If that became the new wheel paradigm the material of the "loops" would become the performance increment and wheel snobbery would be talk of "flex to failure", stiffness and weight. I don't see how one could produce predictable performance results with that design; the rims seem so much a structural element they would become dead or deadening to the resulting wheel (to anyone having put together a nice set of spoked wheels). Not so much as the semi disc wheels like the trispoke; the serious meat of BSNYC-posted photos of decorated pedestrian, non-biker, "biker cred" cruising bikes. I hope that it is loop wheels there next, not spoked ones.
My dad's first attempt to teach me to ride a bike was on a little rig with solid (airless) tires of a particularly evil squarish profile that had me elevate onto a hard squirrelly knife edge in every lean or steer moment. My four year old vocabulary failed to provide me the adequate descriptive tools to communicate why I was having such a hard time and was bleeding so much. The next weekend came a bike I could barely mount but could pedal once on the saddle; risky for a parent unsure of their kid's riding potential, but it had real pneumatic tires and I rode as if I was born on that bike (a purple Kent). I'll be on 36° spoked wheels and pneumatic tires until eBay no longer lists them if alternative designs catch hold. Andy Cheatham PIttsburgh On Friday, May 3, 2013 1:30:55 PM UTC-4, pb wrote: > > > On Thursday, May 2, 2013 7:51:58 PM UTC-7, Jan Heine wrote: >> >> Airless tires have so much resistance that you'd rather change a flat >> every 10 miles! We tested a set of airless tires for our latest tire test >> (Bicycle Quarterly Spring 2013), and found that they used 50% more power >> than a good racing tire. Maintaining 20 mph was very hard work. And in >> corners, they squirmed so much that it was really disconcerting. > > > Jan, all due respect, I think you're still completely missing the point. > I doubt that many riders on the Dahon which is the current target of this > work are trying to maintain 20 mph. Additionally, the small diameter of > the 20" wheel reduces rotating weight to an extent which might somewhat > offset rolling resistance. (No doubt I'll be mathematically > proven completely wrong about that, but consider that urban trips are > heavily stop-start-stop-start.) If one considers the likely trip distance > and trip type of an urban Dahon, utility effectiveness may trump other > factors. > > On another subject -- I have to give the inventor credit for a campaign > which has exceeded its investment target. The kickstarter is pushing > $US70,000, more than 10% over its target, with two weeks yet to go. > Apparently a number of people think this idea has merit. Even if it > ultimately fails, I sincerely congratulate Mr. Pearce on his efforts. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
