Got a full car like this too.
( https://www.scottiecameron.com/)
16 Likes
Just imagining the scenario when he hits a pothole and the plastic shatters. He is impaled by a triangular section of plexiglass, but the paramedics can’t find it because IT’S INVISIBLE
12 Likes
Indeed 
. The axle nuts are a bit of a giveaway.
2 Likes
At the risk of getting all bikey-snobby, but isn’t the bolted front axle, instead of a quick release) a sure sign of an inexpensive bike?
4 Likes
No reflectors anymore? Should add tron lines around the rims.
4 Likes
I vaguely remember these being experimented with in the eighties for indoor racing. The wheel used a tensioned mylar sheet with no other support, for aerodynamics and to save spoke weight. This didn’t save much, but they were making the frames so thin they sometimes had to be thrown away after a single race, and filling the tyres and frame with helium.
I can’t be bothered with sport, but occasionally the materials side is fun.
4 Likes
Speaking as someone who was an urban cyclist for decades (admittedly decades ago) Invisibility is NOT something most cyclists need.
11 Likes
Clearly a bad idea.
3 Likes
Sweet. Thanks for the laugh.
1 Like
Usually. The main exception is for wheels with gear hubs, which always use axle nuts.
1 Like
I have to imagine that these are a lot less durable than traditional spokes. How many bumps in the road before the acrylic(?) starts to crack?
I was so focused on the wheels, I didn’t even notice this is a Walmart BSO. I could’ve sworn it said Trek on it.
so that explains everything. it probably is worth $230, and that’s why the fork is backwards; the department store employee who assembled it just didn’t know better – it’s extremely common for the forks to be backwards on those bikes.
1 Like
Yeah, this kind of a mod is only really possible on an X-mart bike. At about 1:40 there’s a real mind-blowing move where he pounds off one of the hub flanges. Any other bike hub in the world has the flanges turned from a single piece of aluminum. This one apparently has them pressed on?! Anyways, without that removable flange, you wouldn’t be able to fit a single disc of plexiglass around the hub without hole in it bigger than the flanges, so it would look like crap (or, even more like crap).
4 Likes
My first thought was expecting him to get blown off the road on a windy day.
1 Like
Well, I looked it up:
6400 rph ( Ukrainian hryvnia) is about $230.
1 Like
Yeah that happens to me with the spoked front wheel of my commuting bike. The rotating disc intercepts a lot of moving air and gets dragged around.
2 Likes
But the fork was on right when he started. I am so stuck on this I can’t get outraged over all the other really silly things about this project…
2 Likes
the new fad of moon bikes uses under inflated giant tires so a shock absorbing effect is out of the tire and not the hub or fork. that would help a little.
2 Likes
Not strictly true, Rohloff has variants for both quick release and 12mm thru-axle.
https://www.rohloff.de/en/products/speedhub/variants
1 Like
Fat bikes were developed to allow riding on snow for events like the Iditabike Race, the first production bike was the Surly Pugsley, IIRC. They proves remarkably useful on sand and soft ground, and can be pretty comfy as a rigid hardtail, ie no front or rear suspension, making a nice, simple go-anywhere bike.
Build one with a belt-drive and an in-frame gearbox like a Pinion Drive, and it’s the perfect all-weather low-maintenance bike.
2 Likes
