I had to replace the entire outer ring, which was actually more expensive than getting a secondhand wheel (which I actually did). I tried two different dealers and a couple of spoked wheel specialists and they all said these wheels are unrepairable. The flat spot was no more than 1cm inwards from the radius of the wheel and the problem was not even noticable on the bike (it was actually discovered upon changing tyres).
In previous bikes with alloys I had never had bent wheels. Also alloys are easier to clean, cheaper and lighter. Spoked wheels look better, but after having to pay for one, I can assure you that in the future i will stick to alloys.

 

[GSmonkey]

As I ride my bike 365days a year and clean it every 7 days in the winter, the idea of cleaning spokes was not an attractive one. If you're not going off road, go with the alloys.

The rear alloy does look quite good as well, much better than the spokes (IMHO).

Also agree with oddball, if you go for the *gay* yellow bike, spokes look better.

 

[Shep]

Re GSmonkey & 'Gay' yellow GS's

And i thought it was the seat that made my a##e hurt after a ride!!

Shep

Yellow grey grey 1200 alloys

 

[JollyQuick]

Depends entirerly on your useage and opinion, in my opinion, the alloys look better (pauses for the roar of the baying crowds) and are easier to clean, but, if you intend to anything more serious than mild greenlaning, Spokes are better (apparently, i'm not sure why)

I did some research (nothing too fancy) and I think the "Spokes are best off-road" has become a modern myth. IMHO the alloys are as strong if not stronger than the spokes, lighter, easier to maintain, and aren't plagued with rust problems. I couldn't find a single substantiated report of alloy rim failure under "normal" off-road conditions (normal=mud, rocks, fields, trails, fire-roads etc. but no 15 foot jumps or motocross speeds). However, do a simple search and you'll find numerous reports of failed spoked rims for everything from rust, to bent spokes, to bent rims. To make it worse most dealers will not attempt to repair a spoked rim...like the "good" old days.

I think it really comes down to us old folks passing on the wisdom or our youth when spokes were THE only option and alloy rims were to darned expensive and weak to take off road. Times have changed and I think alloys have too. Particularly the ones on the BMW 1200GS. I think BMW really got it right--these things are just well made.

As far as aesthetics, well that's up to your own tastes. I, however, want the strongest, lightest, robust equipment I can afford--I think that's the alloys, gents.

My two cents, er pence

JQ

 

[pjg]

As we say down here............ "its spokes for blokes"!!!!

Seriouly though, alloy wheels just cant handle high speed on bad dirt roads. A recent trip down to Phillip Island saw three of our number suffer severe rim damage from a moderately high ( 3")cattle grid. The bikes were:- Ducati, Suzuki and Triumph. The Trumpy wheel actually collapsed totally!!!

Spokes are the only way to go if you are riding the roads the GS is designed for.

Another goose on this forum (who has alloys) actually suggested that you need to INCREASE the air pressure on dirt roads to protect the rims!!!!
You are actually meant to LOWER your pressures for dirt. As low as 20psi for really loose sand/dust or gloopy mud.

Spokes are a pain in the arse to clean though
Cheers
Paul

 

[Mr K]

You do need to increase tyre pressure to protect rims.

Reducing tyre pressure for off-roading is to gain better grip????

How many GS riding geese do we have?

Perhaps another poll is in order?

 

[Wraithwrider]

At a push I would say that I prefer the overall look of the spokes. But the alloy's, particularly the rear, are almost a work of art.

BTW, I've got alloys. If I wanna ride off road I'll bye an orange bike!

Peter