I've not had this problem personally, as any touring bike I've kept for any length of time has the cast wheels. One of my good friends has an 01 Road King Classic. He just clicked the 62K mark. You would be hard pressed to find anyone out there who has maintained their bike any better than him. Around 20K he put on a new rear tire and noticed a few of his spokes were loose. The guy tightened them back up and told him he should be fine. All was well until Bike Week in Myrtle Beach. 40K later, he's on his way to the beach. He checked everything over before he left. I know for a fact he checked his rear wheel because I told him he looked like he was playing a harp. By the time he got to Charlotte, NC (about 2.5 hours away) the bike was handling funny. Not thinking anything at all about the rear wheel, he went on. By the time he got to Myrtle (another 3 hours) 4 of his spokes had either broke, or pulled out of the hub. Another 5 or 6 were loose beyond tightening. The same guy that tightened them the first time, changed his own tire at about 10K on a Heritage Springer. 4 of his spokes were loose. My friend ended up having his Dad come and haul him back home. I was looking at his wheel the other day and noticed that center of the rim was real rusty. I'm wondering how much longer he could have gone before the wheel just rusted out, even if his spokes had not come loose on him. Like I mentioned before. His bike has been babied and cared for like no other. You could put it beside a new one and not tell much difference. I've never had a spoke come loose on me yet, but it would kinda stink to be somewhere and have that kind of problem. For the record, I'm not posting this to start a war about whose wheels suck and whose wheels rule. I'd just like to know if anyone else has had this sort of problem with the laced wheels. I like both types of wheels just fine, and I currently have both types. I'm getting ready to do another Road King project and now I'm not sure what type of wheels I should put on it. Some chalk it up to cheap parts on Harley's end, and some say it's just the "nature of the beast" for any laced wheel. What do you think?

 

Nature of the beast. Spokes look awesome and on a local type bike it's all I'd have but on a high milage long distance tourer I'll always go for the cast wheels. just my .02

 

any time you have a metal to metal surface contact that requires adjustment, you will develop rust. To keep laced wheels looking good, you have to clean them with WD40 and wipe them down. I prefer alloy wheels myself because of the elimination of the tube. Since I ride long hauls, I can plug a tire and not be stranded. More tools are needed for laced wheels.

For tubless tires/alloy wheels I carry Stop N Go plug kit. the plugs are mushroom shape and require a special tool in the kit to install. The kit comes with CO2 cartridges and a hose for reinflation. Only bad part, be sure you are wearing a glove when inflating with the CO2, they get damn cold.

 

Low maintenance versus pretty

 

Yeah, What he said. O-Dark-Thirty on a lonly road changing a tube tire is not fun....plug a tubless and get on down the road,replace the tire later. I even carry a wally world special air compresser ( 11.00) may take a while, but I gots air

 

Cast wheels are maintinance free!

 

Any bikes I have had with spokes have always broken, plus you can't fix flats on the side of the road with spokes. Touring bikes with spokes are a bad idea.

 

I'm a huge fan of laced wheels but on touring bikes I don't see the point. The bags cover the rear wheel and in the front you have 2 11.5 rotors covering most of the 16" wheel. Go with the cast and eliminate all the worry.

 

Spokes SUCK![:'(]

 

I agree with everyone so far. For a long haul I'm gonna have the cast whees, or in the case of my Ultra, the chrome Thunder Stars. I probably should have made it clear that this current Road King project is pretty much just going to be a bar hopper. A few off the "add-ons" to my list are; foot clutch, hand shifter, 20" apes, thunderheader, corbin hollywood solo, and who knows what else. BUT, keeping in mind it is a RK, and the fact that I rode the FB in my sig. pic to the beach. I figure there might just be some day that I get a wild hair to take off on my aped out suicide ride. I'm trying to keep with the "old shcool" theme, so much to the point I found some old original AMF decals dated 10/75. Surprisingly enough, the glue and the decals were in perfect shape. Don't get much more old school than that. Obviously the laced wheels and some wide whites would just compliment the whole theme, but I'm still looking for anyone who has actually had same problem my other 2 friends had. I value all your opinions, and agree 110%, but I still want to see if they are just two freak occurences, or if it really is a common problem.