Thanks gents, appreciate the feedback.
It all depends on what you want to build the bike for and how much power your looking at.
Anything from a strong road racing cycling wheel could be used if you want aero and less drag.
Thought the 100kg in the title might give it away
Electric race bike to TTXP rules....
looking at about 40kW. But I thought the wight of the bike would have more to do with the tyre and wheel choice rather than the power of the bike no? I can get as the power increases there would be more forces on the front wheel, but making the front wheel strong enough, should not be an issue. But if the tyres are designed for a much heavier bike, then I will not get the heat into them that I need right? I assumed that would be more of a consideration.
Assuming its a light weight motorcycle racing bike like a 125cc 2-stroke I personally wouldnt even think of anything else except a common 17'' rim with motorcycle forks. Pirelli do a 100/70r-17 slick, check out what the other big manufacturers do and what the 125cc and 250cc 2 strokes are running.
I will check this out. Thanks!
Be careful not to over engineer things and change things just because you can. The big bike makers and racers have perfected those rim and tyre sizes over many years of racing. A tyre and rim size will affect things like contact patch size and Trail which will have way bigger afftcts than aero considering you can always use a cowling for aero.
Sensible advice, thanks. It is very much at the front of my mind, hence I wanted to open up a discussion about it. I guess what is relevant here is what advantages might come from a smaller diameter wheel? Obviously if other conditions are the same, track etc. It would be a ground up build so track can be adjusted fro wheel size.
What sort of purpose/performance/power/handling are you shooting for?
If you plan to race on tracks designed for motorcycles and cars I'd stick to wheel size, tyres & wheelbase from current Moto3 or the previous 125cc GP class. Those bikes weigh 70-85kg dry, have 40kW+ and hit ~230km/h. They may have limited tyre/rim choice in Moto3 but performance on the allowable equipment is still amazing.
Right on, I am shooting to replicate around moto3 performance.
I guess the discussion I am trying to open up here is, what would "hypothetically" be the ideal front wheel? Moto GP bikes are tall because they need to be. The engine is a foot tall. An electric bike could be a totally different geometry, not just one that is inherited from gas machines. But this discussion is not about that, that is just some context for the question. If we were not worrying about geometry (of the bike) and thinking of the wheel in isolation, what would the best be?
Inside of that, far smaller wheels like the tiny mini moto seem like they would have a lot of advantages. Less wight, far stronger, less force on the bearings, meaning smaller bearings, meaning better quality or cheaper. Contact patch would be reduced due to a smaller diameter sure, but could that be made up with a wider tyre?
I know there are probably too many variables to make this conversation sane, and I am happy to just accept concepts and hypothisis. As we know, the only way to really tell what is best, is actually running the different front wheels and seeing which gives a lower lap time. With that being said though, i think there is plenty to be explored hypothetically on the subject yet. At least for me, as this topic is something I have no experience with. It may be that the moto3 tyres are just far more advanced than any other options and despite any advantages of a smaller wheel, it does not out weigh the disadvantages of inferior tyres...
Thanks again for the input gents, look forward to more of it
View attachment Sava Min Moto Tyres.pdf
