Wheels

Alloy wheels are the type used on most cars and trucks, their purpose is to support the tire and give the axel a place to mount. The most common alloy wheels are basic steel shapes with a painted finish; they are often fitted with hub caps to hide unattractive steelwork and to simulate more popular magwheels. Magwheels are also alloy wheels however they feature attractive designs on the rim face and often have a painted, chrome or anodized finish. They are prone to becoming scratched and gauged by rough surfaces and curbs.

Spoked wheels use small inter woven spokes instead of a large alloy surface to support the rim and axel mount. The spokes make them much lighter than their alloy counterparts but they are only suitable for light loads. They are commonly seen on mountain bikes and motorbikes.

Spokeless wheels also known as hubless wheels, move the axel mount off center and attach it directly to a track on the rim, inside the track there are ball bearings or rollers, which allow the rim and tire to rotate. The appearance of spokeless wheels is higly attractive and very different from spoked and alloy wheels. Spokeless wheels require fine tolerances and are prone to problems and often not practical in the real world, though they are a design that is only just being explored despite being invented in 1989 by Franco Sbarro.

Although I find spokeless wheels very atteractive I will more likely use spoked wheels in my design due to their light weight and good reliability compared to alloy and spokeless wheels

Information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubless_wheel

Images from:

Spokedwheel- http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/support.html

Mag wheel- http://www.cartuningcentral.com/alloy-wheels

Steel wheel- http://www.bikudo.com/product_search/details/124778/steel_wheels_oem_demount.html

Spokeless wheel- http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/hubless-monster-bike-a-raked-out-chopper-sans-spokes/