Soul-Kozak LoopsDrive Crafts Extremely-Excessive POE Stress-Solely Various Freehub Idea

Just about each freewheeling system works through the use of a mechanism that jams in between the individually spinning outer hubshell that’s laced into the wheel, and the freehub physique that holds the cassette. Whether or not it’s a sequence of pawls or a ratchet mechanism, enamel slam collectively transferring the power of your pedal enter by way of compression from the chain/cassette to the hub/spokes/rim/tire.

The LoopsDrive answer hangs loop springs (inexperienced) off the most important cog of a cassette (purple) that then catch hooks machined into an externally toothed ring (silver) mounted to the driveside of the rear hub shell. Because the bicycle owner coasts forward, the loops glide excessive of the hooks. And when the rider pedals, these gently spring-loaded loops get caught by the hooks making a load path (silver-green-purple) in rigidity to switch pedal enter to ahead movement on the floor.

On this system, the loop in rigidity (inexperienced) will be theoretically constructed from a comparatively low-cost carbon composite or plastic materials that works properly in rigidity. And so they may very well be cheaply and simply changed as they put on out over time.

Soul-Kozak’s inspiration for LoopsDrive got here from nature, within the humble Burdock’s hooked burrs that inevitably get caught to your clothes. Very like how they impressed Velcro, the hook and loop interface will be easy and robust.

(Simply to make clear, the mock-up mannequin within the video above has the silver enamel going through the wrong way of a bicycle drivetrain. All the opposite images that I took of a mock-up mannequin and the rideable prototype wheel have these enamel in the wrong way to propel a motorcycle ahead and coast ahead. I hope that is sensible.)

A freewheel mechanism outdoors of the hub

Soul-Kozak’s overarching thought behind the LoopsDrive uni-directional clutch mechanism is separating the freewheel perform from the bearing and sealing precision wanted to make a bicycle wheel spin easily in all circumstances.

A motorbike hub and its bearings must be manufactured to tremendous tight tolerances to make sure wheel stiffness, dependable dealing with, and clean operation. Then, these bearings have to be exactly sealed, each so they’re sturdy, but in addition so there is no such thing as a pointless drag added to the system. Becoming a freewheeling clutch into the hub means all the pieces must be tremendous tiny to slot in and across the bearings. And all of these tiny components should be extremely properly sealed away from the weather. (Have you ever appeared inside and seen how tiny the springs & pawls in most hubs are?)

By shifting the clutch mechanism about 10cm away from the axle, the enamel of the Soul-Kozak LoopsDrive system will be a lot larger

The LoopsDrive 52 enamel on this mockup are about 5mm tall vs.1mm tall enamel in my DT 36SL Ratchet EXP hub. And spaced 1cm aside vs. 3mm.

These a lot larger enamel (even with ~1.5x as a lot engagement) imply that the extent of producing precision required is way decrease. And an easier-to-machine materials can be utilized – aluminum vs. metal, on this comparability. However carbon or composite buildings are additionally attainable.

A clutch uncovered to the weather?

Soul-Kozak assures that the open LoopsDrive system is designed in such a manner that it is going to be self-clearing of particles. Once more they give the impression of being to nature and the flower cluster of hazel shrubs for a light-weight open construction. That sounds a bit bit like a scary idea after we are speaking a couple of freehub clutch uncovered to the weather. However the loop interface doesn’t require lubrication, so it received’t entice grime. And placing it subsequent to the cassette-chain interface is a fast reminder that this technique already works fairly properly, absolutely uncovered.

Positive, your cassette will get dusty, soiled, and even tremendous dirty relying on the way you lube your chain and what circumstances you experience in. However in actuality, it really works as self-clearing/cleansing more often than not. And is straightforward to wash additional every time wanted.

What does high-POE truly imply? The place does it make sense?

Just about each high-end hub maker touts how briskly their hubs interact. Both speaking about what number of factors of engagement (POE) they’ve (usually, however not at all times, the identical as variety of enamel) or their angle (°) of engagement. The overall thought is: quicker engagement means a extra responsive really feel between your pedals and the facility delivered to the bottom by the rear wheel tire. Quicker engagement is nice if you need to get a motorcycle up and over an impediment (most frequently off-road) with a fast partial flip of the cranks.

Soul-Kozak says their LoopsDrive will are available in 65 POE as a baseline with 65 enamel. 195 POE with the identical variety of enamel however 3 units of loops offset from one another. 780 POE can be attainable with 12 offset loop positions, and even 1500 POE with a 125T ring and 12 offset loops. (This mock-up mannequin options 52 enamel, and 156 POE with 3 offset loops.)

Trade 9’s newest Hydra hubs tout 690 POEs. Hope’s Professional 5 delivers 108 POEs. DT Swiss’ newest DEG hubs prime out at 90 POE (extra on these very quickly!) And Chris King RingDrive delivers 72 POEs. However lots of common high-quality hubs hit a candy spot round 35 factors of engagement.

However you see, quicker isn’t at all times higher – even right here in Soul-Kozak’s LoopsDrive idea. First off, ultra-fast hubs exaggerate the sensation of pedal kickback in lots of full-suspension mountain bike designs. That’s the rationale OChain techniques exist in gravity mountain bike racing. Plus, extra POEs sometimes provides drag to the hub. And usually, squeezing extra POEs inside a hub shell will scale back long-term sturdiness.

How does high-POE measure out on the path?

Let’s begin with the middle-of-the-road 36T engagement that’s frequent on premium hubs like Shimano XTR or DT Swiss 240s. If we discuss a 29er mountain bike with a 2.4″ tire, these 36 POEs translate to 65mm/2.5″ alongside the bottom. That’s how far your tire might roll again earlier than your freehub would interact. Or In the event you’re taking a look at a 170mm crank arm, meaning your pedal might transfer down 30mm/1.2″ earlier than the wheel would begin to transfer ahead.

If you’re making an attempt to recover from a sharp-edged or slippery impediment on the bottom, that may not reduce it. Think about getting on prime of a small moist log or huge slick root 100mm/4″ in diameter the place you come to a cease. And your rear wheel might roll again 65mm? You probably would have a tough time getting up and over it. However, the 65 POE LoopsDrive wheel might solely roll again 36mm or let your crankarm drop 16mm. Tripling that 195POEs, the tire might transfer again simply 12mm or crankarm drop simply 5mm. Both of which might make it simpler to rise up an over one thing on the path.

Apparently, it seems sort of like diminishing returns in my head the upper engagement will get. The Trade 9 Hydra hub cuts tire motion to simply 3.4mm, and pedal motion to simply 1.5mm. LoopsDrive’s 780 POE possibility could be 3.0mm & 1.4mm, respectively.

The leap from 36 POE to 65 or 195 are all fairly huge. However I doubt many riders would really feel any profit going from ~200 POEs to 690, 780, and even Loops’ theoretical prime out at 1500 POEs.

OK, so what occurs now with Soul-Kozak LoopsDrive?

That’s the million-dollar query that I requested Soul-Kozak about their new LoopsDrive tech. Proper now, that is only a idea. Albeit, an attention-grabbing thought in my thoughts.

Soul-Kozak has a patent pending on the LoopsDrive idea. However this isn’t a product they need to produce on their very own. They might in idea machine all of the hooked aluminum hubs, make the loops themselves, and even machine the matching cassette in the event that they wanted too. And the hub maker hinted that we’ll probably see a extra developed answer from them, as early as this summer season into autumn.

However Soul-Kozak is aware of that it might be far more environment friendly, and LoopsDrive would turn out to be extra widely-adopted, if they might get extra manufacturers on-board.

Wheels are already a mixture of producers, in order that doesn’t look like an enormous stretch. This rideable prototype gravel wheel is already made up of a minimum of 8 totally different parts produced by a number of totally different producers. Soul-Kozak’s silver centerlock disc hub with the toothed ring machined into an ultra-high driveside hub flange. Soul-Kozak custom-machined purple huge cog that helps the loops bolted to a modular silver Garbaruk cassette. Then, straight pull stainless spokes and hidden alloy nipples from Sapim, laced to a third-party open mould carbon rim. Lastly topped off with a Continental gravel tire and butyl inside tube.

They then hope to license their LoopsDrive patent to different hub and cassette producers. That manner they might get extra individuals to attempt the idea. Soul-Kozak explains LoopsDrive manufacturing may very well be each easy/low-cost or with extra precision for higher-end efficiency. Possibly something from a low-cost metropolis bike wheel to a premium mountain bike racing setup.

Now we simply have to attend and see if anybody joins in on the enjoyable.

Soul-Kozak.com