Tubeless Spoked Wheels -- At Last!

Do you hate changing tires and fixing flats on tube-type wheels as much as I do? I've lost count of how many tubes I've pinched with my tire irons, requiring that I tear everything down again and patch what was, just a moment ago, a perfectly good tube. Of course, we need those spoked wheels for our dualsport bikes, because cast wheels that don't require tubes just wouldn't stand up to the beating that we give them offroad. Perhaps you've seen the spoked wheels that BMW puts on its big GS bikes: the spokes terminate at the very outer edge of the rim where they don't invade the air pocket between the wheel and tire, allowing the GS to run tubeless tires. Very cleaver, but BMW's wheels are very expensive.

Finally, a company has come up with a rather simple solution, allowing tubeless tires to be run on spoked wheels. The spokes are threaded into the rim and terminate with a sealing gasket to prevent air from escaping. These new wheels are already being tested in AMA Supercross. Assuming they preform well in Supercross, it's just a matter of time before the major manufacturers pick up on it and start marketing their bikes with tubeless tires. Hallelujah!

For more in depth information, read this article at Motorcycle Daily.