Vintage Karting Forum

Having a bit of confusion about what brand a wheel on Ebay is at the moment.

I'm going to post some info for general use.

Fist of all, the 4" Palmini wheel.

I'm posting a page from the '61 Palmini catalog, which shows these wheels, and a picture of the wheels David Lucianni sold me.

Couple of things to note:

First, is that the inner half of the wheel has the entire hub as part of it.  Most other wheels like Tri Stars and Go Powers, have half the hub in each half of the wheel.

The other is that the Palmini wheels have the Palmini name cast into the wheels.

This post will show what I know about 4" Hands wheels.

I'll post two pictures  of 4" hands wheels that I am aware of.

Things to note:

These wheels came in 6 spoke and 4 spoke versions.

The 6 spoke seemed like they came with steel inner halves.

The 4 spoke seemed to come with aluminum inner halves.

As far as I know........

See photos below......

I see what you mean Jim, ...a bit confusing to me as well....in the middle picture (8 wheels), the set second from the bottom looks like mine....the thing that throws me is the "boss" on those rims where they bolt together....never seen that on a Hands wheel?.....Frank Davis

It is interesting.

It is also nice when the manufacturers marked their wheels, like CT Alloy, Go Power, Palmini, Margay, etc. - which is why I know the wheel is not a Palmini (Bob Palmini marked all his products).

Ron Cubel has restored like 8 or 10 Rathman Exterminators, and has identified that wheel as a Hands, as had Teddy Jacobs who sold Fox karts with those Hands 4" wheels years ago.

Still it is funny that Hands made two different styles of 4" wheels.  I suspect that the "boss" under the bolts was to strengthen the wheels.  4 bolts instead of 6 would require a little reinforcement if the metal thickness was otherwise the same.

Perhaps one of the other members can add some further info here.  I know there was a very informative post on Hands wheels on the old Forum.

Ciao!