Wire spoke

A part which connects the hub of a wire spoke wheel to the rim. All loads are transmitted from the rim to the hub by steel spokes; individually, they have little resistance to bending stresses and therefore have to be laced in a complex criss-cross pattern. Due to their complicated design (each spoke is hooked at one end into the hub, and the other end is pushed through a hole in the rim, where a tapered nut is screwed down to pull the spoke tight) and their reduced stiffness and poor stress resistance (if the spokes are too loose or too tight, the relatively flimsy rim will distort), wheels with wire spokes are expensive and rarely used on automobiles; but they are common on bicycles and some motorcycles