Patent ID: 7458648

Claim:
A vehicle wheel comprising a hub suitable for being mounted rotatably on an axle of the wheel, the axle extending in an axial direction, a rim suitable for being mounted with a tire, the rim having a lateral surface delineating, together with the tire, an inflation chamber for the tire, at least one spoke which fixes the rim and the hub together for rotation relative to the axle of the wheel, the spoke comprising a hub-attachment portion, a rim-attachment portion, and a solid body in which there are formed a first duct which extends substantially along an axis of the spoke and is in flow communication with the inflation chamber through the lateral surface of the rim, and a second duct which is arranged substantially perpendicularly relative to the first duct so that, in the region of a first end of the second duct which faces towards the first duct, the second duct intersects the first duct so as to create a flow communication between the first duct and the second duct and, in the region of a second end remote from the first end, the second duct emerges laterally from the at least one spoke with an opening, the opening being suitable for connection to inflation means, wherein said solid body separates the spoke into two portions which are disposed on radially opposite sides of the solid body, at least one section of the rim-attachment portion constitutes said solid body and said first duct extends partially through the solid body, does not constitute a through-hold extending through the solid body, and does not put the two portions of the spoke into flow communication with each other, so that variations in pressure inside the inflation chamber of the tire in dependence on temperature are limited, since the amount of gas outside the inflation chamber is small.