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US 8,313,154 B2Granted
Bicycle wheel having flexible spokes
OwnerTimothy Lubeckiinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims10
A bicycle wheel having flexible spokes 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;
- each flexible spoke is a cable having a length defined by two end terminations, wherein a termination couples with a spoke coupling;
- and
- a rotatable wheel hub comprising:
- a hub body positioned approximately at a rotational center of the wheel rim;
- a left flange separated by a predefined axial distance along the hub body from a right flange, the left and right flanges extend radially outward toward the wheel rim from the hub body and have a radial edge;
- a left flange outer surface that converges towards the wheel rim spoke couplings and a right flange outer surface that converges towards the wheel rim spoke couplings;
- and
- means for securing a respective flexible spoke onto one of the left and right flange outer surfaces.
6 more elements
A bicycle wheel having flexible spokes 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;
- each flexible spoke is a cable having a length defined by two end terminations, wherein a termination couples with a spoke coupling;
- and
- a rotatable wheel hub comprising:
- a hub body positioned approximately at a rotational center of the wheel rim;
- a left flange separated by a predefined axial distance along the hub body from a right flange, the left and right flanges extend radially outward toward the wheel rim from the hub body and have a radial edge;
- a left flange inner surface that converges towards the wheel rim spoke couplings and a right flange inner surface that converges towards the wheel rim spoke couplings;
- and
- means for securing a respective flexible spoke onto one of the left and right flange inner surfaces.
6 more elements
A wheel hub comprising:
- a hub body;
- a left flange separated by a predefined axial distance along the hub body from a right flange, the left and right flanges extend radially from the hub body and have a radial edge;
- and
- a left flange outer surface that converges towards a wheel median plane which is orthogonal to a hub axis midpoint and a right flange outer surface that converges towards the wheel median plane;
- and
- means for securing a respective flexible spoke onto one of the left and right flange outer surfaces, wherein the flexible spoke is a cable.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.