06-04-2014, 14:20
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no bag, vex only, final destination
AKA: Pinecone
 FRC #0228 (GUS Robotics); FRC #2170 (Titanium Tomahawks) Team Role: Mentor
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Rookie Year: 2006
Location: Glastonbury, CT
Posts: 7,670
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Re: Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
Honestly, with the number of COTS options it's hard to go wrong here.
KoP wheels are fine. Cheap, easy to use. Not the grippiest but good enough to get you going, and better than past options.
Colsons are a very good grip and very low maintenance wheel. You will not need to replace your competition robot's wheels within a regular season. They aren't too expensive even with the hubs. Main drawback is weight.
Treaded traction wheels (either VexPro Traction or AM Performance) combined with roughtop tread are the best commonly available off the shelf traction solution. The gains in traction come with the cost of regular maintenance as these wheels require tread changes fairly often. Expect to change tread at least a few times a season.
Ultimately, I think Colsons are close enough to optimal that they're the best option for a lot of teams and drivetrains, but really any of the above can work. I have heard good things about VersaWheels but I do not have first hand experience.
__________________
Mentor / Drive Coach: 228 (2016-?)
...2016 Waterbury SFs (with 3314, 3719), RIDE #2 Seed / Winners (with 1058, 6153), Carver QFs (with 503, 359, 4607)
Mentor / Consultant Person: 2170 (2017-?)
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College Mentor: 2791 (2010-2015)
...2015 TVR Motorola Quality, FLR GM Industrial Design
...2014 FLR Motorola Quality / SFs (with 341, 4930)
...2013 BAE Motorola Quality, WPI Regional #1 Seed / Delphi Excellence in Engineering / Finalists (with 20, 3182)
...2012 BAE Imagery / Finalists (with 1519, 885), CT Xerox Creativity / SFs (with 2168, 118)
Student: 1714 (2009) - 2009 Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional Winners (with 2826, 2470)
2791 Build Season Photo Gallery - Look here for mechanism photos My Robotics Blog (Updated April 11 2014)
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