Spotted at the Formula Student event this year:

IMG_2105

Need a special (read expensive) bearing. Not sure of the advantages of taking the wheel centre out like that, looks cool though. Might reduce unsprung weight but keeping the large bearing true could be non-trivial.

Nah, half that hub and upright must have dropped off.....

Indeed and mounting the brake rotor to the carbon rim also needs careful heat checks - as confirmed by the lot being covered in temperature recording stickers at all sorts of locations!

Worked well on track though, it seems, where many failed! Seems like you'd have a larger rotational inertia with the bearing race (necessarily quite heavy and rigid) around the outside of the rim.

I would expect a good increase in corner stiffness. Which uni is it? I'd be interested to know the views of the judges!

I wonder how the wheel is bolted onto the "hub".

There have been a few bikes (mostly customs) that have used hubless wheels Google Images Link


The Buell Lightning used a rim-mounted disc on the front wheel - it allows very thin spokes (obviously not hubless) as the braking force wasn't transmitted via the spokes.

That car setup should save a fair bit of unsprung weight.

It's UAS Amberg-Weiden. I have some shots from the outside too but there's not much more to see!

I've seen a bunch of bikes done the same way, as per the link above, but I've never considered it a sensible option due to the much higher bearing speeds and the larger mass around the outside of the rim.

[Edited on 18/7/12 by coyoteboy]

looks good