At one time I had a steel chrome wheel in the back that I got off of ebay for pretty cheap when my Ukai 27' wheel went bad. I was riding it for about a month before spokes started popping because of a bad build...

But, it was great to ride with.

Definitely harder to accelerate, but once it starts spinning it spins forever and it was easy to keep the momentum and a joy as far as pedal stroke goes. That thing just went going.. Don't really know how to explain it.