Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
Yes, it seems wheel damage is often confined to the flanges where the beads are and the exterior (curb rash). And I certainly see the good in a larger diameter. Just make it so that the local teenage tire jockey isn't likely to damage it while manhandling the rims on the tire changing and balancing machines. Actually, make sure the rims will FIT on standard tire changing equipment.
Speaking of tires, what is the strategy for dealing with flats? Does the spare have a motor on it too? If you run snow tires on their own rims now do you have to stop doing that and change tires on the rims 2x/year, or are the rim components cheap enough to make multiples affordable?
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Fair enough, and thanks again for your insights.
Local kid at the tire shop could be neutralized by use of a plastic sleeve during wheel installation, maybe a curved piece of coroplast so he does not bugger the facing parts during mount-up.
Modification to the wheel is simply the attachment of the permanent magnets. I don't know how expensive such permanent magnets are, but don't suppose they'd cost all that much, nor the electromagnets in the MTSU video, which look like thread spools. Surely the major portion of the ~$3K projected cost is for the controller, computer brain, and labor of installation. I've not read about the MIT wifi thingy yet, will do so with great curiousity, if such makes for a good, cheap controller device.
BTW, I've been wondering for months about converting a bicycle wheel accordingly, with the magnets held in place on the rim by the spoke mounts and/or JB Weld, and the electromagnets attached to the frame wheel support struts, so a magnet passes an electromagnet every few degrees of rotation of the wheel, getting a pulse with each passage. Somebody on the net says their bike conversion kit winds up with ~30 mile range and only a few cents per day of electricity, so I wonder how it might work if applied to a streamliner bike, i.e., Varna Diablo, and what sort of range
that might get for the same juice.... Make both wheels motors, dispense with the crank/chain stuff, and ride to work for cheap.