A Spokeless Bicycle

By John Farrier in Gadgets, Hacks & Mods on Feb 16, 2010 at 9:08 am

For a class project, nine mechanical engineering majors at Yale built a bicycle with a spokeless back wheel. One of them, redditor zhoalander, described the design in a thread at reddit:

It’s a single speed setup. We used two cranks and two bottom brackets in the front to gear up the ratio. It goes from (IIRC) 53 to a 13, which is connected to the second crank and another 53 which connects to the rear hub. The rear hub is just a normal ratcheting rear hub that we mated to our belt pulley. Not sure if all these bike terms are right, but that’s the general idea.

The front wheel would be almost exactly the same as the rear wheel except that it could be a little lighter. Some of the aluminum can be shaved off since there’s no powertrain to connect to.

At the top of the thread, there are imgur links to more pictures of the bike.

Link via CrunchGear

Tags: bicycle, Yale University

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PK
Feb 16th, 2010 at 10:57 am
BMX is faster:
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/chain-free-bmx-concept-promises-a-silen t-and-comfortable-ride/
stripofil
Feb 16th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
It’s been done before…
Much better & more eye friendly…

@http://www.behance.net/Gallery/bike/111883
MrMichael
Feb 16th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Both of those are just renderings. This is the real deal.
Damon
Feb 16th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Is it just me or did they forget a kickstand? hmmmm….
robt
Feb 16th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Billy Lane’s Choppers Inc. anyone? Motorcycle builder with a mechanical engineering degree has been building hubless motorcycles for years.
NorwegianBlue
Feb 16th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Reinventing the wheel? We don’t need it. The modern bicycle has evolved gradually for over a century and that’s why it works so damned well in all it’s variants. From a downhill monster to a track bike.

The only thing really holding back development is the UCI. Silly rules like having to have both wheels the same size and contstraints on riding positions do limit development.

However this is a redesign for the sake of a redesign and does nothing to improve the breed.
Cola
Feb 16th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
OH NO, Someone had an idea that wasn’t OMG %100 ORIGINAL ™! That makes them a HACK. MY DAY IS RUINED!

people should never do anything I guess.
larry english
Feb 17th, 2010 at 9:53 am
spokeless
yawn
bad idea
how is this better?

wle
Foreigner1
Feb 17th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
This is a class-project. So they did it for school and it was mainly done just to prove that they could make a working model instead of only the umptenth virtual rendering. So it lacks a bit on the design. So it lacks a bit on the refinement. But they did it and it works. And they are a mechanical engineering class. Not a design-class.

So I take my hat off for these people. Neat!
ted
Feb 19th, 2010 at 7:24 am
The point being…?
Bruce
Feb 20th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Maybe not as pretty (as the virtual rendering!) but it looks like a better design from what I can see. The rear load is centered over the wheel, rather than the rendered design which would put a pretty significant prying force on the wheel. I would love to see these in action. Maybe not an immediate benefit over a spoked wheel, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. nice job!

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