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How Does a Tire Support Its Load?
Last week I wrote a blog article that discussed why you reduce the air pressure in a tire when you widen the wheel or increase the tire size. While writing the article, I started thinking about how a tire supports its load. My first guess was the air pressure, but that’s incorrect. It plays a…
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Carbon Clincher Brake Track Testing
If you’ve been researching carbon clinchers, you’ve likely come across a thread on a forum where someone has melted their wheels while braking. That’s a scary thought. Do all carbon clinchers melt? The quick answer is no. We’ve done a lot a testing to ensure our new Carbon Clinchers pass safety standards so you won’t…
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What is a Net Drag Reduction Value
LEGACY POST: This is a legacy blog post. Net Drag Reduction Value has been replaced by Total Power. Total Power uses Net Drag Reduction Value. This post also discusses old generations of wheels. We’ve always believed in trying to be as realistic as possible when estimating time savings for a given wheel. To do this we…
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CFD and Wind Tunnels. Are they for Design or Marketing?
The goal of a wheel designer is to create the fastest wheel possible while also reducing drag as much as possible. When the design of the FLO 30 was underway, I was asked a really great question recently that I thought deserved some attention. Does CFD and time in the wind tunnel really help you…
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Bike Tire Pressure and Temperature
Have you ever wondered what happens to your tire pressure when you ride through different temperatures? How much does it change? Should you pump your tires up inside or outside? These are all things I recently started thinking about. There are a few rules of thumb but I wanted to know why. If you’ve had…
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Bike Tire Pressure and Elevation
I was recently at 11,000 ft elevation. While I was sucking wind running up a set of stairs, I started thinking about what happens to tire pressure when elevation increases or decreases. If you’ve read the title and these first few sentences, I bet you can guess what this article is about. …
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What I’ve Learned from My Time in a Wind Tunnel – Part 2
This article is a follow up to Part 1 What I’ve Learned from My Time in a Wind Tunnel – Part 1. I suggest reading the previous article before you read this one, especially if you want a bit of background on wind tunnels. Here we go with the rest of the lessons I’ve learned.…
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What I’ve Learned from My Time in a Wind Tunnel – Part 1
The first time we visited the A2 Wind Tunnel we were under the assumption that testing a wheel was a simple as placing it in the wind tunnel and reading the results. What we didn’t know was that there were a large number of things that can alter the results. We also didn’t really know…
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FLO 30, 60, 90, DISC Wind Tunnel Results
LEGACY BLOG POST: Please note this data is from our original generation of wheels. Many things have been changed and updated. We spent an awesome day testing at the A2 Wind Tunnel last week. We spent more time testing than ever before and we are excited to share the results with you. Here’s a breakdown…
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Computational Fluid Dynamics
LEGACY ARTICLE: This article shows CFD work done on our first generation FLO Wheels CFD Results For Cycling Wheel Profiles I wanted to take a minute and put up a few shots of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data we are getting back. The results for the 60mm fairing are in and we are…
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Aerodynamics for Gravel Cycling
Aerodynamics in gravel? We must be crazy right? I can promise you we are not. If you understand the basics of aerodynamics for gravel you may just afford yourself bragging rights over your buddies because you saved yourself minutes at your next race. It’s true, even most pros are not using aerodynamics to their advantage…
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Cycling Efficiency for Gravel Cycling
Let’s start with the number one thing we want you to know: The goal for any gravel cyclist is to use the watts you put into pedals to move you forward, efficiently. Aerodynamics, rolling resistance, watts, etc, all fall into the “being faster efficiently” category but they don’t matter much if you don’t understand why…
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Wheel Selection for Gravel Cyclists
In the grand scheme of things gravel cycling is relatively new. Development of gravel specific gear has exploded in the last few years. No more Frankenstein set ups, there are now dedicated bikes, wheels, and more. If you’re wondering if you even need aero gravel wheels, the answer is, “Yes!” A deep profile gravel wheel…
