Bicycle wheel Bicycle wheel A bicycle wheel is a wheel, most commonly a wire wheel, designed for a bicycle. A pair is often called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready built "off the shelf" performance-oriented wheels. Bicycle wheels are typically designed to fit into the frame and fork via dropouts, and hold bicycle tires. The first bicycle wheels followed the traditions of carriage building: a wooden hub, a fixed steel axle (the bearings were located in the fork ends), wooden spokes and a shrink fitted iron tire. A typical modern wheel has a metal hub, wire tension spokes and a
Rim (wheel) rim and then being welded together. The disk is welded in place such that the center of the wheel is equal to the center of the hub. The distance between the centerline of the rim and the mounting plane of the wheel is called the "offset" and can be positive, negative, or zero. One-piece rim and wheel assemblies (see image) may be obtained by casting or forging. The terms "wheel" and "rim" are often incorrectly used synonymously, as in decorative wheels being called rims. Used broadly, or used figuratively, the word "rim" can mean the outer edge of any circular