Information One Should Know About Wire Wheels

By Anna Collins


A wheel that has the connection between hubs and rims done by wires is referred to as a wire wheel. Wire-spoked, suspension, and tension-spoked wheel are the other names that are used to refer to it. Suspension wheel and vehicle suspension should not be confused because they are not the same thing. Wire wheels work by maintaining the form of the rims as they support the load. They are similar to tensioned flexible wires in the mechanism through which they work.

The invention of these products occurred in 1808 and was done by an aeronautical engineer by the name George Cayley. Even though Cayley proposed the product, its functioning, and its production, he never applied for a patent. A patent was later applied and issued to a Theodore Jones in London in October of the year 1826. The use of the product on bicycles was first patented by a French by the name of Eugene Meyer in the year 1969.

Bicycles were the first items on which these products were first successfully used on commercially. Their use shortly followed the adoption of rubber tires and invention of bicycles. When they were introduced, a lot of improvements that lacked before were introduced. The first improvements were increased comfort and the mount of load that could be supported.

The older wooden wheel was insufficient in a number of ways, especially since it lacked elasticity, something that prevented it from being able to absorb road variations. The early manufacturers of bicycles manufactured millions of tension-spoked wheel every year. They used the common crossed-spoke patterns in which crossings of adjacent spokes were determined by how many spokes were present. However, other patterns were also available including no-cross, one-cross, and two-cross.

The aforementioned patterns produce more stability and strength. Their usage has persisted for more than one century now. On the contrary, irregular patterns consist little structural merit and have mostly been considered to be art forms. Professional racing and Olympic games saw the first cast wheels containing 5-6 rigid spokes get introduced in the 80s. The introduction was for them to be used on specialized applications including time trials. Other applications remain widely performed by wire-spoked products.

Stainless steel is the main material used in production even though several other materials are also in use. Stainless steel is a preferred material because it is much stronger and elastic. Because of the strength of steel, the wheel remains un-deformed under great load. The Chinese have recently started producing products that are made from plastic.

A product varies in how many wires in can contain. The number can be very small or very large. The main determinant of the number of wires is use. Vehicles for instance would be expected to have products with more wires than in bicycles and motorcycles. Increasing the number of wheels often increase strength.

Beauty is one of the properties of these products. They are widely used on motorcycle because of their retro appearance. Today, the world has many producers who sell their products at different costs.




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