Can We Use a Bicycle Tire and Rim?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Eric Scheuing

If the bot is ~120lbs with ~15lbs of bumpers, I doubt bike tire spokes will be able to support it.

I'm about 160 pounds. My bike is about 15 pounds. That's about 175. The robot is 150 max (with battery and bumpers). 'Nuff said.

[Conor Ryan]

Ahh one thing that hasn't been talked about here. Safety.

Remember how in the kickoff video, they had the softball shooter, that had a big flywheel and they talked about it a little bit. One of the things they talked about was safety. It's fully legal, just make sure however you fit it into the robot it'll pass all the safety standards that first has in place.

Safety First everyone, you don't want to have your robot fail inspection because you forgot to make it safe. Also take safety into consideration while your designing too, make sure you allow room and weight for it.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Safety First everyone, you don't want to have your robot fail inspection

I'd be more worried about losing a finger, or a head of hair!

Everyone please keep in mind how much potentially dangerous energy a spinning flywheel has. And do not wear gloves while rowkiong on/near rotating machinery/mechanisms.

[nexusmaster]

My understanding is that bike tires are indeed legal, but if your robot takes a solid shot to the side I think that there is a good chance that the bike tires will deform and become useless. The spoke design is one that assumes the outside forces will be vertical to and not perpedicular to the spokes. However, I could be wrong. It might be a good idea to stress test a bike tire and collect some data.

[s_forbes]

Bicycle wheels are definately strong enough to hold up a robot, especially when the weight is divided upon all 4 wheels. Depending on the wheel, they can be strong on side loads too.

Why are you choosing a bik wheel for a shooting device though? Most wheels are free spinning, and most back wheels from bikes have coaster hubs. Unless this is part of a secret strategy...