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Hubless Cycles
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Hello All,

Not all new ideas but fun to look at:

Cheers,

Neal

hubless cycles....

http://www.revmavault.com/video/hubless%20web.wmv



A blog states: this is the coolest bicycle I've ever seen... "Zero Bike" is designed by Makota Makita and Hiroshi Tsuzaki from Tokyo, Japan. The bike is a hubless, spokeless and very lightweight bicycle powered by cranking magnetic pedals which rotate the tires suspended between other magnets. It has won a design excellence award by the Industrial Design Society of America.



Dominique Mottas, an avant-garde entrepreneur and motor cars enthusiast, decided at the end of the 1980s to invest in technological and biotechnological fields. Regarding his many projects, he had a new sports car model built. He found the result very interesting design-wise but not sufficiently innovative from a technical point of view.

So the manufacturer went back to his drawing board, and while searching for an idea to satisfy his customer's requirements, he was struck by an exceptional idea: reinvent the wheel. So he
equipped his car with 4 empty wheels and presented it to his customer.

Dominique Mottas was thrilled to bits and realized that it was a revolutionary invention. So he decided to patent it, and the hubless wheel, or orbital wheel, was born.

It would take 10 years, from the first patent approval obtained on January 15th 1990 in France and that of the Japanese patent, to put the finishing touches to this project worldwide.

Since then the hubless wheel has been ready to be presented to the general public and exploited throughout the world.

Idea : Reduce the rotating part to a bare minimum.

Principle : A bearing with a thin section and large diameter (about 300 mm).

The rotating part: a tyre, a centre-free rim and a brake ring all integral with the rotating outer ring of the bearing.

The fixed part: the non-rotating inner ring of the bearing on which the vehicle's steering system is directly attached.

Result : An empty wheel that is free of midwheel structural constraints and that presents a series of advantages and technological breakthroughs

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
Last edited by: nealhe: Sep 5, 08 21:47
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Re: Hubless Cycles [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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that presents a series of advantages and technological breakthroughs[/quote]

i'd love to know what these advantages are, can you list them for me? because the only one i can think of is cool looks.

and, while you're at it, don't forget to list all of the big disadvantages. a couple i can think of right off the top of my head that make this design a deal killer for bikes: enormously increased rotating friction, and enormously increased bearing wear.





Where would you want to swim ?
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Re: Hubless Cycles [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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Front wheel "cradled" by magnets? So when you hit a pothole at a high rate of speed, would the tire bottom out against the frame and make you do an endo? Would you have enough time to activate your personal jetpack and fly away before hitting the pavement?

Or maybe there won't be potholes in the future.

Anyway, these things are cool to look at - pretty sure I've seen pics of a few bikes like this on the forum. Might not ever be practical, but I'd love to see something like this in a sci-fi movie. Maybe someone who is a home video wiz will paint parts of his wheels and frame flourescent green, then do some special effects magic to show us what it would look like. (Similar idea to the "single spoke wheel" that was shown here a while back.)

-----
Over 4.5 years bike crash free.
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Re: Hubless Cycles [GregX] [ In reply to ]
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I can think of one advantage: the DSLs on the chick in the bottom photo. Wa wa wee wa!
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Re: Hubless Cycles [GregX] [ In reply to ]
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Hello GregX and All,



Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
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Re: Hubless Cycles [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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yes, i have seen that wheel.

it still has all those major disadvantages.

and is it more aero? let's test it.





Where would you want to swim ?
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Re: Hubless Cycles [GregX] [ In reply to ]
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Hello GregX and All,

You want too much too soon grasshopper. :)

I do not know of any production hubless bicycle wheels for sale.

Just fun to look at ....... maybe a reality someday with nano tech or other materials advances.

I can imagine a use for the hubless automobile and motorcycle wheels on a vehicle like the Humvee that has a top center cog/gear drive to provide a large ground clearance.

Also in combat you couldn't shoot out the center of the wheel. :)

Maybe a ditch witch with hubless earth cutting wheel .....

A Skill Saw with a hubless blade for difficult materials that doesn't bind ..... (OK - that is probably not a good idea)

But how about a great looking giant hubless ferris wheel?

Think of the possibilities ..........


Cheers,

Neal

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
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Re: Hubless Cycles [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
Hello GregX and All,

You want too much too soon grasshopper. :)

I do not know of any production hubless bicycle wheels for sale.

Just fun to look at ....... maybe a reality someday with nano tech or other materials advances.

I can imagine a use for the hubless automobile and motorcycle wheels on a vehicle like the Humvee that has a top center cog/gear drive to provide a large ground clearance.

Also in combat you couldn't shoot out the center of the wheel. :)

Maybe a ditch witch with hubless earth cutting wheel .....

A Skill Saw with a hubless blade for difficult materials that doesn't bind ..... (OK - that is probably not a good idea)

But how about a great looking giant hubless ferris wheel?

Think of the possibilities ..........


Cheers,

Neal

Why do you use such a small font size?
Last edited by: Twitchslow: Sep 6, 08 8:59
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Re: Hubless Cycles [Bulliams] [ In reply to ]
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LOL!
Props for using "DSLs" on ST


Ryan
Engineer. Duathlete. Roadie. Human.
CAPA Cycling
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Re: Hubless Cycles [Twitchslow] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
In Reply To:
Hello GregX and All,

You want too much too soon grasshopper. :)

I do not know of any production hubless bicycle wheels for sale.

Just fun to look at ....... maybe a reality someday with nano tech or other materials advances.

I can imagine a use for the hubless automobile and motorcycle wheels on a vehicle like the Humvee that has a top center cog/gear drive to provide a large ground clearance.

Also in combat you couldn't shoot out the center of the wheel. :)

Maybe a ditch witch with hubless earth cutting wheel .....

A Skill Saw with a hubless blade for difficult materials that doesn't bind ..... (OK - that is probably not a good idea)

But how about a great looking giant hubless ferris wheel?

Think of the possibilities ..........


Cheers,

Neal

Why do you use such a small font size?
I just shit my pants after reading this


Ryan
Engineer. Duathlete. Roadie. Human.
CAPA Cycling
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Re: Hubless Cycles [GregX] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
In Reply To:
that presents a series of advantages and technological breakthroughs[/quote]

i'd love to know what these advantages are, can you list them for me? because the only one i can think of is cool looks.

and, while you're at it, don't forget to list all of the big disadvantages. a couple i can think of right off the top of my head that make this design a deal killer for bikes: enormously increased rotating friction, and enormously increased bearing wear.



Actually, if you consider the magnetic approach there would be zero frictional losses from the wheels...but you might have the problem that Charlie points out. Magnets might make a great suspension design for a bike though...if you can keep it from bottoming out.

As of now, the magnet technology would be prohibitive...at least because it would be based on heavy batteries.

But it has some promising potential if/when the technology gets over the pitfalls.
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