With a logo showing a star wearing shades and a rizento cut, Hiro Engineering has always been a symbol for hardcore shakotan style.  Originating in 1975, and with kenmeri Skylines fit with their body parts ruling my dreams, I imagined that wheels had always been a part of their product line.   That’s why I was surprised to find, on the back of an Auto Maximum Tuning catalog printed in the companies tenth year (July of 1985), this preview advertisement for the first Hiro Engineering wheel.

My translation reads…

“A dream to decorate the strongest crew (Muteki Gundan?) in history – Hiro Aluminum Wheel – Release scheduled for June.”

It’s a bit unclear to me which June they are referring to, but given that the magazine is a July issue, I’m inclined to think that they are looking forward to June 1986, putting this ad eleven months ahead of the wheel.

Given that fact… we can excuse the fact that the R30 Skyline pictured is wearing ANOTHER COMPANY’S wheels.

Yes, take a good look… the car pictured is wearing a full assembly of Hiro body parts, but is not wearing Hiro shoes. Instead it sports a set of black Heroes Racing iSpeed DD.  Heroes Racing… Hiro Engineering.  Don’t let a name that looks similar fool you.  These are two unrelated brands.

Unrelated brands… but as asymmetrical split three spoke aero wheels, the two wheels do actually have some commonalities. Still, it seems a little surprising that Hiro was so desperate to advertise the new wheel that they did it before they could even get one on a car.

At this point the new wheel didn’t even have a name… the ad refers to it as simply “The Wheel.”

However, five months later in a Holiday Auto catalog, Hiro had these issues sorted. Now named the  V-1, Hiro’s The Wheel, was ready for consumption.

They were even pictured on a car as they should be: in this case a 430 Cedric that was again clad in all that Hiro was best known for until that point: wildly aggressive FRP aero add-ons.  With white-walled Radial T/A’s and an abundance of chrome trim, the car shows a “yankee” style you might expect from an Osaka based tuner.

Whether or not that look suits your taste, Hiro is probably worthy of being called one of the most interesting and influential Japanese car stylists of the eighties.

“We did not want to end hopes and dreams felt for the car in the world of imagination.”

As the ad indicates, Speed Star did the manufacturing work, using three-piece construction and including their magnetic locking centre caps to really put an exclamation on the fact that the product was were ultra-high end, and true to the aesthetic style of Hiro Engineering.  This was no boy-racer wheel with the soft white or bright pastel colouring that was so trendy at the time.

“It’s appearance is that of a boxer who won the big title. Like a trained a sculpted muscle, it is shows function and beauty. This boxer, with nine wings rotating, is a sharp and precise corkscrew that erupts, cutting the air and stirring the wind before deftly evading.  With lightweight, and aerodynamic effects that add brake cooling, it produces sharp and stable footwork. Extravagant function & beauty,  sharp footwork that propels it across the earth, the nickname ‘Street Fighter’ is well suited.”

Just as the company’s body parts did, Hiro wheels had a style that was generally a bit over the top.  And like those aero parts, the V-1 as well, was designed to harness the power of air to improve vehicle performance.  With unique left-sided and right-sided wheels, curved spokes pulled air outwards from inside the wheel well when the vehicle was in motion, cooling the brakes and helping to provide aerodynamic stability.

It’s a concept that was at play in motorsports at the time, and thus was a philosophy fitting for an aero-tuner to undertake.

Once again we are back to this quartet.  If you’ve been visiting this site a long time, you will know that I am obsessed with the original Advan 3-piece series of wheels.  Having owned all four, I am quite familiar with all of them.  Oddly though, instead of satisfying my curiosity, that experience only further reinforced my obsession.

That obsession is why… now five years since I sold off my last set… I’m using the singles that remain in my garage to digitally catalog the designs.

When I purchased all four, I had it in mind that I was going to run a different one on each corner of my car.  There was terrible disappoint when I discovered the A3D used a front mounted centre instead of a sandwich mount like the other three.  Six extra mm of offset ruined my dream.

Still, in my eyes, they are the four greatest wheels that Yokohama has ever produced.  Signifying unique aesthetic possibilities, the flexibility of modular construction, and a true racing pedigree, they are basically all that Kyusha Shoes is about.

The A3A was the first of the series. Launching in 1979, it was an instant hit with road racers who often used tires from the same company.  As Yokohama’s first three-piece wheel, the parts used by it formed the basis for the whole A3 line-up, and were also used by the company for a few Almex and BRX branded products.

The now famous, twelve bolt shells came in 13, 14 and 15″ diameters.  Similarly constructed centre sections meant that there were many shared sizes between the wheels that used them.

Except for the A3D, which I already mentioned placed the centre section on top of the shells rather than between them.  That centre was only a slight variation of the A3A’s centre.  A groove was cut into the perimeter of the spokes and painted red, and the overall diameter of the piece was trimmed slightly to fit the centre inside the outer shell rather than behind it.

The front mounted (or “overhead mounted” as Yokohama called it) centre makes the A3D unique from the rest of the line-up, but it is a trait shared with other Yokohama 3-piece wheels of the era, like the BRX BR-1 and Almex Y3B.

The A3C is generally considered the black sheep of the group as a dish type design versus the spoke style of the other models.  Yokohama treated it uniquely, offering only two sizes for the model: 13 6J +6 and 14 6J +6. The other three wheels in the series were available in a much broader size range.

The A3C was actually the second wheel of the line-up, debuting in 1980.  Why Yokohama decided to skip the letter B, and go straight to C, is mystery that is still to be solved.  Surely Japanese logic would dictate that there is an A3B somewhere…

The final model from the line-up was the A3E.  Despite an appearance that many consider to be down right ugly, it is the most unusual and sought after.  With only two years of production (1982 and 1983) it is also the most challenging to find.

Now 35 years later, the allure of these wheels is still immensely strong. The A3A proved to be not only the first member of the series, but also the most popular.  It stayed in production through until 1998 – a long enough span of time to ensure the supply today remains plentiful. Good thing, as it is still very popular. The other three models were gone ten years earlier or more, and are now fading from existence.  Standing alone, these other three would be intriguing wheels, but for me, it is their connection to the A3A that really makes them stand out, as sort of limited versions of one of the greatest wheels of all time.

Enkei is a big time wheel builder.

The Hamamatsu based company was one of four original JWL manufacturers.  On a global scale, they are easily the most recognized Japanese wheel brand, and entered foreign markets in a big way before anyone else from Japan did.  Enkei makes wheels for OEM applications. They make wheels for other aftermarket brands. They make wheels for race teams in the highest levels of motorsport. Yet why is it, that when it comes time for me to go shopping, Enkei’s often end up quite far down the list?

In my mind, they’ve always carried a somewhat clinical image.  Historically, Enkei designs didn’t tend to exhibit much feeling, or seem to give buyers much credit.  See the Racing 5.

The Racing 5 is not an unattractive wheel, but is definitely standard looking compared to other wheels of the time.

In the late seventies,  your know-nothing friend might have decided they wanted go fast wheels for their plain old sports sedan. He would certainly gravitate to any wheel that had  “Racing” in the name. Yes, an actual racer might realize that race wheels are typically more than 7J… but can you imagine how quickly the world would end if someone put an 8J wheel on their car and a tire rubbed on a fender liner?  At 22000円, for a 14 6J size, the Racing 5 was about 25% less expensive than wheels from other reputable brands. It was reasonably light too… for an aluminum wheel cast in the seventies.  5.82kg.

To Joe-wantanabe-hashirya, it probably looked like a no-brainer.

And that’s why almost 40 years later, Enkei Racing 5’s are still everywhere in used markets.

Yes it feels like the goal of Enkei has been mass-appeal and value engineering: the kinds of things that appeal to big boring automakers, your great-aunt, and race teams run by engineers instead of impassioned drivers. It is an approach that I think overall, has done Enkei well.

I was thus shocked when I spotted skin, and even nipple in the advertisement seen atop the post, pulled from a 1979 issue of Motorfan Magazine.

… And when my eyes finally dropped I read the caption.

“You must never forget, the beauty of a woman is sinful”  – Jacques Prevert

How Enkei intended these words to be understood, I’m not sure.  Was the intention to compare the beauty of the Enkei Racing 5 wheel to that of this caged woman? I imagine something different.

In my mind this quote by French screenwriter Prevert, (you can believe I’m fighting auto-correct on that name!) may be the perfect statement/justification by Enkei for plain and sterile wheels designs.

IE, they were saying “We could make striking and sexy wheels like other companies do, but that would be leading you towards eternal damnation.  Instead, choose this plain sensible wheel that your grandmother and parishioner would approve of.”

Just good wholesome fun in 1979?

So now if I may draw an analogy to American politics…

Dearest Enkei,

You have been the Barrack Obama of the JWL. You’re a great dude. You’ve made some landmark achievements. I got mad respect for you.  Just remember, even mass-appeal means sometimes wearing your hair crazy and waving your arms around like a mad man while spouting bullshit.

Love,

Kyusha Shoes

My spelling is often terrible… but you can’t blame me here.  I’m just trying to accurately portray history.

In 1980, if you purchased a set of Rays Engineering Volk, or Xray wheels, they came with a nifty plastic card that insured your wheels against theft.  The translation reads:

Volk & Xray
Theft Insurance
If you purchase Volk or Xray wheel, it comes with the industry’s first theft insurance. For that one-in-a-million case, you get a guarantee (Guaranty Card).
Carry your Guaranty Card, to participate in this fun project in the future.

Fun Project? Like getting your wheels stolen is fun?

That is not what is being implied.  Instead, I think that a Guaranty Card was also a pass/ticket, possibly for Rays events or even discounts/benefits on future purchases.  Once again, we must give Rays Engineering credit for being willing to try new things.

On the wheel front, this advertisement found in a 1980 Motorfan Magazine shows the whole Rays Engineering line-up from the year. Happily, it includes the unobtainable Volk Dish which I find quite drool worthy, showing an even simpler and more engineering focused design than the rest of an already less than flashy line-up.

Among kyusha wheels, there are a select few that stand apart from others, usually because of unique design or construction.  Generally they are the result of new ideas thought to be cutting edge.  When time passes and that new idea never catches on, those designs become extra special.  The Volk C1 may be THE prime example of this, and that puts it in a special class of Kyusha Shoes.

In the late seventies and early eighties, several small players experimented with plastic and composite auto wheels, but Rays Engineering was the first major manufacturer to actually market and sell one.

Kind of…

I’m not sure we can truly call the C1 a composite wheel.  With 3-piece construction, the shell sections were conventional aluminum.  The wheel centre used both aluminum and carbon fibre – bonding a simple carbon fibre sheet over cast aluminum.

Aluminum certainly would have provided the majority of the strength, but you must credit Rays for the effort.  At the time, carbon fibre was basically reserved for high-end motorsports and the aerospace industry.  The way Rays Engineering saw it though, metal was on its way out, and the C1 was heading the future.

The blurb reads…

“Every field, from electronics and information processing to biotechnology, is advancing at almost unbelievable rates.  It’s only natural that the automobile industry, representing as it does a concentration of industrial technologies, should have its share of breakthroughs.  Twin cams, turbo intercoolers, midship, and mechanisms that were once found only in racing cars are now on the spec sheets of ordinary family cars.  In the midst of all this activity and competition, Rays Engineering has taken the time to exam the cars we drive from every aspect, including basic wheel construction.  Our policy is “Consideration of the whole car, with an emphasis on competitiveness.” Advanced functions eliminate unnecessary ornamentation, and the potential for increasingly advanced functions is limitless.  Aluminum and magnesium are already out-of-date as materials become more sophisticated, and the car of the Future must make use of these new materials.  Keeping this in mind, Rays Engineering presents its aluminum/carbon composite material.  State-of-the-art technology and the superb craftsmanship of our artisan spirit now brings the research and performance of racing cars to the streets.”

Rays Engineering was quite proud of the C1… and also of this somewhat wordy blurb they crafted.  It appeared in large-scale on the wheel box, in the small manual/pamphlet that came with the wheels, and even on the wheels themselves.

Wait. “This aluminum wheel…” I smell a contradiction.

I guess even Rays realized that this wasn’t quite a real composite wheel.  Still, I’m not sure there is any other wheel like the C1 period… never mind ones on “Racing Cars.”

Rays used little spaces on the wheel front and back to broadcast its pride in the C1.  Phrases like “CFRP + AL”, “Advanced Technology Design”, and the Rays slogan, “Artisan Spirit, We Are Obstinacy”, are visible on the wheel both front and back. (I’m still not sure how being obstinate is braggable… Japanglish fail?)

And this is there too.  “Super Aero Dynamic Wheel.”

You might be wondering to yourself, “how is a flat dish wheel like this aerodynamic?”

The answer is – with a couple of accessories that even today, look like they’d be good props for a sci-fi film.

Yes the C1 truly is a contender for king of Kyusha Shoes.

It’s easy to miss at a glance, but the small holes drilled in the wheel face are not identical on each wheel.  A set of four includes two pairs of mirror image wheels – specific left and right sides.

An available “Aero Cap” and “Cooling Fin” ring are also asymmetrical and directional.

The cap, is the simpler of the two pieces: a wide flat cover to replace the standard cap.  It barely reaches the vent holes on the wheel face, and covers only the air-tight wheel mounting nuts and hub relief.  Given that, and despite good-looking directional cut outs on the caps face, it likely only functions to reduce drag in comparison to the standard cylindrical centrecap,

The larger Cooling Fin ring though may have real aero effects.  It claims to provide brake cooling, pulling air from behind the wheel face and under the car outwards to either side of the vehicle.

It does so with aggressively ramped, directional blades on it’s back side that pull air through the narrow gap between the wheel centre section and the outer shells.  The piece is quite fantastic looking, both front side and back.

As noted earlier, the C1 wheel debuted in 1985, and available to pair with it, was a carbon fibre steering wheel that carried the same name.  Like the wheel, it also had an add-on accessory.  The steering wheel got a soft foam centre cover and horn button dubbed a “Safety Pad”.

As you would expect, both items commanded a fair bit of yen relative to other products.  Sales may not have met expectation, or other issues may have been realized. It appears that production only lasted for one year.  That makes both C1 products an ultra-rare find today.  The carbon fibre face of the wheels though, often does not age well, suffering rock chips, cracking and peeling.  Finding a set like the one pictured here is a huge challenge.  Many thanks to Pontus in Sweden for sharing!

So while the wording claimed that aluminum and magnesium were “out of date”.  It didn’t take long at all for Rays Engineering to return to aluminum.  Leaving composite behind, they turned focus to new construction and forging techniques for metal wheels.  Now, three decades later they have not returned to composite wheels and instead are wildly viewed as the master of aluminum wheel forging.  They have left other (probably lesser) wheel builders to experiment with alternate materials.

Perhaps now, some of those other builders think they have composite wheels mastered… maybe sometime in the future someone actually will produce a composite wheel that can compete with aluminum in all regards.  In the meantime, I think Rays Volk C1 is as close as we’re going to get… even if it is more than 30 years old.

Again, many thanks to Pontus Ekman of Sweden, for sharing this beautiful set of never mounted C1’s with us! Boxes and all, this is perhaps the most jaw-dropping shoe find we’ve ever seen.

When I saw this advertisement in a 1986 Parts Catalog, I thought it was one of the most beautiful wheel ads ever.  A visually striking aero wheel, splashing water, the bb Auto brand that was always a bit of a mystery… and some of the most difficult to translate/poetic Japanese I have ever read.

My liberal translation reads…

Differentiate the moment.

Beauty.
It subdues all.

Beauty.
It makes anything fascinating.

It is a beauty you fall in love with, and the car steals your soul.

Go, Turn, Stop.
bb wheels accentuate every moment with the car.

When the two arrows slowly turn, the beautiful design and rotating look takes people’s breath away. The wheels quiet, hidden power is awoken. Aero fins draw a radial arch, pulling air away from the body. Brake cooling & aerodynamics improvement, show extremely good performance. Furthermore, a lean, athletic design offers compatibility with both rigidity and light weight.

Tremendous function is hiding behind the beauty all the time, reticent, as it should be. As great as the beauty is, we miss that the function is a greater beauty on its own.

Beauty is certainly a subjective term… and eighties standards of beauty don’t necessarily apply anymore, but the bb wheels have a unique simplicity that makes them highly sought after today. “bb” also sometimes known as Buchmann’s, was a German coach-builder/tuner that started operation in 1974, and did all sorts of really awesome stuff before formally closing up shop in 1986.

Really awesome stuff?

How about putting a Porsche 928 front end on a 930?  Yes that’s cool… especially since no one had put an Odyssey front end on an S13 by that time.

“bb” was more than cosmetics though.  They specialized in adding luxury and performance to German cars.  Things like back seat refrigerators, and telephones in the dash. They were also, notably, probably the first to engineer keyless entry, and electronic steering wheel controls: two great things that “bb” gave basically every car owner today.

And to you and me, Mr. Buchmann gave the “bb” aero wheel. Or is it the arrow wheel?

In Japanese catalogs, the wheel generally appears simply as the “bb Auto bb” or the “Buchmann’s bb”.   There is no mention of the word “arrow.” If you want people in English to know what you are talking about however, you best call them “bb Arrow” wheels, as that seems to be what they are best known as.

By my records, 1986 is the year they appeared in Japan, and that is a bit surprising since 1986 is also the year that “bb” in Germany closed it’s doors.  If the German “bb Auto” was no longer operating, I’m a bit confused about what bb Auto in Tokyo was doing in 1986 and beyond.  Perhaps Mr. Buchmann saw the power of the Japanese Wheel League and wanted so badly to be a member that he gave up on Porsche, luxury, and actual automotive inventions to pursue wheel heroism.

The wheel though, or one of similar design, did come equipped on the bb Porsche Targa Turbo White 8 years earlier in 1978, and some source say the design itself was on the table in 1974 when brothers Rainer and Dieter Buchmann launched the company.  The ‘bb’ may very well be the very first single element asymmetrical aero wheel. It wasn’t until 1975 even, when aero covers began life in racing, fit to cars like the Group 5 Porsche 935.

The origin earliest productions of these wheels is unknown, but from 1986 to at least 1988, the wheels were manufactured in Japan, and came with the critical JWL and VIA certifications.  They were however, sadly not available in the 16 9J and 16 10J sizes that the bb Turbo Targa White wore in 1978.  6.5J is the max, though they did come in relatively large for the time diameters of 16 inch, and with a good variety of PCD… although not the Porsche friendly 5H PCD130.

It’s a mystery as to who did the actual casting, but it doesn’t seem like it was any of the major Japanese players. If I’ve seen an inspection sticker like this before on another wheel, I can’t remember it.

In terms of construction, the wheels are also unique in that the arrows on the wheel face are removable, each being secured by two studs that fit through the aluminum face and secured by a nut behind.  Thanks to Jason for sending in these pics.

Given its history, and seemingly very limited production the “bb” is a premium find today.  Perhaps because of the brands association with German cars, the bb wheel seems to be more common in Europe or North America, than it is in Japan where I would place it in the ultra-rare category.

If you have spent any time here at all, you have probably figured out, that I’m a huge Yokohama Advan honk.  Yokohama makes some of my favourite wheels in both the eighties and nineties as part of their Advan line up.  The Yokohama Almex line up however, is something that I’ve done pretty well to ignore.  By some standards, Almex wheels are considered bland or even ugly.  Sizing options are mild at best.  Until recently, there have been so many of them in marketplaces that sorting through them to find wheels you actually wanted has been a nuisance.

But that’s all part of the fun of Kyusha Shoes.  The Almex line is slowly disappearing.  My personal tastes are evolving.  And as I have become more learned about the Japanese Wheel League, I have discovered some unique shoes within Yokohama’s first wheel line.

The line launched originally in late 1974 with four wheels: the YSA, YSB, YDA and YMA.  Thanks to Tanaka-san for sending in some resources, including this advertisement from 1976 that shows an expanded line-up two years after launch.  I’ve taken the time to translate text to English… and that text give a bit of a sense as to the state of the wheel in the mid seventies.

A wheel designed specifically for tubeless tires!

Smooth push type installation and removal. WTF?

Exclusive clamping type valve stem?

In wheel design, Yokohama has never been ahead of the game, but it’s a bit surprising that they are talking like this eight years after JWL standards were created.

With gravity cast construction, the designs achievements of some are certainly impressive, but weights are not, even by the standards of the day.  For most models, narrow 14″ sizes are in the rand of 6.5kg.  That makes them more than 50% heavier than the real seventies lightweights.

Nevertheless, the wheels were picked up by other brands, both in OEM and aftermarket sectors.  The YSD, was used by Mazda on the Cosmo. Nitto Tire rebranded and sold the YMA, YSD and YSA for their Panther A line.

Today, none of the Almex wheels that I’m aware of fall into the ultra-rare or unobtainable category.  At the time of production, all models were priced quite economically… and as the first ad says, Yokohama even allowed buyers to finance their purchases.  Forty years later, they are still relatively abundant!

If any models stand out as being more rare than the rest, it might be these four.   Yet even here, weights and sizes that are far from performance oriented (even for the smallest cars today), result in a wheels that can now be found for ultra-affordable prices. That makes them a great choice for an older sedan or restoration product… especially for a Yokohama fan like myself.

Target these!

The Command SPS was a popular wheel at the time despite carrying a price that exceeded much of the competition.  Only recently, have they moved from the “common” category to the “very rare” category in used marketplaces.  The SPS is the most popular Command wheel, and features a centre section that is silver, with black trim.  The more rare Command find however is the Command BXR which is an identical wheel, with an all black centre, and its own unique model designation.

When you felt like the story was just getting started, the sun came up.
New Release
Command BXR Three-Piece Wheel

Gotta smile when big companies not only acknowledge touge action, but try to get buyers pumped up about it.

]]> 1423 https://kyushashoes.com/target-mag/ Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:24:21 +0000 http://kyushashoes.com/?p=1380

If you’ve found me on Instagram, you will know that I got a nice gift in the wheel last week from Robbie: nine beautiful Motorfan mags from the late seventies. Instant content, and a serious high that made my wife question my alcohol tolerance. The buzz is now wearing off and I’m ready to do some sharing.

Since we’ve been on a bit of a Keystone/Target Racing kick lately, I’ll start with this advertisement from 1979. As little as the name Target Racing is known, Keystone Racing Original Wheels is even less known. Keystone however, is the overarching brand and manufacturer behind the Target Racing line-up. That line up, appears to have spawned from this Keystone Target Mag, which you’ll note doesn’t actually carry the name “Target Racing”.

The Japanese text in the advertisement translates as follows:

Attractive Mag
Elegant, or hard tune – the best partner to tailor your car.
Sold by Keystone – only developing good things!

 I love the fact that the word hard (ハード) gets used in the ad with respect to style or state of tune!

In terms of size offerings on the Target Mag, I wouldn’t say that any of them really fit with what we would consider “hard tune” today, but they would have been reasonably aggressive in a time when 6J was a big OEM size.  A good variety of offsets and PCD options were available though, and retail price was quite reasonable in comparison to premium brands.  That however, came with some significant compromises in the mass department.  Compared to the Rays Engineering Xray featured earlier this week, there is approximately a 20% penalty to be paid in kilograms.

This is a single piece cast wheel after all, and in terms of weight and performance simply can’t compare with the spun shell sections of modular wheels, and the more complex designs that casting a centre individually allows.  Like the Target Racing wheels we have looked at before, the Keystone Target Mag has no identifying marks on the hub pad, or back of the wheel.  Instead, on the wheel face each of the four main spokes has different text cast on them: JWL, “Target Mag”, “K R” and the fourth spoke identifies wheel size and offset.

The original production date of the Target Mag is at this time unknown, with references to it seen in 1978, we know that it preceded the Target Racing line-up by at least 1 year.  Likely it came much sooner than that.  The Target Racing line-up, with modular construction represented a shift towards a high-end wheel.  In comparison to the Target Mag, the Target Racing TR-01 which shared a similarly designed centre, was a full 1kg lighter and right in the neighbourhood of premium ultra-light wheels, but still more affordable.

That said, the Target Mag is still a sought after wheel that today can command as much as 60000円 for larger sizes when in good condition.  The look offered could be considered unique to, but reminiscent of  the popular Hayashi Street. Like the Street, which works well in both OEM fitment for Uncle Bob, and hacked and flared shakotan fitment for Tanaka-san, the words “elegant” and “hard” likely do apply to the Target Mag just as the ad suggests.

And as the ad suggests… hard or elegant, your girl will probably be indifferent and do her own thing.  In 1979 she looked at a toy airplane.  In 2016 she looks at her freaking cell phone.  Keystone Target Mag… the best partner to tailor your car.  Maybe the best partner period.

Debuting in 1977, the Xray was the fourth wheel produced by Rays Engineering.  Preceding it, was the now near unobtainable Volk Dish, and the more popular Volk 3-piece mesh and Volk II mesh. Like the Volk II mesh which also launched in 1977, the Xray used a two piece welded construction.  This may have been considered a thrifty move, in a period when assembly bolts were novel and fashionable. “The Wheels Forecasting The Future” was the tagline seen in advertisements.

In appearance, the Xray is unique from other Rays products of the era.  Thick spokes and a recessed PCD area that is highlighted by a raised polished edge might make it visually unattractive to some eyes, but for others that is part of the intrigue and appeal. Regardless of ones taste in looks, the Xray impresses in other areas.  Sizing options were reasonably aggressive, and weights are as minimal as any wheel of the time.

14 8J versions were an impressive 5.0kg!  Most competitors wheels were more than 1kg heavier in the identical size. As was popular at the time, 5H version of the wheel used slightly different designs.  In this case, an extra spoke to go with the extra hole.

This catalog gives us some idea of wheel purchasing options at the time.  Centre caps are very hard to come by nowadays. They were included in the box at the time though.  A metal valve stem is a 500 yen option.  Standard colours for this year of production were silver and gold.  That implies that custom colours are available.  I’ve seen many examples in black like the pictured wheel above submitted by reader Timothy Baker.  This was likely a standard colour at some point.

The second line from the bottom suggests custom offsets were available!? (I think that’s what it says but I’m not sure what VII refers to.)  With the centre disk simply welded to the shell custom offsets may have been as simple as welding in another place.  Finally, 4H PCD100 was available for only 2000 yen.  That seems like a helluva small price to pay considering the work involved nowadays to find old PCD100 wheels.

Production of the Xray continued from 1977 until at least 1984.  This is a reasonable span of time for a wheel, but given the very rare status of the Xray today, we can conclude that they probably weren’t overly popular back in the day. Today the wheel isn’t a highly sought after choice either, although maybe it should be.  Prices are often quite reasonable in comparison to other premium brand wheels, and sizing options plus low weight make them a good choice for someone looking for both real performance and kyusha style.

For Rays Engineering, perhaps the greatest legacy of the Xray, is that it was the first wheel to demonstrate the true benefit of bolt free construction.  Today, one piece wheel technology has allowed construction techniques to evolve, beyond cast and welded centres, but assembly bolts are still considered unnecessary weight, cost and complication.  In that sense, “Forecasting the Future” may have actually been a reality rather than a catchy tagline in an era where medical CT scans and X-rays were cutting edge!