Another reinvention of the wheel with integrated shock absorbers

Loopwheel - a wheel with springs To reinvent a

wheel or a bicycle means to invent in vain what has long been known. Is it possible to really invent a fundamentally new wheel? British designer Sam Pierce believes that you can. He managed to make a Loopwheel wheel that absorbs vibration and shock, which can be used in bicycles and wheelchairs.

The idea came to the designer in 2007. Once on the street he saw a typical picture - a woman pushing a stroller with a child sitting in it. The carriage hit the curb with a wheel - and the child fell forward. And Pierce thought - is it possible to integrate depreciation directly into the wheel? Having made a sketch of a possible design, he put it in a long drawer for a couple of years. According to him, at that moment he had little idea how to do this, and ideas began to come to him gradually.

Two years later, when the ideas completely defeated the inventor, he made a wheel of plywood, cut the watering hose into strips and began to experiment. Soon, he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to use strong and at the same time flexible material as springs that could withstand long-term loads and deformation. The engineer guessed to ask the manufacturers of onions for help - these are the characteristics that are inherent in modern onions.



Together, they picked up a composite carbon material that met all the wheel cushioning requirements. The resulting wheels can be used not only in bicycles, but also in wheelchairs - it is very difficult for many patients to endure vibration and shock when riding on uneven surfaces.



Attempts to absorb the wheel have been made for a long time. The well-known wheel with flexible steel spokes, invented back in the 19th century, has some depreciation characteristics. In 2014, an Israeli startup SoftWheels announced the development of a wheel that uses three pressure shock absorbers instead of spokes - a design more complex and capricious than carbon springs. Now I could not find this wheel for sale, although it was promised to be released at the end of 2014 at a price of $ 2000 per pair.


Israeli SoftWheel

But Loopwheel can already be bought on the official website. Prices net of VAT start at £ 258 per wheel ($ 380 or 21,000 rubles at the exchange rate on April 9). It also offers bicycle forks adapted for it, and even assembled bicycles. If this wheel really absorbs shock, we will soon be able to see its spread along with a decrease in cost.