Category: Aero Wheel Science

I was recently working on a problem to determine the number of watts required to overcome aerodynamic drag and rolling resistance at different rider speeds. What I found surprised me. While I know aerodynamics grows quickly, I didn’t know how quickly. Our FLO All Sport and Gravel wheels were designed to optimize both aerodynamic drag […]

When studying rolling resistance while designing the FLO All Sport and Gravel wheel lines, we used rollers as well as on-road testing to collect data. The rollers allowed us to apply temperature compensation to the on-road data. Rollers produce a clean lab-like environment. We wanted to test the vibration produced while on rollers to gain […]

Recently, we’ve been measuring vibration in wheels and building on the complexity of the measurements we are gathering to further our understanding of the role that vibration plays in determining impedance break point. Our original work used a uni-directional accelerometer, which measures accelerations in one plane and simplifies the output. This uni-directional sensor was mounted […]

Last week we observed the natural frequency of different tires, wheels, weights, and wheel location. For those tests, we used an Emerson data acquisition system that produced highly accurate results. However, riding with a computer and cables strapped to the bike is not ideal for more intense testing. This week, we explore another sensor option, […]

Recently, we discussed how you can measure the natural frequency of a wheel and tire combination, and how we proved that our theory that you could measure an impedance break point by measuring vibration was correct. This week we’ll focus on testing the natural frequency of a wheel/tire combination when you change the type of […]

In last week’s article, we discussed measuring impedance break points by looking at vibration, and revealed that we were able to measure a change in vibration acceleration at the impedance break point. As a recap, below is a FFT plot of vibration at 60 psi and 120 psi. In the 60 psi plot you see […]

Vibration has been on my mind. When designing the All Sport and Gravel wheel lines, we aimed to prove that a wider internal rim width lowered your rolling resistance. During that process, we ran hundreds of tests at different tire pressures, tire sizes, and internal rim widths. After these tests proved our theory correct, our […]

Feeling Fast. Back in my university days, I owned a 2001 Kia Sephia that had less-than-showroom suspension. While on a road trip to Death Valley, I wondered what going 100mph felt like, and accelerated to 105mph. It felt like we were flying, but the vibration was unnerving, and I feared my life! Shortly after this […]

We knew when we started developing our FLO All Sport and Gravel wheels that rolling resistance would be a large focus of the process. We believed that a wider rim would lower rolling resistance. To test this hypothesis, we spent close to two years developing an on-road testing protocol to measure rolling resistance which included […]

In cycling, the power you put into the pedals is measured in watts.  Ideally, each watt is used to move you forward, but in reality, only a portion of those watts are used for that purpose and there are losses along the way. As a cyclist, every watt you haven’t lost counts towards how fast […]

From an aerodynamic perspective, the wind tunnel is the the ultimate test of any product. When designing the FLO Gravel series we realized the importance of a wide internal-rim width when trying to lower rolling resistance. The goal with the FLO All Sport Series was to widen the internal-rim width, and optimize rim shapes around […]