New wheel for your bicycle: The Copenhagen wheel • Hacker News Board

Re: New wheel for your bicycle: The Copenhagen wheel

#21

Post by jhancock » Sun, Dec 27, 2009, 5:36 PM UTC

ax0n wrote: post #3

It's not that this isn't cool, because the gadget factor is pretty high... but normal (read: average fat American) people don't need this. I'm a 230 pound dude. I'm probably 20-30% body fat. Heck, maybe more. I've put 5,000 miles on a normal bicycle in one year, including a 130+ mile ride in one single day on a mountain bike. I bicycle commute year round in Kansas City. This time of year I ride to the bus stop (5-7 m…

Very impressive commuter story. I'm way too much of a cold wimp to ride a bike in winter.

Re: New wheel for your bicycle: The Copenhagen wheel

#22

Post by 10ren » Mon, Dec 28, 2009, 6:20 AM UTC

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #14

10ren wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it stored energy when braking, it would be more efficient. But on my bike, I only really brake in rare situations, for safety reasons (cars); unfortunately, friction automatically supplies adequate braking for me. I also choose paths that minimize braking. I guess it's possible that that might change if I had a bike that efficiently stored/applied energy, so that it was as if the braking hadn't occurred. But I don…

It's only more efficient if it regenerates enough energy from braking to compensate for the extra weight you're carrying which is highly unlikely, particularly extra weight on a wheel since that requires 1.5-2 times the energy to shift compared with the same mass added to the frame ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance#Kinetic_ene... ). You might still benefit if you need an electrical boost provided by…

Oh gimmick it is. It's just that the spring-sprung-brake concept has fascinated me since I was 5 yo. It would be cool to make this work; if sufficiently light, it would be a net win.

Re: New wheel for your bicycle: The Copenhagen wheel

#23

Post by brc » Tue, Dec 29, 2009, 10:42 AM UTC

Just why would anyone really want to measure pollution on their ride. It's like measuring the temperature : interesting to know but precious little is added by the accuracy. You don't need to know the exact temperature to know when to put on a coat, you don't need to know the Nox readings to tell if one path has more pollution than another. Pointless gold plating.