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US 8,794,714 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.
Claims12
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 fiber spokes, where
- s
- =
- n
- 2
- ,
- wherein each fiber spoke has two ends, each end received at one of the predefined even number n of locations that receive spoke ends and is supported mid span by a hub flange groove having a predefined three-dimensional curve that extends between first and second groove ends 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 non-rigid spokes, wherein each non-rigid spoke has a termination on each end that couple with one of the predefined even number of spoke couplings and is supported mid span by one hub flange cradle that extends as a three-dimensional curve between first and second cradle ends.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.