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) millennium BC, an iron rim was introduced around the wooden wheels of chariots to improve longevity on rough surfaces. A standard automotive steel wheel rim is made from rectangular sheet metal. The metal plate is bent to produce a cylindrical sleeve, and then the two free edges of the sleeve are welded together. At least one cylindrical flow spinning operation is carried out to obtain the desired thickness profile of the sleeve—and the desired angle of inclination relative to the axial direction in the zone for the outer seat. The sleeve is then shaped to obtain the rims on each