Lightest DOT compliant 16" moped wheels?

I know there are builders here who have laced hub motors to 16" moped wheels, and that the diameter is almost a perfect match for 20" bicycle wheels, and that motorcycle tires to fit 16" moto rims and 20" bicycle tires to fit 20" bicycle rims are usually interchangeable when it comes to size.

That said, I am designing something that requires the stoutness of a motorcycle wheel because it will be capable of sustained highway speeds, but weight is also a concern because the vehicle will still need to be operable via pedaling with the motor turned off. I am planning to fit them with Mitas MC2 low rolling resistance tires rated for 100 km/h. Ideally, the wheels will also be DOT compliant.

I've done many searches on motorcycle, moped, and scooter wheels and data regarding weight/mass is scarce. Does anyone have any information on 16" motorcycle wheels they've either bought or built or links to builds that have used 16" motorcycle wheels?

I came finally across a 16" rim that had its weight listed(I've found it is rare for these figures to be listed):

https://www.mopeddivision.com/part-...ed-rim-36-spoke-16-inch-black-semi-gloss-1-5/

Universal Moped Rim - 36 Spoke 16 Inch - Black Semi-Gloss - 1.5", listed as 2.3 lbs.

That is not at all bad. With a hub and spokes, it is conceivable that an entire wheel could be built up that weighs under 6 lbs, fully ready for doing highway speeds. It would fit a Mitas MC2 16x2.25 tire.

bike tubes in 20x2.50 are hard to find right now, never thought of looking at moped tubes, amazon says I can get them by May.28 :thumb:

this is a 1.2 x 17 rim. 680 grams only

tire is 2.5 x 17 knobby. 2000 grams

sorry no links. local shop

Nice! How much does the entire wheel weigh in at, tire, hub motor, spokes, all included? What make/model of hubmotor are you using?

This will allow me to get an idea of how much weight I will need to devote to three wheels since the vehicle I am designing requires three wheels!

One motor for the rear wheel(for now, at least until lighter, more efficient, more powerful hub motors with very low cogging losses come onto the market so that I can consider FWD or AWD setups), and two front wheels. I need the wheels to be able to handle 60 mph cruising speeds with occasional forays into the triple digits when no one is looking and road conditions are appropriate. I'm trying to build a vehicle that is under 100 lbs ready to ride, unladen with tools/parts/rider, but equipped with motor/controller/battery/charger and with a full suspension and a full body shell on it to cut wind resistance and allow all-whether operation. I'm looking at making a 10+ kW beast with extreme aerodynamic efficiency, as it needs to be efficient enough that a very fit rider can turn the motor off and cruise at 20+ mph on flat ground and sprint to 40+ mph, just strictly pedaling it, cogging losses and heavy rotational inertia included.

Would like to see that sort of frame geometry full rear suspension but with a real cargo rack, carry say 50+lbs.

john61ct said:

Would like to see that sort of frame geometry full rear suspension but with a real cargo rack, carry say 50+lbs.

Click to expand...

Make that same rack with a well designed truss structure and 50lbs should be simple using the same material as long as the connections to the bike are adequate for the load. In fact, with those dual triangles it wouldn't take much to make it capable of 50lbs...a few more triangles inside each triangle along with some cross triangulation of the two should get the job done with little added weight. Personally I'd make it match the bike better and use .75" tubing and the same design could handle it, though I'd go further and divide the large triangles into 2ea using a cross support for lateral rigidity to make it passenger capable once I figured out a place for their feet.

this guy built a solid rear rack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJr1aLpCrdg

that's the qs 205 35h, 12 gauge spokes. sorry don't know the total weight

as for the rack it's fine i don't need to carry anything heavy. but if i really needed a heavy-duty rack i would probably weld it to the saddle subframe and do away w/ the struts