May 16, 2013 10:21 PM PDT
i'm a mag man because if you have any hp at all and ride a little ruuged spokes will break , I have to many spoke wheels laying around as evidence .
Spokes look better but can be a hassle.
Mags have come a long way.
Solids are the strongest.
On a custom bobber I would go spokes but on my daily ride mags. The same reason as everyone else cleaning them is a bit*h.
Now there the option for some of the deluxes I think to have tubeless spoked wheels still go with mags.
Through I don't like having to clean the exposed aluminum on the mags I have.
May 18, 2013 11:12 PM PDT
Funny you ask. Last weekend I spent 2 hours on just the Heritage spokes.....cleaning, scrubbing, tightening. But man they look good. Spent 20 minutes on the Road Glide mags 2 nights ago, they look good. More time to ride. Changing/fixing flats on the spoke monster would suck..thanks Jimmy, hadn't given that any thought really. Its function for me that typically rules any mods. I'd have to say mag.
June 11, 2013 9:21 AM PDT
I'm with Ricochet... I had spokes on the back of my 96" shovel and there's no need to have all those inches if you arent gonna take it out and light it up every now and then (which I do way too often)....every time I did I had loose spokes on the rear so I ended up putting a solid rim on there.....But I do love the looks of spokes, especially the 60 & 80 large spoke rims
June 11, 2013 9:28 AM PDT
Mag man all the way. Spokes dirty nasty and takes too much riding time away for maintenance. I have black mags, but I do like the chrome mags, which require additional cleaning and polishing. I could deal chrome mags.
June 11, 2013 4:10 PM PDT
Yep Mags are for me as well. Don't like the look of spokes my self on certain bikes but on others it looks good. They are just not my style.
July 18, 2013 12:32 PM PDT
Wire wheels do look good on most bikes, but I would not like to clean them and I prefer tubless tires.
I love the solid FatBoy wheels. Easiest cleaning ever.
July 18, 2013 4:35 PM PDT
I like spokes. To me [maybe just me] all cast wheels look like they were designed in Taiwan [or worse]. All of them on every Harley. No matter the actual place where they were designed they seem to radiate, in MY mind's eye, a 'rice-grinder' image. Can but wonder what a liquid cooled HD, with a horrid radiator slapped on it, will look like. It's coming; and it could only look worse if it had alloy wheels [IMHO]. Which it surely will. But maybe if they increase the size of the emblem on the tank large enough it will be possible to easily tell it is a Harley and not a Suzuki Boulevard or suchlike. Honest, I have made mistakes when, at first glance, I thought the bike near me was a ricer, due largely to the cast wheels, and then saw it was a Harley. More and more Asia Styling seems to be the goal by corporate HD.
July 19, 2013 4:47 AM PDT
Personally I don't think it is "Asian" styling as much as taking advantage of modern technology. If you think back ALL bikes had spoke wheels. As the Japanese bikes began to take on a more modern look and taking advantage of modern technology the wheels on there bikes began to change also. Of course Harley has always done their best to keep their bikes with the traditional look - my Road King doesn't look that much different than the Harley's of yesteryear - so the spoke rims stayed around a lot longer and are still available for the traditionalist.
But like you said it is really a matter of personal choice and lots of people - including myself - like the modern mag style wheel for its technology - stays true, stronger, tubeless tires, and yes because they are much easier to clean. And some of us also like the look of the mag wheel. If someone can mistake my Road King for anything other than a Harley, fine... I personally think my Road King looks damn good with the Black Mags!!!
July 29, 2013 9:17 AM PDT
spokes look good when clean, but take way too much time to keep them looking good, takes away from riding time. give me mags any day
July 31, 2013 1:50 AM PDT
Had spokes on the Dyna and mine were always the dirtiest damn spokes you could find anywhere. Oh, I took care of the ol' girl but no way was I cleaning them damn spokes. The new Street Glide has mags and I am happy for that.