[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Traded reduced aero drag for increased rolling resistance?

Rear wheel looks to be conventional with covered spokes.

Front wheel looks to ride on four roller bearings in lieu of a central hub.

I don't know anything about this bike, but research into it's rolling resistance seems warranted.

2010
A hubless wheel from the past: The Black Hole
https://bicycledesign.net/2010/03/a-...he-black-hole/

What better time to revisit a couple of old posts about a hubless wheel, which (I believe) actually went into production for a short time in the mid 90s. The picture you see above is an early prototype of the Black Hole hubless wheel system from “Wear and Tear”. According to the company, this assembly weighed about a pound less than a conventional fork and wheel. Sounds great…why didn’t it catch on?

To the left, you can see a later prototype of the Black Hole. Obviously, the designers were a little too optimistic with that large opening in the previous prototype. I am not sure what happened to Wear and Tear, but I have my doubts that this later prototype was lighter than the average conventional fork and wheel that was available at the time.

2018
The weirdest bike on eBay right now — $15,000 of retro aero tech
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/t...tro-aero-tech/

As revealed in an interview with our frenemies at BikeRumor, the wheel was the first product developed by Paul Lew — a key figure and an influential aerodynamicist at Reynolds Wheels.

As far as I understand, the rim has a track embedded into its inner circumference. This runs on three track rollers that are fitted along the bottom edge of the inner supporting structure. An additional roller sits at the top of this structure to ensure the rim stays aligned.

Ride reports from the time claim that the ride quality of the Black Hole was remarkably normal, though was said to be incredibly noisy, with the whole structure reverberating and amplifying vibrations on rough surfaces.

Performance wise, the system was claimed to have roughly the same characteristics of a disc wheel.

Racing is known banning innovation as soon as it gives one team an advantage over the meritocracy.

In 1994, the wheel was ridden by Bryan Walton on the track in the 4,000m individual pursuit and it was ridden to further success at Kona, setting a number of split time records there.

Performance needn’t have mattered though as, according to the interview, less than 100 units were sold and the wheel system was banned by the UCI not long after launch.

From a link in the above article.

2012
How to Break Into the Cycling Industry – Reynold’s Aerodynamics Expert Paul Lew
https://bikerumor.com/2012/10/25/how...pert-paul-lew/

It took us about three years, and in 1993 we started selling them. It was exciting, but very radical. For most people, it was interesting, but not something they’d buy. In 1994, Bryan Walton, a former 7-11/Motorola/Saturn pro cyclist started working with us and started racing the wheel in the 4000m individual pursuit. Then Jurgen Zack, a triathlete that set the bike split record at Kona several times, was going to race it, too, but the UCI banned it calling it an unfair advantage. So, that was the end of the Black Hole wheel. We shut the company down. We sold less than 100 wheels, but people still have them.

I found this part of the interview interesting.

BIKERUMOR: What’s your educational background?

LEW: In 1985, I got a bachelors of science in mechanical engineering from the US Naval Academy. In 1989 I finished a bachelors of Architecture. The formal education in fluid dynamics, which is a broader category than aerodynamics, pertains to air. For example, when I use the CFD program to design bicycle wheels, I have to choose the medium (air, water, oil, etc.). As far as architecture, prior to learning how to put a structure together, there’s a period where you focus solely on design. The first two years of the program are highly focused on design. We take art, sculpting and drawing classes. We design a lot of things other than buildings. Things like cases for small items, bicycles, medical equipment, etc. Then, that’s integrated into how bricks, steel and wood go together, stress loading and the nuts and bolts of it. It’s a nice way to complement my engineering education. It really helped me with design.