[Jon]

Interesting (although very "conceptual") hubless wheel design:



The potential for improved braking systems was particularly interesting.

More info: OsmosWheel.com.

[home brew]

It was hard to tell from the site - do they have a working model or is it all just concept?

[tfeverfred]

Originally Posted by home brew

It was hard to tell from the site - do they have a working model or is it all just concept?

From what I could make of it, it seems to be in the experimental stages still, but that site seems old as a lot of the dates referenced are 2 to 3 years ago. It looks like it could work, but how many people would actually trust something so new at the beginning. Also, the fact that no one with big money has come forward to get involved makes me think that it may not be all that it claims to be.

On a side note, the DONKS will love it! LMAO

[powerrodsmike]

Swiss company just bought the patent from Frank Sbarro.
Lots of disadvantages. It truly isn't hubless, it just has a HUGE axle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubless_wheel

Billy lane used that technology also, I don't know if he stole the idea or bought rights to it also.

Remember this?



Later, mikey

[charley1]

its a wheel but i think i would want a hub connected to the axle...

charley1

[Twisted Minis]

Hate to tell you, but this is old news. Billy Lane has now built 3 "hubless" bikes. Amen Choppers also built one, and its been done on a car now that was at Sema last year. I actually started building one myself, and have the wheel finished with no drive system. Expensive bearings.

But saying that its hubless is actual not true. Its really a very large hub with a large, hollow axle.

[red65mustang]

been out for 5 years?

Amen's chopper pic attached

billy Lane got around the patent by driving the tire tread (rubber drive roller against the tread as a clutch)

[Jon]

I think the reason that this is making the rounds is that the Swiss company that bought the original patent for this type of wheel design appears to be making some rumblings that they're going to do something with it that's practical, rather than artistic or conceptual. To clarify, they didn't invent it, they just bought the patent -- "re-invent the wheel" is more of a saying.

[steve t]

cool bike, but i think the front tire is too big

[powerrodsmike]

Originally Posted by red65mustang

billy Lane got around the patent by driving the tire tread (rubber drive roller against the tread as a clutch)

Hahahaha, like a go-ped

Mikey

[powerrodsmike]

It seems to me that the advantages they speak of are mostly propoganda. Free up space? Cmon..

Check the wiki article I posted for some of the disadvantages.


I see it as being different, not better..


Later, mikey

[tfeverfred]

Originally Posted by powerrodsmike

It seems to me that the advantages they speak of are mostly propoganda. Free up space? Cmon..

Check the wiki article I posted for some of the disadvantages.


I see it as being different, not better..


Later, mikey

Different, not better!? That's Donk/Ricer talk!

[Nightfire]

Can you really patent a wheel drive system? Man the guy that patented the wheel in the first place must be rich
Billy and another biker have been in a huge fit over who came up with the idea first.


Mike

[steve t]

i wonder if the caveman ever got payed for the first wheel

[red65mustang]

mikey,
how it is best applied as a drive wheel is driving the rim itself (new thinking required)

you can buy a gas motor driven single hubless wheel vehicle......motor and seat are located in the empty center of the (?) 5' diameter hubless wheel...as an example....made in Norway?....was on Beyond Tomorrow/Science channel