MattyK wrote:
I'm surprised that there aren't more front wheels with narrow flange hubs. Maybe it's on the margins of marginal gains. But there are plenty of 74mm hub options for folding bikes that could potentially be used. Surely that would work OK with a 13mm spacer on either side?It's been tried many times in the past, but those designs always disappeared after awhile. I don't know it's marketing or tech, or a little of both.
You lose stiffness with a narrow flange, and usually the spoke count is increased, which will increase the drag. Is that more than the gain from going narrow? With the industry's tendency to do things differently just for the sake of being different, I don't expect that there is much in it.