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   ou can’t stop progress no matter how hard you try. The modern world keeps coming at you, with computers, cell phones, and digital TV. It’s the same in motorcycling, only there it’s fuel injection, electronic ignition, and emissions equipment. But in the motorcycle world it’s still possible to hide all that technology under an appealing, old-fashioned look. These days even the time-honored wire wheel is packing more innovation that ever, especially if it’s from American Wire Wheel.Dayton Wire Wheel, the parent company of American Wire Wheel, started making wire wheels in 1916. Dayton wheels were OE on legendary cars like Deusenberg, Cord, and Auburn, and during the 1920s and 1930s entire starting fields of the Indianapolis 500 were on Dayton wheels. Even Charles Lindbergh was a Dayton customer–his famous Spirit of St. Louis airplane depended on Dayton wheels for a safe take-off and landing. When Dayton bought American Wire Wheel in 2002, the entire AWW product line was re-evaluated and upgraded to incorporate the decades of knowledge accumulated over almost a century of wire-wheel manufacturing. “We beefed up flanges, we changed spoke bend angles and dimple patterns,” says American Wire Wheel’s Chris Jordening. “It was just subtle differences that dramatically improved the strength and integrity of the wheel.” Riders choose wire wheels for their great looks, so American Wire Wheel ensures its wheels look good for as long as possible by using state-of-the art techniques. “We have a completely automated chrome plating facility in house,” says Jordening. “We use four-layer chrome on steel and five on aluminum parts. The finish quality is superb.” To make sure the finish lasts, the plating is tested using a copper-accelerated salt-spray method. If a wheel can survive that, it can survive anything. As modern and up-to-date as American Wire Wheels are, they’re still assembled by hand. “The average tenure of our employees here is 17 years,” says Jordening. “These guys have been doing what they do for a long time. They’re artisans. It’s a real art form to true these wheels up.” And it’s an even bigger art form to keep them in true. That’s why American Wire Wheel uses proprietary technology it calls the Perma-True, which results in a maintenance-free wire wheel–all you need to do is keep it clean, and the wheel does the rest. Perma-True is a pre-truing technique that’s based on torque specs and preload. Jordening won’t talk about it–“If I told you how it worked I’d have to kill you,” he jokes–but he will go as far as to say this: “If you have an American Wire Wheel that needs adjustment, you’ve run into a truck or a brick wall–you have bigger problems than just the wheel.” All AWW wheels are designed to be used with tube-type or tubeless tires. They’re treated with a two-part silicone-type epoxy that’s applied after the wheel has been trued and inspected. The epoxy is spread over the drop center of the wheel, then the wheel is put in a vacuum chamber that draws the epoxy into the threads of the spokes and nipples and locks them in place, creating a leak-proof seal. After the wheel is removed from the vacuum chamber, it gets another application of epoxy and is set aside to cure for 24 hours. After that, it’s guaranteed tubeless, and can be used with tubeless tires. AWW is also known for its radial-laced wheels. Some old-timers shun radial spokes because they don’t have the crossed-spoke pattern that helps give conventional wire wheels some of their strength. But Jordening says that’s just flat wrong. “There are people out there who just don’t get that a radial-laced wheel can be strong,” he says, “but when properly designed a radial-laced wheel is as structurally sound as a cross-laced wheel.” To make sure of this, all American Wire Wheels are designed, built, and tested to exceed the JASO specifications, and newer designs are tested to the more stringent German TUV specifications. American Wire Wheel makes classic-laced wheels in 40-, 60-, 80-, and 100-spoke styles, and radial-laced wheels in 40-, 80-, and 100-spoke styles. AWW also makes stock-style 40-hole replacement rims and spoke kits for Harley-Davidsons, as well as brake rotors and belt pulleys that accentuate the look not only of AWW wheels, but of all wire wheels. So even though you can’t stop progress, there’s no rule saying it can’t look nostalgic at the same time. American Wire Wheels combine the classic styling of wire wheels with the latest technology to give your customers a wheel that works as good as it looks. Check out the full line in the FatBook and watch the sales roll in as fast as the AWW wheels roll out.
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