Solid Rear Wheel vs. Laced Wheel

I was recently advised to replace the rear lace wheel on my Road King with a mag type wheel for safety purposes. There is no visual problem with the lace wheel I have. I asked around at some of the local shops and the HD dealer about using a Fatboy wheel on my Road King. I was told that the alignment was different and that it would not work. Being one that has to see for himself, I installed the wheel and tire and it all seemed to be fine. I put about four hundred miles on it without any problems. In the end I removed it because I could not get the alignment comment out of my mind. Can anyone out there shed more light on this? Could I use the fatboy wheel?

Whaaaatt.???

Who told you that your lace wheel was not safe ?
Is it not true ???

I like lace wheels BUT, there a pain in the A$$ to clean...

To me, Solid disk type wheels are very unfriendly in a cross wind...

Yes, you will have to make sure that the spacing is correct...

So,,, I dont see why you can't use a Fatboy wheel...

JMO.

Say what?

What is the problem with the laced wheel? Does it have a defect of some sort or was it the OPINION of someone? The fact remains that if the laced wheel was of un-safe nature, manufacturers would not be placing them on scooters currently, but they are, and will continue to. If you have impacted something, or have an issue of corrosion with the wheel, then yes, I would probably replace it, but unless you want to just COSMETICALLY change the look, I wouldn't worry about it.

Yep

Ya bikerjim1, I was going to ask if it was just someones opinion too, but, I didn't want to harsh'em out.
Anyway I think some nice spokes are one of the coolest looking wheels out there(Imo).
As they (spokes) take too much time to clean and I am on the a lazy side, I've settled for the ol'mag-wheel.

Clarification

This was someone's opinion based on their experience with spoke wheels failing. In several cases the horsepower of the engine was increased, the rider hot dogging it and I suppose some crossion issues caused the spokes to fail. Other cases invloved poor preventitive maintenance. I actually saw one of the wheels and would not want to be riding when something like that happened.

I do not hot dog my bike and I frequently check for loose or broken spokes so I don't think I am in any danger. I agree that laced wheels look great and are hard to clean, but if it was feasible to use the fatbay wheel I would not have a problem removing the lace wheel.

Spokes have been used for how long now? The only concerns I have with spokes is forgetting to check for tension and true during tire changes and if I to put serious HP say over 120 I would probably opt for billet.

There is nothing unsafe about spoke or solid wheels BUT, if you don't mind getting blown around a bit by crosswinds solid is fine. most people don't ride enough to notice anyways...

Spokes

I have seen numerous failures of spoked wheels at the dealership where I work. Most of these can be attributed to a total lack of preventative maintenance by the owner. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you check your spokes for tightness every time you check the air in the tire you will never have a failure. The problems that I have seen are always on the bikes that only get checked when the owner brings it in for only 10K services and only chages oil in between. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.