You really think you're watching him put it together, it's a TV show, they set up the lights and camera's and tell him to put some screws in some holes, they film him for a couple minutes, then they say cut, turn off the camera and he takes it back apart.
Since there are pieces that bolt to hold the inner race,THAT is the hub,albeit a large one.A wheel cannot be hubless or it would roll away on its own.it APPEARS hubless.I'm not saying it doesn't look cool as hell,I'm just saying the inner race,and the system that clamps it is in effect,a hub,it is just so large you don't notice it..You don't need sopkes to make it an axle hub.One piece spun aluminum wheels have no spokes,but still have a central hub.In this case the inner race is used as a hub.
I recall a cycle world article written by the fantastic Kevin Cameron on Billy Lanes shop, "Choppers Inc." its bikes, and in particular the hubless chopper. Billy took inspiration from helicopter propeller shaft bearing set ups amd materials and using his engineering education and creativity adapted them to his bike. It was ridable, reliable and durable. A watershed design in the chopperworld wasteland of the time.
That was before he greased the bearings. I know, when I heard it I thought, whoa, it ain't supposed to sound like that. Then I realized he hadn't greased them.
Looks amazing, however this isn't hubless, the commentator said it best, it's a giant sprocket. Essentially it's a big ass hub. If it were truly hubless it would be levitating. Looks sick though, kudos to this mad builder genius!
It is NOT HUBLESS.The HUB happens to be hollow and about 18" diameter,but no matter HOW you look at it,the inner bearing race holder is a HUB,just with a big ass hole as stated by others.The old 3-speed bicycle hubs were hollow for the shift rod,guess they were hubless too,just with a smaller hole.It just APPEARS hubless because the inner race is exaggerated out of proportion.The inner pieces in the video that bolt to the inside of the wheel are bolting to the wheels very short AXLE/bearing race
It IS a hubless wheel... A "HUB" is a bearing setup that has an axle going through it.. this has a bearing on both side of the wheel that bolts to it.... there is no axle therefore it is "hubless" Noun The central part of a wheel, rotating on or with the axle, and from which the spokes radiate.
Yes, the people on earth know a hub as a bearing setup but what about aliens, I do hope they are so far advanced they'll have so much to teach us. Yep, I know most will say, aliens, they've likely done this so long ago, just a thought.
@BikeTrial1995 No because if you kno from bicycles and motorcycles, you HUB is the center of the wheel were the spokes atach and the axle goes through it has no hub or axle either
10k bearing and hes hitting it witha deadblow hammer from Harbor Freight!!! hahahaha, awesome design. people like you are the future of mechanical design. we need more labor based people in this country, not all lawyers and computer geeks
@ChristinaBellyDancer i believe that the italian engineer and guru Franco Sbarro did it before the french and they took from his design....Franco did some way cool shit...the steering alone on his bikes using a hubless wheel was very good....also he used a different drive. I think elctro magnets ??? he felt that the idea was ahead of materials and machine ability at his time back when he did it.......
By having the bearings close to the outside diameter of the wheel, they are spinning furiously at road speed. They travel several feet compared to having them close to the center of the wheel where they would travel inches at the same speed. These expensive bearings would have to be constantly bathed in very low friction lube to last even a short time. They would also need dirt and water protection they don't seem to have closer to the pavement. Having to change a $10k bearing every 500 miles verses 200k miles makes this a trailer queen to shows. Mag Lev wheels would be the only thing to make this configuration practical. Call me in 100 years.
My math is probably terrible, but that large of a wheel is turning 800 or 900 RPM, MAX, at highway speeds. Such a massive bearing has probably 5-6x the number of individual balls per row that a conventional hub bearing would have, meaning more bearings at any given time handling the radial load, and is going to be exponentially better at distributing lateral load since it's placed so far near the circumference of the tire. That all seems like it would be well within the abilities of such a large industrial cartridge bearing; if anything I'd expect it to last tens of thousands of miles unless continuously ridden in dry, dusty or sandy conditions with no maintenance.
There is no hub here. The hub is the centre portion of the wheel to which an axle is attached. It is also where spokes are attached at the center of the wheel, if spokes are being used. (Hence "hub and spoke",) You're thinking of a hub cap on a car and assuming that whole area is the hub. The hub cap is actually meant to cover that centre portion that's attached to an axle. The rest of a hub cap is purely for decoration.
@IgorGiganskiANtiatom It was the way he hit it. When you fit a bearing into a housing, by all means use a hammer, but be sure to hit only the outer bearing race - the part that touches the housing. If you just blindly whack the whole assembly, like he did, you will hit the inner race as well and the shock will make the balls leave small pits in the races. The result is a ruined bearing - did you hear it chattering when he spun it? I think he used an already bad bearing for the demonstration.
since this IS your design I thought I'd type out the youtube clip of my flat out favorite all time motorcycle. the coolest bike I've ever seen. sorry I haven't seen one of yours 1st. here it is : Hubless Chopper, (The Hubless Monster) A Wicked Bike Without Rims that Rides!! - copy paste into the search.
The logic of the bearing being destroyed depends on the function of the bearing itself. We can be sure that he used a high load, high speed rated bearing for this application.
how do you get power to the rear wheel if its hubless thats the question i cant get my hands on. ppl say there is a chain on the outer rim but that doesnt make any sense...
Does this have an advantage or purpose beyond the cool factor...or is this like spinners was to wheels just a few years ago. What is the practicality of this beyond bling? Just curious if there is an advantage with torque,speed or whatever?
Comparing this kind of wheel and the standard type with spokes and hub, looks like the standard is more revolutionary than hubless. Simple, less maintenance, cheaper bearing, movable parts fully covered from dust, water, etc. Is more efficient.
it makes me think of the real early 20th century drives,I applaude your engineering, but other than flash its seems impractical and understanbly its a lotta dough.
if you go thru all the cost and trouble to do the "hubless" wheel, it's kind of a FAIL to then do a chain drive, use a friction drive, makes it even cooler.
@@jalloor man Ive gone to college for engineering, became a computer and software engineer, and got married since I wrote this comment. Ive learned what interpolation is in the last 10 years. But uh.. thanks?
@the26thhour "custom-bike builder Billy Lane holds an Associate of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Florida International University."
@gotfatbob09 yeah, poor billy. ohh, but lets forget about the guy who he killed and to the family that will never see him again....but like you said, poor billy....
Indeed. This style of wheel has no advantage, it has only downsides to it. Sometimes it's neat to make something different, but don't go pretending you've advanced anything. 100% of what is done here is nothing new, only applied in a way that is normally not done. This is key, "because it is worse than other methods".
