Loopwheels: reinventing the wheel
James Greig | April 16, 2013
Spokes? Pah. Who needs them…
New on Kickstarter today is a campaign from Jelly Products to fund production of their novel 20″ bicycle wheels, which have a unique feature: integral suspension.
Loopwheels use a conventional hub with a hub brake and gears but replace the usual spokes with a carbon composite spring system.
The result is up 45mm of play in the wheels “which gives an amazingly smooth, comfortable ride compared with a conventional spoked wheel”.
Sam Pearce, the product designer behind Loopwheels, acknowledges that it’s not a new idea, and has even researched the early 20th century patents to prove it.
Despite the fact that his take on the concept won’t fit every bike due to the clearances required, this is a product which I sincerely hope makes it to market.
Make a pledge on the Loopwheels Kickstarter Campaign and you can also bag yourself a rather smart technical jersey designed by Oli Pepper of Morvelo.
Posted to Journal
by James Greig
