Hunsta wrote:Very interesting thread. I had often thought about this, but on advice Ive had from others the snowflake is just not safely capable of holding a tubeless tyre properly. In my opinion the Snowflake is a far better designed wheel for dirt road use than later models, as it seems to be a better braced pattern. Its just a pity they didnt evolve into a tubeless wheel.
The controversy, tubes vs no tubes on a flake, is as old as flakes and tubeless tires.
Justification presented by credible sources can be found to support either position.
For example, Dr. Curve says yes, Oak vehemently says no ...
"In the absence of "empirical evidence" or "definitive case study"
(no such evidence or study exists relative to the tubeless use of the BMW snowflake cast wheel),
controversy is likely to continue due to an inability to objectively quantify that "risk".
One undisputed fact will be that the flake is an obsolete 1st gen. cast wheel.
As such, it is actually much heavier than necessary for street use –
and absolutely too heavy for any actual "off-roading" as defined in a literal sense.
Important on-road, and critical off-road,
superfluous unsprung mass will be detrimental to handling performance in both scenarios.
Although proven sturdy enough for regular pavement work,
but for the exception of the random behemoth pot hole or curb encounter,
contemporary cast wheels (read: lightweight) are still not the usual choice for off-roading,
and for a number of good reasons !
