I got some urethane incoming to experiment a bit with casting my own wheels.
I’m especially interested in larger wheels of around 100-120mm in size and all terrain wheels. The pneumatic ones are too large for my taste and the availability and prices of urethane AT wheels like the MBS ones is pretty bad.
I want the wheels to fit standard bearings and trucks. I will experiment with solid 75A castings and maybe 90A tubeless tire designs with hollow sections.
But I want some input from you guys.
What would be your favorite dimensions? Is there anything you’d want in a (AT) wheel that the few commercially available ones don’t provide? What core placement would you prefer (centered, offset or side). Side placed cores would make mounting pulleys really easy but wear unevenly. Has anyone experience with those (how bad the wear issue really is)?
I love large wheels (i use 97mm) because it increases ride comfort and safety. The major drawbacks are the increased weight, wheelbite and/or shoebite. Youll be rich if you make 90-97mm wheels that dont weigh so much, work with flywheel style pulleys and have incredible ride comfort.
Not a big problem, its just that I feel like there are more pulley options for the flywheel style. You might even be able to design your own core that fits both kegel and flywheel styles, or make two versions. Either way, I feel like a soft, large diameter wheel that is lightweight would sell very well regardless of the core style.
Also, if you could make those wheels grippy on wet roads… Many people complain about the slipperyness of PU wheels on wet roads, and apparently the MBS all terrains are even worse.
100mm wheels
Wide wheels concave on the outside
Abec style wheels
74A durometer
Orange, red and transparent colors
As light as possible, maybe air inside the polyurethane
How are you planing to cast the wheels? Where are you getting the polyurethane and how do you select the durometer on it?
I could be your test mule, I’ve tried Abec clones, Kegels, 97mm ABEC 11 75A, MBS 100mm 78A. My favorites in smoothness and weight are the Abec 11 75A, my favorites in shape are the MBS
Casting into silicone moulds. RTV urethane from a local distributor here in Germany. I have 75A and 90A resins. I will try to go with the 75A unless the wear is too strong. The 90A is for testing and comparison.
Once I have functioning prototypes that I’m satisfies with I’ll ask around for testers. I keep you in mind.
As for the weight… is that really that big of an issue with our boards all having several kilowatts of power? I was thinking of casting the cores from zinc, which would make them heavier than plastics or aluminum
I love the initiative but what I am thinking is for input from the community on a custom design wheels shape, features and hardness. Then we can source a manufacturing company to make them for us
If the design is what you are looking for, go with the MBS wheels but with flat surface like ABEC 11 flywheels, use concave for the outside and ABEC 11 cores.
As far as I know, Abec 11 make their own compounds. If they work with a Chinese company for manufacturing purposes, this idea could really work @kaly I’m up for it. Let me know if I could help somehow
Please do, but I feel custom, non standard wheels are almost impossible to get made since it takes thousands of dollars worth of tooling before even the first wheel can be made. It would need a group buy of epic proportions
I looked into this quite extensively. I wanted to machine aluminum hubs that would bolt a gear on directly.
What I understand is that cast urethane is not nearly as abrasion resistant as hot processed. This means cast wheels will wear quite fast. I bought some smooth on brand materials but never cast a wheel.
