Foldable wheel

[Sector]

It has always been a problem with folding bikes that the wheels cannot be folded. Here is an interesting proposal to get over this difficulty.

duncfitz- Crossbreed folding wheel

The tyres remain inflated when the wheel is folded.

Lets hope that this leads the design of folding bikes away from those incredibly small wheels, which must make the bikes twitchy to ride and disater prone with even the smallest potholes.

 

[Haku]

I like the concept however I don't think I'd feel safe riding on a bike where the wheels are designed to collapse, especially with the potholes I have to conciously avoid on my daily routes.

Gloucestershire roads are the pits, literally which is why I wish my Urban Mover was full suspension, when I decided I wanted an ebike I looked at full suspension ebikes in my price range but they all looked ugly and were from little known manufacturers.

 

[Sector]

Potholes

Yes, some of the roads I use in Leicester are getting to be very pitted recently.

Where the roads have been patched the surface still has ridges and hollows. A supspension seatpost takes out some of the shocks but it can be very unpleasant if you don't examine every metre of road in front of you and take avoiding action when necessary.

I've been considering a Thudbuster recently, but they seem to be very expensive for what appears to be quite a simple linkage with a lump of elastomer to absorb the shocks.

 

[flecc]

Interesting idea.

Personally I'm happy with riding 20" wheels for the great majority of my cycling, and there's a few million Minis and mopeds running around on wheels of about that diameter and less, so there's not too much wrong with that.

On a bike I find 16" wheels like those on the Brompton a bit limiting, but the Henshaw Family of A to B magazine fame happily travel by train and three Bromptons all over the country.

Given that, plus the fact that these folding wheels will be very much heavier than standard ones, I can't see them appearing on folding bikes where weight is crucial.
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[Sector]

20 inch wheels

I bought a Brompton and loved the Swiss watch engineering and innovative folding method. I did a few hundred miles on it, but after the novelty wore off it was pushed to the back of the garage and never used. I never enjoyed the ride, and I think the small wheels were mostly to blame. Bromptons are a wonderful compromise between portability and rideability for those that need it, but with 16 inch wheels the ride is definately compromised.

By contrast, I've done thousands of miles of happy cycling on 20 inch wheels. I currently have both 20 and 26 in wheeled E-bikes and at the present I'm tending to favour the smaller wheels.

I've never used a 20 inch push-bike, but there seems to be a following for 20 inch Raleigh folding bikes. I'm currently looking for a cheap one to see if a relatively large man can actually pedal one of those and get some fun out of it.

 

[Mussels]

That's quite interesting but I suspect like the airless tyres they would be disappointing. Also when they are folded they are still big, just egg shaped.

 

[Diesel City Tracker]

I suspect that any folding wheel will lose stiffness and rigidity. Also wouldn't fancy using rim brakes, if they can be fitted. Good to see that inventiveness is alive and well though.