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FLO Cycling – The Journey Continues
Over the past decade, Jon and Chris Thornham have taken FLO Cycling from an idea to the brand you’ve come to know. Today marks a change in FLO’s journey. Chris has decided to step away from FLO and has sold his ownership. The following statement is from Chris: After dedicating my full time to FLO…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Prototypes & Wind Tunnel Announcement
The Gravel Wheel Production Prototypes Are Here! WATCH NOW! The production prototypes of the FLO Gravel Wheels are here! Watch the video below to see the new FLO G700 and FLO G650 and learn about their specs! We are very excited about these wheels and can’t wait for you to enjoy them like we have.…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #8 Collecting Data 2
How We Got To Measuring Crr On Road Reliably Part 7 of this journey described Why we wanted to collect on road data. This article begins to describe How we went about data collection. Step 1 – Finding a Course and Accurate Elevation Data If you remember from Part 6 of the Gravel Wheel Design…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #9 Collecting Data 3
Recently, we’ve discussed the why and the how for the gravel wheel data collection. Let’s continue on understanding the how. Step 4 – Visiting AeroLab in Canada We continued the search for finding the right sensor and heard about a one that measured CdA and Crr being developed by a Canadian group, AeroLab. I contacted…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #7 Collecting Data 1
Why We Wanted To Collect Data? Collecting on road data for the gravel wheels was important for several reasons. One, that’s what we do. But more importantly, while finishing the design of our 2016 road wheel line, we noticed that tire size had a large impact on rolling resistance (Crr). It was so great that…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #6 On-Road Testing
How exactly do you calculate rolling resistance on the road? The truth is, without the help of one brilliant man, it would be a very difficult thing to do. Nearly 10 years ago, Robert Chung developed a Vertical Elevation model for estimating a cyclist’s CdA (drag coefficient). The vertical elevation model aka “The Chung Method”…
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Tire Dimensions for Road Bikes
Have you ever wondered if the dimensions of your tire can make you faster? Can they improve your aerodynamics or lower your rolling resistance? Perhaps speed isn’t your primary concern. You might be trying to figure out if a particular tire will fit on your bike without rubbing the frame. As the owners of a…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #5 Roller Testing
The key to our Gravel Wheel Design Journey and determining how a rim could improve rolling resistance was accurately measuring the rolling resistance of different tire and rim combinations. First, we measured rolling resistance on rollers. Tom Anhalt is the king of rolling resistance testing on rollers. So naturally, we reached out to Tom and had him…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #4 Casing Tension Study
In 2016, we conducted an experiment with Union University in Jackson, Tennessee to understand how casing tension is affected by rim width, tire pressure, and tire width. (Check our original post on casing tension here for more information). For the study, we mounted strain gauges on the inside surface of Continental GP 4000 S II…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #3 Understanding Tire Height & Width
The rolling resistance of cycling tires has been studied extensively. There are great websites dedicated to rolling resistance testing for tires. Tom Anhalt, runs a blog called Blather ‘bout Bikes that describes a rolling resistance testing protocol in great detail if you are interested. Tom helped us with a study we did in 2016 where…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #2 The Importance Of Tire Pressure
In 2015, when we redesigned our road and tri-wheels, we studied the relationship between tire pressure and aerodynamics. Our thought was that a change in tire pressure would affect the tire size and shape, and therefore affect the aerodynamic performance of the wheel. To test this, we needed an accurate pump. Here is a video about this…
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FLO Gravel Wheel Design #1 What Makes A Great Gravel Wheel?
In April 2017, we dropped news that we were developing a gravel wheel and then there was silence for a while. We want to catch you up to speed on what we’ve been working on and take you on the rest of the ride with us. Update: The Gravel Wheels ARE ready for purchase with…
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Wind Tunnel Results and Cycling Wheel Aerodynamics Tutorial
Legacy Article: The data discussed in this article is taken from our previous generation of wheels. Introduction When we set out on our journey to design aerodynamic cycling wheels, we asked ourselves, “what makes a wheel aerodynamic?” We soon learned there wasn’t a real answer. After hours of research, computational fluid dynamics testing, and…
