3 ms·
On a normal wheel, the bearings travel a much shorter distance than the wheel. On this wheel, the bearings travel the same distance as the wheel. That makes me
by matthiasl 17y ago
On a normal wheel, the bearings travel a much shorter distance than the wheel.
On this wheel, the bearings travel the same distance as the wheel. That makes me wonder if the friction due to bearings is much larger in this type of wheel. I have no idea if that's an important factor or not.
(A normal wheel is, say, 700mm diameter and the bearing race maybe 20 or 30mm, so the bearing surfaces move 20 or 30 times more slowly than the bicycle. On this spokeless bicycle, the bearing surfaces move at about the same speed as the bicycle.)
- IgorPartola 17y agoThat was my thought. A small amount of friction at the center of the rotation will be much less noticeable than the bearing being essentially on a lever at the edge of the wheel. Thus even small amounts of friction will make pedaling harder.
- pedalpete 17y agoNot only friction, but rotational weight. I would have to assume the rim in this design is much heavier than that of a spoked bicycle, and therefore you've moved the weight of inertia (?) to a point further from center axis. This takes more energy to spin.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]