Messing around lacing two rims together...

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So I got a bit bored tonight and decided to attempt something I have wanted to do for a while...
Lacing two rims side by side to a single hub with no welding or riveting the rims together, just relying on the force supplied by cross-laced spokes...

I stripped a front and rear wheel from a cheap department store BMX to their component pieces and decided to try make up a front wheel, Just lacing every second hole on each flange and every forth hole on each rim going from the near-side flange to the far-side rim, and then just filling the gaps at whatever length worked, in the end I had to use half the front wheel spokes and half the slightly shorter rear wheel spokes for the other lacing direction, but it came out pretty cool!

I then worked a tire and two tubes on to the wheel and slowly inflated each tube, switching between them regularly to ensure they stayed even, It all looked good until I noticed that one of the tubes was starting to push out between the two rims, that is a fail...

You could probably get away with just wrapping a round or two of gorilla tape over the rim joints and then doing the inflation, but I think I will just weld a few tacks in place on the rims and then tape them.

In the meantime, here are some pics of the wheel and the crazy lacing pattern:

20817224265_8fc5f45c61_z.jpg


20790935536_89f3aa40a4_z.jpg


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Still a cool wheel, but a failed attempt to build without welding, I will weld it up and it will appear on a bike somewhere, I might even use it for the coming MBBO...

Luke.
 
It would be!

The wheel came out at 65mm wide for those interested, I am half thinking about pulling one side off and redoing it 2 spoke holes around, that would look cool too, I am happy as it is, but it might be interesting to play with later on...

Luke.
 
You're both in my head.
Luke,I've thought of something similar for over a year.
Horsefarmer,I've also thought a dually trike would be cool.

Now I didn't think you could lace two rims to one hub and the wheel fit between fork legs,thought I'd have to build some sort of dual hub.
Now that I know this is possible,I'll just have to figure out how to make a reverse gear without buying a mobo shift.
 
Yeah tacklebox, I believe that I have seen someone use a lowrider hub and lace two rims together before. I don't think that Luke is concerned with hitting every hole so to speak. He is going for a unique looking spoke pattern.
 
So, depending on the WIDTH of the tire, there is some overhang on the rim... Do the two rims together on the inside, force the tires to overcompensate the overhang on the outside? Maybe you need a bit of spacer between the rims...

Carl.
 
I have thought about doing this as well. But instead of two tires I want to run Mongoose beast tires.
So, depending on the WIDTH of the tire, there is some overhang on the rim... Do the two rims together on the inside, force the tires to overcompensate the overhang on the outside? Maybe you need a bit of spacer between the rims...

Carl.
Just to clarify, I fitted up one tire with two tubes on to the wheel.

I just worked one side of the tire over the centre join, with a tube in each rim, it stretches the tire out nicely to each outer lip, but as the rims were not fixed to each other by any more than the crossed over spoke tension, the rims were pushed away from each other by the combined force of the tubes.

I should have got a photo with the tire on and inflated to explain it better, but it looked like it was ready to blow at any second, so I pulled the valves and disassembled it...

Luke.
 
OK, double layer taped it and reassembled it for pics...

1 standard BMX 20x2 Tire, 2 standard BMX tubes...

20854509081_f877a0cd38_z.jpg


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Compared to another 20x2 on a standard rim:

20224749764_23cdfdeb08_z.jpg


You probably could put two tires on, but I imagine they would seat a bit oddly as they would be pushed to the outside by the other tire, if you could somehow fit a spacer between the rims is would fix that issue, but then you are either welding or riveting something on which is what I was trying to avoid in this test...

Plenty of scope for experimentation there, which is the aim of the post to show, basically just pull some rims apart and try something, the worst that can happen is you waste some time and some junk tubes or tires... ;)

Luke.
 
That might actually work out with the no-more-flat solid tubes in the outer tires, and a regular tube in the center (or visa-versa)...........the wheels are turning.
 
That might actually work out with the no-more-flat solid tubes in the outer tires, and a regular tube in the center (or visa-versa)...........the wheels are turning.
Would it weaken the rim to much if you drilled two more valve holes evenly spaced for 3 tubes?
 
No, I don't think that it would weaken the wheel. But, I do think that the solid tubes might help anchor the assembly once the regular tube/tubes are aired up. I think with 3 air tubes on that setup, it would be very easy for one of them to migrate out from under the tire enough to get pinched under the tire sidewall.
 
Yeah cool stuff happening there... I like that FAT tire Luke, I wouldn't trust the tubes to inflate evenly though... That triple tire thing was neat, and I agree a solid tube inside the middle one would be be the best solution for the tubes drifting, maybe even some stitching between the tires to keep the center one from drifting.

carl.
 
I think Luke's experiment has a few of us thinking now.
The solid tubes make sense after thinking about it,and I agree with cman on tacking the rims together. However it would be nice if it could be done without welding.

I have some old 20" skinny tires and a spare occ rear wheel laying around,might see if I can squeeze four tires on there. If that works I might get another occ wheel and get stupid.
 

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