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A California-based company has a new kind of wheel for skateboards that delivers a novel shape and claims a special ride experience. This is the Shark Wheel, not circular, not square, but something more interesting. The wheels appear as square when in motion from a side view but the wheel geometry is more than that. The wheels feel circular to the rider, and viewing them along with more details may help to clear the mystique. The wheels are made of three strips each; these create a helical shape when they roll, and they form a sine wave pattern. When the wheels make contact with the ground, good things happen, say the team behind the wheels - the user gets speed, better grip, and a smoother ride.
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Shark Wheel to Reinvent Skateboarding Experience
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 23 2014, @05:09PM
I skate, it's true. But what percentage of soylentils (that's growing on me!) skate enough to make a slashvertisement worth the while?
On the other hand, I heard about this awhile back too (maybe on Slashdot?) - I think it was during the company's original Kickstarter campaign [kickstarter.com]. It looks like they wildly succeeded with that, maybe in a large part due to guerilla emarketing, so I wouldn't rule out the slashvertisement totally... Now that they've funded the start-up costs, it's time for Round 2!
As for evidence... watch the sales video(s). :)
(Score: 2) by Woods on Friday May 23 2014, @05:34PM
It seemed interesting to me, if you looked past all the science behind the wheel and got to the three sentences with the "You can buy this" bit, then I am sad that you missed it. I highly encourage you to go back and check it out, apparently hydroplaning is an issue when skating in the rain, but these wheels help alleviate that.
Also, I really wanted to get that department joke in there as a followup to the one yesterday at the same time.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday May 24 2014, @02:24AM
What I immediately wondered is how this can be applied to bicycle and automotive tires, assuming the advantage is real. That could be a far bigger market.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Woods on Saturday May 24 2014, @11:52PM
The only tire advancements (Aside from size, material, etc) that I can think of is this thing [youtube.com]. But I have not heard anything in the last couple years, who knows if that is actually in use anywhere.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday May 25 2014, @12:20AM
Ah, thanks, I'd read about those but hadn't seen one. I'm wondering how it performs in mud, tho I imagine the hollow part could be designed somewhat self-cleaning.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.