Optimal wheel size...

[kyoung]

Uhhhh, do you make your own gearboxes, or are you using prefabricated ones like toughboxes? 1-speed or 2-speed? And in general, what are you capable of?

I can tell you that this year, some times teams might be faster and easier to push around thanks to the new CIMple gearboxes.

Assuming you're building with the kit, this is what I would say:

Most years, a 6-wheel drivetrain with a basic 1/8" dropped center wheel using 4 cims and a basic toughbox (12.75:1) going to 6" IFI wheels (or plaction, for the budget-minded) would be plenty fast and be able to push around most robots. This year, you might want to go a little faster with a little less pushing power. This means either reconfigure the toughbox for a smaller reduction or get bigger wheels. Also make sure to reinforce the kit frame a little, they can be a bit flimsy, and add tons of grease.

[RyanCahoon]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2059

Makes it easy to just play with the numbers until you get what you want.

--Ryan