Anybody else have a fascination for unusual and esoteric engineering? My cupboards are full of oddball bits of kit that reflect a lifelong interest in engineering oddities.
I'm going to offload a few of the cycling related goodies in coming weeks, as previous plans, ideas and mere thoughts of what I want out of my bikes finally crystallise into something rideable.
Surplus to my requirements are these strange but effective marriages of mechanical and chemical engineering, which takes CNC'd alloy hubs, lightweight alloy rims, and connects the two together with a bunch of plastic shoelaces... Not just any shoelaces though. Each of these particular spokes comprise 30,000 hair thin strands of polyphenylene bensobisoxazole fibre (or Zylon). This is the same stuff used in formula one for wheel tethers, which prevent wheels flying off of cars in crashes, and as an anti-penetration lining for the drivers cockpit, and after Felipe Massa copped Rubens Barichello's rear shock in his face in 2009, it's in the protective layer across the tops of the drivers visors too. This is seriously strong stuff...
These spokes are as bendy as spaghetti, yet have a tensile strength of 1.7 tonnes each. You could dangle a Ford Mondeo from one of them, so when tightened into a rim they form an extremely stiff and very strong wheel, that rides really nicely and damps trail vibrations really well, spookily so in fact, far less buzz seems to get through these wheels than any of my others. They're also rather light...
These wheels are black and "look at me!" yellow, which is one of those colours that is like marmite in its divisiveness. It's either anathema to you, in which case you might be the conservative, shy, or retiring type, or you might be a little bit flamboyant, a bit of a show off, or like a bit of attention, in which case you'll love them...
These wheels aren't perfect. They've been used. As such the decals on the rims have a bit of gravel rash, and a few of the spokes have cracks in the protective plastic cladding where they cross the other spokes (2 cross lacing). The worst of these is where a spoke on the drive side of the rear wheel has had an argument with the chain at some point, which has then gone on to take a bit of the colour out of the rear hub on the drive side. The hub scratches are hidden behind the cassette in use, and are of no consequence. The spokes are not affected in strength or tension one iota by damaged cladding, just so long as you cover them up. You see, whilst Zylon is quite literally bulletproof, it does have a kryptonite in the form of Ultra Violet light. The cracked sheathing lets in the light, so my solution to this has been to cover the cracks with a small piece of yellow electrical tape. The tape renders the cracks both lightproof, and almost invisible to the naked eye.
The freehub is in excellent order, and is a piece of pi55 to service. The wheels are true, and in fact seem to be practically unbendable in normal use. I admit though, I don't go mad on the trail. I'm heavy, I'm usually clumsy, and I have the all the grace and precision in motion of a drunk three legged donkey. I also pay my own dentist bills and thus tend to stick to nice gentle, gravelly trails that aren't likely to land me in hospital, trying to identify classic MTB components on XRays.
So, when the hell is going to get to the bloody point and tell us what he wants for these fine pieces of engineering oddity, I hear at least one of you quietly wonder? Well, the voices in my head would like to see most of what I paid for them back, since they like to consider themselves shrewd with money and it was them that made me buy them in first place...
So, £130 posted in the UK...
The wheels do come with the necessary axle end caps to fit them to normal quick release frames. I just forgot to photograph them. They're sized at 26", they're yellow, and most importantly, round. The front wheel bearings are bit grumbly, so I'll include a fresh set for your edification.
And courtesy of Google images, for your reference here's another set of the same wheels on a bike...
Edit. These are now sold.
I'm going to offload a few of the cycling related goodies in coming weeks, as previous plans, ideas and mere thoughts of what I want out of my bikes finally crystallise into something rideable.
Surplus to my requirements are these strange but effective marriages of mechanical and chemical engineering, which takes CNC'd alloy hubs, lightweight alloy rims, and connects the two together with a bunch of plastic shoelaces... Not just any shoelaces though. Each of these particular spokes comprise 30,000 hair thin strands of polyphenylene bensobisoxazole fibre (or Zylon). This is the same stuff used in formula one for wheel tethers, which prevent wheels flying off of cars in crashes, and as an anti-penetration lining for the drivers cockpit, and after Felipe Massa copped Rubens Barichello's rear shock in his face in 2009, it's in the protective layer across the tops of the drivers visors too. This is seriously strong stuff...
These spokes are as bendy as spaghetti, yet have a tensile strength of 1.7 tonnes each. You could dangle a Ford Mondeo from one of them, so when tightened into a rim they form an extremely stiff and very strong wheel, that rides really nicely and damps trail vibrations really well, spookily so in fact, far less buzz seems to get through these wheels than any of my others. They're also rather light...
These wheels are black and "look at me!" yellow, which is one of those colours that is like marmite in its divisiveness. It's either anathema to you, in which case you might be the conservative, shy, or retiring type, or you might be a little bit flamboyant, a bit of a show off, or like a bit of attention, in which case you'll love them...
These wheels aren't perfect. They've been used. As such the decals on the rims have a bit of gravel rash, and a few of the spokes have cracks in the protective plastic cladding where they cross the other spokes (2 cross lacing). The worst of these is where a spoke on the drive side of the rear wheel has had an argument with the chain at some point, which has then gone on to take a bit of the colour out of the rear hub on the drive side. The hub scratches are hidden behind the cassette in use, and are of no consequence. The spokes are not affected in strength or tension one iota by damaged cladding, just so long as you cover them up. You see, whilst Zylon is quite literally bulletproof, it does have a kryptonite in the form of Ultra Violet light. The cracked sheathing lets in the light, so my solution to this has been to cover the cracks with a small piece of yellow electrical tape. The tape renders the cracks both lightproof, and almost invisible to the naked eye.
The freehub is in excellent order, and is a piece of pi55 to service. The wheels are true, and in fact seem to be practically unbendable in normal use. I admit though, I don't go mad on the trail. I'm heavy, I'm usually clumsy, and I have the all the grace and precision in motion of a drunk three legged donkey. I also pay my own dentist bills and thus tend to stick to nice gentle, gravelly trails that aren't likely to land me in hospital, trying to identify classic MTB components on XRays.
So, when the hell is going to get to the bloody point and tell us what he wants for these fine pieces of engineering oddity, I hear at least one of you quietly wonder? Well, the voices in my head would like to see most of what I paid for them back, since they like to consider themselves shrewd with money and it was them that made me buy them in first place...
So, £130 posted in the UK...
The wheels do come with the necessary axle end caps to fit them to normal quick release frames. I just forgot to photograph them. They're sized at 26", they're yellow, and most importantly, round. The front wheel bearings are bit grumbly, so I'll include a fresh set for your edification.
And courtesy of Google images, for your reference here's another set of the same wheels on a bike...
Edit. These are now sold.
