Thanks for all the replies guys!
The bike is now on its way to Germany where it will be showed on the European Handmade Bicycle Show. I will be there as an "amateur". So Ive had a million things to do and arrange today...
Let me try and address some of the concerns there are in the comments here for you:
The stuctural concerns have been covered quite adequate by other competent members. The lefty is a proper example of single side wheel suspension, but there are others. If executed properly there should not be a reason for the construction to live up to expectations. That goes for the construction, and also for strains induced by the angle of the wheels etc.
Tire wear is a valid remark. The angle of the wheel is somewhere around 3-4 deg. That does change the wear patern on the tire. Most tires are made to be on cycles that go through corners and so the tires are made to have their structures set up to cope with stress and wear upto a certain angle, mostly upto 30 deg. or more. So that gives enough margin, but it sure is something to watch out for. And fortunately turning the tire around is done in a matter of minutes. (provided the tires are bidirectional. Good remark there)
Design vs Technology. The no-fork bike is not just a design exercise, at least it wasnt meant to ;-) Tester mentioned the camber steer, and that is certainly something that is present in wheels that are at an angle to the frame and would compromise the steering and straight line stability of a normal bike. But I mentioned that the bike rides like a normal bike and it does. I wont comment on my rider skills here, but I would like to stress that the No-Fork bike is not just a bike with its wheels mounted skew to the frame. And thats where it sets itself apart from being a design. It incorporates a very intricate technology (read geometry) that compensates the camber steer under all (well, almost all) circumstances. It has taken me a fair bit of time to adjust, discover and comprehend all the forces at work here. Design is not patant-able, technology is, and thats why i have applied for one.
last but not least the practical applications and advantages. The bike that ive made is the bike how I wanted it to be. The sheer simplicity of the (absence of) the front a rear forks is something that after a year still boggles my mind when looking at the bike. Ive seen people turning their eyeballs, and blinking their eye's to make sure that it is true what they are seeing... haha. Sometimes it takes more then 5 min for people to discover the wheels are at an angle! (srry, getting carried away here). The point is this bike is not made to show off the advantages and/or practical application. The technology however presents a new possibility. ie. it takes away the requirement (read constraint) that both wheels need to be in the vertical plane. And that should enable designers to come up with completely new designs! Probably some that I cant/havnt thought off. It can have a profounf influence on folding bike design, but maybe also transport cycles, or even electric cycles.. errr.
Have to catch a plane in cple hours, back on monday...
Thanks for all the replies guys!
The bike is now on its way to Germany where it will be showed on the European Handmade Bicycle Show. I will be there as an "amateur". So Ive had a million things to do and arrange today...
There are some more pics up on flickr(here) and a couple of video's on Vimeo(here).
Let me try and address some of the concerns there are in the comments here for you:
The stuctural concerns have been covered quite adequate by other competent members. The lefty is a proper example of single side wheel suspension, but there are others. If executed properly there should not be a reason for the construction to live up to expectations. That goes for the construction, and also for strains induced by the angle of the wheels etc.
Tire wear is a valid remark. The angle of the wheel is somewhere around 3-4 deg. That does change the wear patern on the tire. Most tires are made to be on cycles that go through corners and so the tires are made to have their structures set up to cope with stress and wear upto a certain angle, mostly upto 30 deg. or more. So that gives enough margin, but it sure is something to watch out for. And fortunately turning the tire around is done in a matter of minutes. (provided the tires are bidirectional. Good remark there)
Design vs Technology. The no-fork bike is not just a design exercise, at least it wasnt meant to ;-) Tester mentioned the camber steer, and that is certainly something that is present in wheels that are at an angle to the frame and would compromise the steering and straight line stability of a normal bike. But I mentioned that the bike rides like a normal bike and it does. I wont comment on my rider skills here, but I would like to stress that the No-Fork bike is not just a bike with its wheels mounted skew to the frame. And thats where it sets itself apart from being a design. It incorporates a very intricate technology (read geometry) that compensates the camber steer under all (well, almost all) circumstances. It has taken me a fair bit of time to adjust, discover and comprehend all the forces at work here. Design is not patant-able, technology is, and thats why i have applied for one.
last but not least the practical applications and advantages. The bike that ive made is the bike how I wanted it to be. The sheer simplicity of the (absence of) the front a rear forks is something that after a year still boggles my mind when looking at the bike. Ive seen people turning their eyeballs, and blinking their eye's to make sure that it is true what they are seeing... haha. Sometimes it takes more then 5 min for people to discover the wheels are at an angle! (srry, getting carried away here). The point is this bike is not made to show off the advantages and/or practical application. The technology however presents a new possibility. ie. it takes away the requirement (read constraint) that both wheels need to be in the vertical plane. And that should enable designers to come up with completely new designs! Probably some that I cant/havnt thought off. It can have a profounf influence on folding bike design, but maybe also transport cycles, or even electric cycles.. errr.
Have to catch a plane in cple hours, back on monday...