Berd PolyLight Spokes. Silly-light Polymer Spokes

[cadence90]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

...the little cross rods aren't very cosmetically attractive. Is there a reason you couldn't put them on the inside of the hub flange?

Originally Posted by MaraudingWalrus

Eh, no particular reason beyond that generally radially laced wheels are heads out; these spokes are considerably thicker than a regular spoke, so I also didn't want to run into any clearance issues either, this way is a smidge slimmer than heads in.

It seems they could provide (or one could make) a single "ring" of the material, to lace the spokes over and then seal complete, rather than having to use all those tiny, ugly individual anchor strips.

Yes, black would be nicer.

Either way, I'll stick with metal.
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[parallelfish]

Originally Posted by cadence90

It seems they could provide (or one could make) a single "ring" of the material, to lace the spokes over and then seal complete, rather than having to use all those tiny, ugly individual anchor strips.

Radial is the simplest case. Do not see this proposal working for tragential cross patterns.

[IJWS]

I think the little knots at the hub look very cool. Handmade and very craft. Nice to see something new!

[Louis]

Originally Posted by cadence90

It seems they could provide (or one could make) a single "ring" of the material, to lace the spokes over and then seal complete, rather than having to use all those tiny, ugly individual anchor strips.

Yes, but think of how much weight they saved by using a bunch of little strips instead of one long ring - that would have been at least half a gram heavier...

[cadence90]

Originally Posted by parallelfish

Radial is the simplest case. Do not see this proposal working for tragential cross patterns.

Interesting. You mean that the "circle anchor" idea would not work on this lacing (from the Berd website), for instance, correct? I am curious: why not?


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[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mt2u77

Cool. I always like to see people trying new stuff, but I'd want to see a lot more data than "weight" and "pull strength" before jumping on board (the info available on their website). I'm open to some type of braided spoke performing better than a steel spoke, but a lot more goes into it than weight and strength.

How 'bout elastic modulus, fatigue life, UV resistance, impact/abrasion resistance, water/chemical resistance? Maybe some accelerated life test data from actual wheels. Aesthetics of the capture rods aside, I'm guessing a braided white spoke will be very difficult to clean.

Basically, I'm open and optimistic about these spokes, but the company could do a lot more to build my confidence if indeed they have years of test data under their belt.

They will, after the consumer tests them for a while..check on facebook or something and the company will either 'make it', or GOOB...

[regularguy412]

If yer lookin' to lose weight on the bike, these'll likely sure do it well,,,,,,, when, in addition to less rotational weight, all yer front teeth get knocked out.

Just sayin'.

Mike in AR

[Birddog]

Macrame makes a comeback on bicycle wheels! Wooden rims would make a complete 60's/70's look

[parallelfish]

Originally Posted by cadence90

Interesting. You mean that the "circle anchor" idea would not work on this lacing (from the Berd website), for instance, correct? I am curious: why not?

My comment was based upon implementating on hubs with standard drilled flanges, per your diagram. Not that other hub designs could not be used.

My understanding of your diagrams was that you were trying to adapt some sort of circular anchor to a standard drilled flange, with the spokes going through the spoke hole and looping through the adaptor.

Radial looks fine. Don’t know what happens when one starts rotating spokes off at differing angles. Are the poly spokes okay with kinking at the spoke hole and not having a straight load path to the anchor? I do not know, but seems like it could be an issue.

Also seems like one would have to implement an anchor on each side of a flange to implement inboard and outboard spokes for a cross pattern.

Appears to me that the small individual anchors are the easiest and most versatile way to adapt these spokes to a standard hub and allow a variety of spoke patterns. Most like a normal spoke implementation.

I also wonder what various hub manufacturers might feel about using these spokes on a hub designed for standard steel spokes? Even with the small individual anchors, the stresses on the flange would appear to be somewhat different than those imposed by standard spokes.

Again, perhaps I have misunderstood what you were trying to convey.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by cp43

The manufacturer website is here: http://www.berdspokes.com/

I only skimmed it, but nothing seemed too crazy to me.

Welcome to the future of cycling. At Berd, we have engineered an innovative bike spoke to bring your cycling to a new level. Berd PolyLight spokes leverage the latest advances in polymer technology to create the world’s lightest spoke while maintaining exceptional strength, aerodynamics, and durability.

They forgot 'game changer'....How much $ are these things?

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

They forgot 'game changer'....How much $ are these things?

Haha. Leveraged, Next level, future of cycling....did Ben write this for them?

[bicycletricycle]

Are they going to get really dirty?

[veggieburger]

The single ring of fabric @ the hub shell is a really great idea for a cleaner look.

I was also wondering about cleanliness. Should these spokes/laces be Scotchguarded for easy cleaning?

So interesting.

[gdw]

Ultra high molecular weight polyurethane fibers are stronger than steel and products made from them, -Dyneema, Spectra, etc- are being used in the manufacturer of other sporting goods and outside equipment so it was inevitable that the bicycle industry would try them. Hopefully Berd and some of the other companies using them for spokes have an adhesive that will maintain the bond between the stainless steel threaded insert and the fibre spoke body under wide temperature ranges and over time. I wonder when we'll see shifter and brake cables made from the same material.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by parallelfish

Radial looks fine. Don’t know what happens when one starts rotating spokes off at differing angles. Are the poly spokes okay with kinking at the spoke hole and not having a straight load path to the anchor? I do not know, but seems like it could be an issue.

I would think that they woven spokes would actually handle the bends better than solid spokes would. With multiple strands, the strands could should shift as necessary to even out the loading between strands. With solid spokes, there will always been stress concentrated on the inner and outer surfaces of the bends - but even solid spokes don't break at these locations.

I'd be more concerned with abrasion of the spokes where they contact the edges of the flange, or where the contact each other at the crosses. But maybe the material is abrasion resistant enough for this not be a concern.

Originally Posted by parallelfish

I also wonder what various hub manufacturers might feel about using these spokes on a hub designed for standard steel spokes? Even with the small individual anchors, the stresses on the flange would appear to be somewhat different than those imposed by standard spokes.

Yes, the load distribution is apt to be different, but I suspect that because the fiber spokes are much more flexible, the loading at the spoke holes will be far more uniform.