Why 4 do it?

[iamgumby]

I've seen some dual sports with spoked rims (KLR650) and others with mag rims (DL650). Is there a performance benefit that one has over the other?

[kschilk]

As per the overall performance, I doubt there's much if any difference. The obvious benefit of mags, would be no spoke maintenance. On the downside, mags won't flex like a rim & spokes....not a good thing for off-road use. I'm not sure about the weight difference but I'd think mags would be heavier.

[Dan631]

One difference I can think of that wasn't mentioned is the fact that mag wheels are tubeless. Though the DL is classified as a "dual sport" it is more "street" than a KLR. I think the KLR would be a lot more off road friendly.

[GeländeStraße]

Asked this of BMW Canada when Dad was comparing the 2008 F650GS (mags) with the 2008 F800GS (spokes).

Answer was that spoke wheels are easier to repair in any given situation.

The real question is how the hell do you bend a mag wheel anyway?

[CB750F]

The real question is how the hell do you bend a mag wheel anyway?

It's probably easier to do than it sounds. You wack a big enough rock hard enough I'm sure it would bend. A guy I know hit a rock with his mag wheel and it bent it pretty good.

[GeländeStraße]

Really? Ouch. Did he go OTB?

[CB750F]

Believe it or not......... no. :D

[GeländeStraße]

How old were the wheels? Doesn't seem like they should bend that easy...:D

[motocaribe]

I've seen some dual sports with spoked rims (KLR650) and others with mag rims (DL650). Is there a performance benefit that one has over the other?The mags are on the DL650 because a dual-purpose biks is gonna take some abuse. The spokes will require a lot of maintenance.

We bent a rim on one of our bikes, and it was easily repaired. Not sure a spoke wheel could have been.

[CB750F]

How old were the wheels? Doesn't seem like they should bend that easy...:D

It was a fairly new motorcycle. like i said it sounds hard to do but really you wack a big rock right where there isn't a "spoke"....... it could happen easily.

[GeländeStraße]

The mags are on the DL650 because a dual-purpose biks is gonna take some abuse. The spokes will require a lot of maintenance.

We bent a rim on one of our bikes, and it was easily repaired. Not sure a spoke wheel could have been.

A few things here:
-The KLR is much more of a dual purpose bike than a DL650 and it has spoke wheels.
-Spoke wheels are much much easier to repair than mag wheels.
-It could most defenitely be repaired unless the rim is flat spotted or actually physically broken, it's called truing and off road riders do it all the time. And, if you do trash a rim beyond repair you can keep your hub and just get another rim and more spokes.

[iamgumby]

So, is this statement basically still true? I believe it used to be but not so sure any more. Mags run with tubeless tires and spoked rims run with tubed tires?

[Dan631]

So, is this statement basically still true? I believe it used to be but not so sure any more. Mags run with tubeless tires and spoked rims run with tubed tires?

Most often mag wheels will be tubeless and spoked wheels will require a tube but there are exceptions. I've seen spoked tubless wheels on BMW "dual sport" bikes and wheels designed for "super motard" applications.


This is a tubeless spoked wheel. Notice where the spokes are located on the outside edge of the wheel.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/WireWheels/closeupr.jpg

[iamgumby]

Cool dan! I had not seen one like that. I'd only seen the standard 'row down the center' style.

[North]

Hi,

Spoked rims are much better for off-road and dualsporting. Dirt bikes don't use mag rims. The spoked rims are stronger and more flexible. The BMW uses tubeless tires on it's spoked rims, due to it's design, on bikes like the GS line and GSA.

But generally speaking, spoked rims have tubes. Some have rim-locks that stop the tubes from moving.

There is a company that makes tubeless tires for spoked rims. (I can't think of the name or find the site right now.)