Only two manufacturers, both Italian, equip the entire MotoGP field: Marchesini and OZ.
Marchesini, which belongs to the Brembo group, supplies the rims of the compatriot teams Ducati and Aprilia, but also of KTM and, at the time, of Suzuki, with its classic M7RR Genesi in forged magnesium alloy with 7 spokes, as well as its more recent “snowflake” rims (See here).
OZ supplies those of Honda and Yamaha with its 8-spoke Cattiva in its racing version (6 for the road).
Exact composition of magnesium, weight, design, all this remains very confidential, and if we know that Michelin would like the front rims to have a greater volume of air to avoid these pesky overpressures which are almost impossible to avoid (See our complete file here), for the moment we can only look at characteristics as simple as the exterior coating, the number of sticks, the brand of the sensors or the silent blocks of the crown holder.
On this subject, and this is probably not an absolute rule as these elements are easy to interchange, we noticed Marchesini rims with silentblocks like on our production motorcycles, that is to say with the metal part well centered in the rubber, but also OZ rims where this part was off-center, leaving more room for damping during deceleration, to the detriment of that during acceleration. Interesting, right?
Even if the performance will sometimes be in the details, it is only a simple small detail but it at least gave us the idea of organizing, before the start of the season on March 24, a Competition with at least one forged magnesium Moto2 rim up for grabs…
Stay alert!
