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US 2013/0033094 A1Published application
Bicycle wheel having flexible spokes
OwnerTimothy Lubeckiinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A spoked wheel is described that uses flexible spokes having a termination on each end that couple with a rim using nipples. The flexible spokes are supported mid-span by a hub flange cradle that transfers torque from the hub to the rim via two sub-spokes. The hub flange cradle determines whether a sub-spoke is tangential or radial. A plurality of spokes may be used on each side of the wheel.
Claims14
A bicycle wheel comprising:
- a wheel rim having a predefined even number n of locations that receive spoke ends along an inner circumference, the rim further having a surface for attachment of a bicycle tire;
- a rotatable wheel hub comprising a hub body positioned approximately at a rotational center of the wheel rim and two flanges separated by a predefined axial distance along the hub body;
- and
- s carbon fiber spokes, where
- s
- =
- n
- 2
- ,
- wherein each carbon fiber spoke has two ends, each end received at a rim location and is supported mid span by a groove in one of the hub flanges that defines the geometry of each mid span to rim location spoke length as tangential or radial.
7 more elements
An aerodynamic spoked wheel comprising:
- a wheel rim having a predefined even number of spoke couplings along an inner circumference, the wheel rim further having a surface for attachment of a bicycle tire;
- a rotatable wheel hub comprising a hub body positioned approximately at a rotational center of the wheel rim, the rotatable wheel hub having a predefined number of hub flange cradles formed thereon;
- and
- a predefined number of tangential flexible spokes, wherein each flexible spoke has a termination on each end that couple with the wheel rim and is supported mid span by one hub flange cradle.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.