GearHead:- astrolight wheel history
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:55 am
The Astralite wheel was an invention of Tony Dawson who founded Dawson Harmsworth Ltd in 1978. They started with the Astralite wheels. Later on they started production of the Scitsu rev counters which are still available today.
The Astralite wheel began life with twenty rivets as it was initially designed for the TZ250/350. As time went on and demand for the wheels grew especially for the TZ500/750 and Formula 1 P&M Kawasakis and Suzukis the number of rivets increased to 25 with the addition of an extra rivet at the top of each spoke.
Tyre sizes kept on getting bigger and the rim width to accomodate them increased so the next step was to increase the number of rivets to 40.
The very last modification made to the Astralite wheel was to increase the number of rivets to 45 for rear wheels only in the sizes 4.0" and above. This was mainly due to the increase in weight and power of modern road bikes (c1991/2).
Production of the Astralite wheel ceased in July 1992 and none have been made since (the last batch went to Austria), if you've got them look after them because I really don't think there will be anymore made.
As regards the width of an Astralite Wheel, measure the inside of the rim wall where the side wall of the tyre sits. Very early front Astralites were 1.85" x 18 later this was superceded by the 2.0" x 18 as this size fits the tyre better. Astralite never made a 2.15" this was always 2.25" x18, again because this is a better fit for the tyre.
Sizes then go 2.5", 2.75", 3.0", 3.5", 4.0", 4.5", 5.5", and 6.0" all 18" diameter.
17" wheel widths were 2.5", 3.0", 3.5", 3.75", 4.0", 4.5", 5.0", 5.25", 5.5", and 6.0".
On the very latest wheels the rim width was stamped on the top of the spoke near to the valve hole and it includes the thickness of the material the wheel halves are made from, i.e. 3.53, this means it is a 3.5" wide wheel made from 3.25mm material, any other markings are purely batch numbers and pairing numbers for the wheel halves.
Thanks to Scitsu Triple on the TZ forum for donating most of this info!
The Astralite wheel began life with twenty rivets as it was initially designed for the TZ250/350. As time went on and demand for the wheels grew especially for the TZ500/750 and Formula 1 P&M Kawasakis and Suzukis the number of rivets increased to 25 with the addition of an extra rivet at the top of each spoke.
Tyre sizes kept on getting bigger and the rim width to accomodate them increased so the next step was to increase the number of rivets to 40.
The very last modification made to the Astralite wheel was to increase the number of rivets to 45 for rear wheels only in the sizes 4.0" and above. This was mainly due to the increase in weight and power of modern road bikes (c1991/2).
Production of the Astralite wheel ceased in July 1992 and none have been made since (the last batch went to Austria), if you've got them look after them because I really don't think there will be anymore made.
As regards the width of an Astralite Wheel, measure the inside of the rim wall where the side wall of the tyre sits. Very early front Astralites were 1.85" x 18 later this was superceded by the 2.0" x 18 as this size fits the tyre better. Astralite never made a 2.15" this was always 2.25" x18, again because this is a better fit for the tyre.
Sizes then go 2.5", 2.75", 3.0", 3.5", 4.0", 4.5", 5.5", and 6.0" all 18" diameter.
17" wheel widths were 2.5", 3.0", 3.5", 3.75", 4.0", 4.5", 5.0", 5.25", 5.5", and 6.0".
On the very latest wheels the rim width was stamped on the top of the spoke near to the valve hole and it includes the thickness of the material the wheel halves are made from, i.e. 3.53, this means it is a 3.5" wide wheel made from 3.25mm material, any other markings are purely batch numbers and pairing numbers for the wheel halves.
Thanks to Scitsu Triple on the TZ forum for donating most of this info!