Improving the KOP Skyway wheels

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Billfred

For a lot of teams, the Skyways we've seen in past Kits of Parts have been solid, reliable wheels with a price that's hard to beat ($0). But it seems that lately, particularly with the rise of the AM Shifter and hard defense, that more and more wheels are biting the dust.

I'll admit that I don't pay too much attention to these things, but has breaking these wheels been a problem for a lot of teams? This is the only time I've heard or seen of them breaking.

How were they connected to the drive?

In the past, we've cut wedges that fit into three of the six pockets on each wheel -- on both sides -- then bolt a sprocket to those wedges. This spreads the load out along the whole spoke and we've not once had an issue with the wheels doing anything they're not supposed to do.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

How were they connected to the drive?

I can't speak for 1902 (or anybody, for that matter), but it seems that the standard way of doing it is to use the plastic hubs that come in the kit and grab the spokes, which are then bolted together on both sides of the wheel. This allows for teams to use just about any FIRST-targeted sprocket (either KOP, IFI, or AM).

[Peter Matteson]

Our breakage was a result of the wheels coming off the ground and slamming back down. It seemed like after a few hot/cold cycles from shipping they became brittle. Until 2005 we hadn't had as big an issue. This caused us to look at alternatives and we used the IFI last year which were great after me made a few changes to them. For 2007, well that's TBD. We plan on comparing IFI v2, Colson, and something I'm not sure even we can make work.

[Gdeaver]

The broken wheel referenced in the picture appears to have been modified. Our team has used the KOP wheels unmodified in a 4 powered wheel configuration and never had a problem. Maybe it's the modifications that are causing the problems.