Spiral design wouldn't be very compliant in the vertical direction.

Or is that radial? :confused:

:confused: I think it would be MORE compliant . ... longer spring/spoke.

hmmm. . .I may have to actually think about this one. :eek:

I guess I'm a little confused on what you mean by "spiral".

I'm referring to radially laced bicycle wheels. They tend to be a lot more stiff in the vertical plane than wheels laced with double or triple crossed spokes. Lighter too.

somehow I just can't stop thinking that these were only produced this way to illustrate the technology. (we are a visual society, after all) I'm sure the production versions will have sidewalls. there is no reason for not having them

methinks those look sweet!

There is no need for a sidewall it doesn't add any strength to this optimized and tunable design. Besides a sidewall would just be more weight and they are already struggling with it being too heavy.

It is interesting how they could now tune the lateral grip separately from the ride harshness feel by changing the size and shape fo the inner plastic ribs.

It has some interesting potential to rid the world of spinners.

Mike

They look like regular tires after the sidewalls blow out.

They couldn't put sidewalls on 'em- retaining water at speeds would be disasterous. Same thing for compated ice in there.

rjp

dc914guy, Where are my CDmanuals??? I want them and I'm getting tired of waiting for you to send them. What's the problem?

Well alrighty then.

They can't transfer torque though (i.e. you can't radially lace a rear wheel).

hmmmm the spokes on these tires would be relatively stiff in the lateral direction, but 'bendy' from front-to-rear.

I would thnk that once they have sorted the weight issue maybe they would mould the tread and sidewall in one part in order to close the guts off. the sidewall wouldnot have to add much weight if its thin



Andy