One piece composite wheels

[Tony]

We've all seen these wheels on road bikes... can they make the leap to DH and or Freeride? Obviously, a 20mm through axle, double wides...etc. would be needed.

http://www.airglowpainting.com/images/bluespin.htm

Pros and cons to these wheels? Can't really say why I want to know this... just have a friend who wants to bring these kind of wheels to other markets other than road. I'm not a fan... but I don't really know that much about them.

Please let me know if I am not making sence.:high:

Thanx
T.

[inshane]

Those rims where designed and intended for mountain biking back when they where made, not for road biking. I used to see them on those lil dh bikes back in the day.
The carbon wheels that where made for road bikes where called spinergy wheels.
They looked like this!
http://seidelju.free.fr/composants_legers/Roue/roue-spinergy-revx_extra_lite_av_867g.jpg

Ps, the spinergy wheels have been known to explode on more than one occasion! http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/images/smilies/rofl.gif

[MarkV]

i dont think so because mountain bikes take so many hits, they would get a wobble in them sometime, and it would be impossible to get it out again.

[PegCityThrasher]

I dunno why you'd bother. Really, expensive, built in hub and you can't true them. Also they're carbon fiber so, if you were to crash and chip it or scratch it then the wheel's done. Also, I reckon sliding one of those Spinergy spokes sideways across a rock if you crashed would tear clean through it. There's a reason there was only a niche market (at the peak of their popularity) for those wheels. Spinergy IS still around although I don't think they make giant spoke carbon wheels. They do make spoked wheels with proprietary composite spokes. Skyway is also back with new Tuffwheels (rememeber those from the 80s). A graphite maodel is offerered in 20" and 24".
http://www.skywaywheels.com/products_003.htm

[jeremyb]

Grimeca have been making some for a long time now:

http://www.grimeca.it/eng/ruote/index.htm

[01shore_rida]

prone to explode yessss. i remember about 5 or 6 years ago riding sfu and finding pieces of a spinergy composite wheel on the trail. the thing was in several different pieces. pretty funny stuff.

[inshane]

Originally posted by MarkV
i dont think so because mountain bikes take so many hits, they would get a wobble in them sometime, and it would be impossible to get it out again. Dude I worked at a bikeshop back in the day and we sold spin wheels for mtb's. They also sold a 20" version for bmx racing. They are pretty tuff wheels.

[inshane]

Wana know a cool fact about those Skyway wheels? Say if you did manage to cause a lil side to side wobble or flat spot ect.. All you had to do is put the wheel into your freezer overnight and then in the morning the wheel would be completely true again :D

[drezy]

I didn't know that worked for the Tuffwheels. I had a set of Z-rims back in the day that spent many nights in the deep freeze.

[Coop]

How does that fix them?

[drezy]

Originally posted by Coop
How does that fix them? No idea. Honestly, I don't remember any miraculous straightening, but I was about 14 and word on the street was if you bent your Z-rims, you stuck them in the freezer and they would straighten out. So that's what I did (so did everyone else). Of course, you had to tighten the spokes daily because they flexed so much, but did they ever look cool.:thepimp:

[Tom P]

is it just me or would these look sweet on a cruiser :thepimp:

http://www.grimeca.it/img/fotobig/ruote/a5.jpg

[Tony]

Thanx for the input fellas. Basically my studio has been asked to create a marketing campaign for these same sort of wheels(...) but it's hard getting behind a product you know isn't going to fly. My big prolem with these wheels are the fact that if one part breaks.. the whole damn thing is shot... rims, hubs and all.

[sanrensho]

Originally posted by Tony
Thanx for the input fellas. Basically my studio has been asked to create a marketing campaign for these same sort of wheels(...)

You should be more upfront about the purpose of your post. Your best bet would be to target the race crowd, which is more attentive to new technologies in order to gain a performance advantage.

[Tony]

Originally posted by sanrensho
You should be more upfront about the purpose of your post. Your best bet would be to target the race crowd, which is more attentive to new technologies in order to gain a performance advantage.

It's not really specific to racing... freeride, dh... whatever. I just don't think this product is what riders are looking for at the moment. I got what I was lookin for.

T.

[hampstead bandit]

Wana know a cool fact about those Skyway wheels? Say if you did manage to cause a lil side to side wobble or flat spot ect.. All you had to do is put the wheel into your freezer overnight and then in the morning the wheel would be completely true again

that was an "urban myth" it didn't work because i ran both Simplex and Skyway composite wheels starting in 1983 on my BMX and we did try the "freezer" trick but it was a con..also it didn't do the bearings any favours ended up rusting after being covered with ice overnight :mad:


the ACS "Z" rims (Mike Buff's pro rim) were rubbish, they were so flexible they used to go out of true all the time and wheel flexed really bad under power

i even dug some out of storage for my flatland BMX in the early 90's and spent too many nights walking home as the rim would flex, 90psi of inner tube would escape and end up with "massive black sausage" sticking out of the tire, got some weird looks walking home carrying that!!

[xy9ine]

mad:
the ACS "Z" rims (Mike Buff's pro rim) were rubbish, they were so flexible they used to go out of true all the time and wheel flexed really bad under power
[/B]

way back in my grommit bmx days, i remember seeing a photo sequence of mike dropping a house roof to flat (!) with the z-rims - surprisingly they held up. the upside of those rims is that you couldnt permanently bend or dent them - you could grab an unbuilt rim & flex it several inches, they were that soft.

yeah, 80's bmx!
http://users.pandora.be/jjrbmx/hutch/HutchBuffACS.jpg

[oicdn]

^^^^ Whoa...that's an old ass picture....

Irememeber the only con to Spin wheels, wasn't that they broke, or dented, or anything...it was the hub was poo. And that the company didn't back up thier warranty.

But I had a set on my GT Box Series Mach One and they were the best wheels I've ever owned...well....not really, but you get the picture :D

[Alexey]

im not sure why spin isnt around anymore.. their wheels were great... im thinking of going those spingery wheels on my build.. they looks very sweet... the wade simmons ones

[oicdn]

Spin went out of business cause they were charging $700 for PLASTIC wheels whereas Spinergy was charging $600 for Carbonfiber, Skyway (I think that was them) was selling plastic Mags for $450, ACS had/has a set for $200 and GT...I can't remember the price.

They went out of business cause they didn't warranty thier products and charged to much.....that's my guess atleast. Try finding bearings for a set now...it's definitly hard.