• jamiehs@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I thought you wanted to reduce the unsprung mass on a motorcycle; that rear wheel looks really heavy. Looks difficult to service/change tires too.

    • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That is a good point when discussing vehicles that dont usually use hub motors, like electric motorbikes do anyway. I would much more critisize the spokeless design that is for sure based on an bunch of expensive and even worse, proprietary parts.

      • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        I was always under the impression that large bearing surfaces are much less efficient than small bearings in large wheels. It’d be neat if they figured out a maglev style bearing, but I think cold supercontuctors would be required

        There is a lot more friction surface, which is why we’ve never really reinvented the wheel.

        • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          My thought is just that the bearings are moving so much faster in a configuration like this. Normal bearings that are close to the hub usually have an inside diameter around 20-30 mm (for motorcycles, at least) and they only move as fast as the center of the wheel.