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Mentioned on the Bespoked thread, but probably deserving of their own discussion.
[url= http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1205277475/loopwheels-for-a-smoother-more-comfortable-bicycle ]Look pretty cool, no?[/url]
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Interesting to read that the carbon springs are being made by a bow maker.
Interesting idea. Couldn't see anything in the link about how it copes with different rider weights, i.e. adding some sort of preload.
Would a heavier rider deform it too much to be of any use?
guessing there's not much 'give' in them or the tyre clearance/gap to frame would mean a specific frame/fork wouldn't it?
That is mentioned in the write-up -hp_source - Member
guessing there's not much 'give' in them or the tyre clearance/gap to frame would mean a specific frame/fork wouldn't it?
You need there to be a minimum of 260mm from the front wheel axis (the centre of the hub) to the underside of the fork, and from the rear wheel axis to any part of the bike frame, in order to fit loopwheels to your bike.
How do you keep them true? Can't exactly fiddle with spoke tension so assume its a gert big stiff heavy rim?
I rather like the morvelo jersey based on the wheel.
why would it need to be true? 😉
As long as the carbon blades are mounted soundly enough to keep it straight enough to not rub the frame, then that's sufficient.
I had a chat with the designer at bespoked and asked similar questions. He has a design in hand to deal with preload - potentially on the fly.
Rear triangle clearance is the biggest problem on larger wheels unless he develops a custom frame. I think he said he could get around 2" of suspension out of the larger ones which puts it in softail territory.
clearly at this stage its not really for performance mountain bikes, but probably suits the 20" market quite well. I reckon BMXs could be a hoot with them 🙂
These seem a lot betterer than the other cycling kickstarter phenomena, the Z-crank...
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Daft!
DrP