Hacker News Reader

Comment by AlexMuir | Hacker News Reader

This article is a bit unquestioningly gushing - although I love the creativity and concept. For starters, I can't see how it has any lateral grip. Nor is it explained how it negates the need for a hub or bearings. I assume disk brakes are used, but that's left to the imagination.

How I wish there was a news source which got down with the technicals. Thinking about it, that's the space that HN comments fill.

View on HN

Other articles, like this one, make it sound much more like an art project than a serious attempt to redesign the bike wheel: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/wow-bi...

> For starters, I can't see how it has any lateral grip.

I thought that too. He rides the bike in the video but notice that he only goes straight and makes no turns, doesn't accelerate or decelerate very fast. There's no way there's any traction there. Now if it were covered with rubber it might work nicely.

my immediate thought too. "Breaking on those things would be a real pain"

looks like I'm not alone

Even covered in rubber you'd have basically no traction when turning. Bicycle wheels are rounded so they still have a decent contact patch when turning.

Another big question is going to be its tendency to injure people whose extremities get caught in it or are scraped by it. Bicycle wheels are relatively benign compared to this design which looks like a grater or cookie cutter. Sure, you could round things, choose less nasty materials, etc., but the price is going to go way up.

I don't quite see the difference between metal spokes rotating at moderate RPMs and metal loops rotating at moderate RPMs.

Spokes must have a much bigger cross-section than those loops, making them less likely to cut you. Otherwise the loop wheels would be WAY heavier.

Imagine a cyclist riding into someone's leg with one of these wheels vs. a spoked wheel.

I'm guessing there aren't any brakes. That's the trendy way of doing fixed gear bikes.

Lateral grip could be created by coating the outer surface of the wheel with some sort of rubber. Rather than replacing rubber tires, you could just re-spray the wheels. Just a rough idea.

> I assume disk brakes are used, but that's left to the imagination.

it looks like a fixie to me. So skid stops or low speed cruising might be your only options.

Not to mention what would happen if you were hit a pothole and catch an edge.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com