Bike Anti-Porn - When Things Go Wrong

I did a little sketch to represent what I mean.... Why not make one of these for track riding? Just a simple sprocket to sprocket system for the drive and no need for seatstays, chainstays, chain, forks etc..... It could shorten the wheelbase quite a lot too.

I was thinking having a metal steerer with long bolt through it like with a normal ahead headset. Use that bolt to preload your tension and then tighten the "stem bolt" to hold the steerer in place. So the fork that is holding the wheel is acting like a (ahead style) stem too.

But to be honest I think those guys at Look with their new carbon frames have it figured out and the way they make that stem hinge should work in this case too.

Several reasons. Mostly the UCI wouldn't like it, but also making a drive to a centreless wheel is really hard when you have to gear up, you end up with a spur gear train which is dramatically less efficient than a simple roller chain as currently used. Centreless wheels also suffer from huge bearing friction compared with conventional hubs. Shortening the wheelbase is undesirable, as the front wheel would be off the ground even for a pursuit start, and the bike would be unmanageable for sprinting.

i have said it before and i will say it again, there is a very good reason bicycle design has never really changed since the two triangle was invented.

bike snob said it first. all these avante garde flashy design shits should stay out of something they know nothing about.