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:
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.
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:
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.