[tacho]

The motorcycle manufacturers have only one alternative to alloys: those stupid wired rims which practically have the same design whether it's a low end Atlas cycle or a high-end Pulsar. The market has slowly moved away from wired rims in spite of the slightly higher cost.

For cars on the other hand, they can have pressed steel wheels with some alloy look-alike wheel caps and save some money while differentiating between different trim levels at the same time. If the only car alternative were the wired design seen in bicycles, I am sure all manufacturers would have moved away from them by now.

As to why the motorcycles cannot use pressed steel with wheel caps, I don't know. Maybe the cost advantage over alloys is offset by the fact that there need to be two wheel caps per wheel while a car needs only one because it is only ever going to be seen from the outside

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by tacho

As to why the motorcycles cannot use pressed steel with wheel caps, I don't know. Maybe the cost advantage over alloys is offset by the fact that there need to be two wheel caps per wheel while a car needs only one because it is only ever going to be seen from the outside

I don't think you can get the balancing done on a steel wheel for riding on a bike. Plus the wind turbulence.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Alloys are not standard in cars in any market, whether its US/UK/Europe/ Japan. The simple explanation is to have a product with different variants across various price points to for various categories of customers.

You make a very smart point, MileCruncher. Not only are alloys skipped on the base variant for cost, but also to offer yet another differentiator on the top-end variants.

Similar example : Body coloured door handles. They'd probably cost the manufacturer 5 bucks + some change. Yet, it's a differentiator between the higher & lower variants. One more example : Tata only paints fully loaded Nanos in the much desired Yellow colour.