carbon kevlar wire frame bike

[whatever]

Not sure if has been posted before but came across a bike frame that uses carbon frame and kevlar cord in tension,
it reduces amount of frame required, quite interesting to see which parts of the frame can be replaced by cord in tension
thats if the design actually works



http://www.gizmag.com/wire-frame-bike-carbon-fiber-kevlar-cables/11187/
and
http://www.gadgetreview.com/2009/03/kevlar-and-carbon-fiber-wire-frame-bike.html

 

[Hillhater]

nice idea for weight reduction...
...BUT it wont improve the torsional rigidity much above that of a limp lettuce leaf !!
..and worse still,..its only a designers dream on a computer design.
If people actually spent their efforts making real objects, they would soon realize how impractical most of their CAD dreams are !

 

[neptronix]

^---so true!!!

 

[gogo]

nice idea for weight reduction...
...BUT it wont improve the torsional rigidity much above that of a limp lettuce leaf !!
…

Depends on how much tension the cords are under, doesn't it? They could have X'ed or triangulated some of those wires for less needed tension, but maybe it works as is.

I made a wheelie bar for my motorcycle drag bike that had 2 steel tubes in compression and 4 steel cables in tension and it worked great. On that design I actually wanted a wee bit of torsional flex, so the pre-tension wasn't huge.

[EDIT]
It seems this has already been done with older materials.
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/dtwitchett6.jpg

 

[liveforphysics]

We made one like that for fun, but with no top cable.

[youtube]Jhmajgy7dYM[/youtube]

 

[whatever]

thats quite a bike
another pic from the net