Done, Kegel FTW
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Do you think Hollow Wheels would be more likely to roll over an obstacle than 120mm cloud wheels? I know there is a 15mm difference, but the Hollow Wheel’s ability to deform over an obstacle seems like it would more than make up for it.
Also, I think the tapered design is pretty ingenuous, and a great way to get low rolling resistance when you need it, and good grip when you need it. Maybe at some point you could even consider difference durometer wheels, with a higher durometer on the inside for lower rolling resistance and long life, and a low sticky durometer on the outside for grip in cornering.
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Well, I just bought a set of Hollow Wheels instead of Cloud Wheels.
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Thanks for putting the faith in me and supporting this project. I really appreciate and really quite humbled. I had a venture backed startup that was growing well, but then COVID murdered my business model and couldn’t pivot fast enough with my resources. So it is great to see so many people so enthusiastic and generally very supportive of this project. Its so fun to work on and has really me build back my confidence.
As far as rolling over obstacles, it also depends on where you hit the obstacle. The more inboard the impact is relative to the inside of the wheel, the more you feel and vice versa. At really high impacts, the wheel deforms a bit so it does help quite a bit. I have some accelerometer data some where that shows impact attenuation to edge out the CW slightly.
Good idea about the different durometers!
Thanks so much,
Doug
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Brad at Riptide Sports posted some prototype wheels like that
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oh while we (me) are bringing up other companies I wanted to know what you think Doug about boards with articulating steering that leans the wheels sideways? The shape of your wheel is not round like these boards tend to use but would lock into a flat contact patch on the inner wheel when turning which could be interesting…
a few examples of the kind of leaning boards I mean:
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BMW streetcarver/the “new” teamgee thing
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The one that really made me think of this was the E-Flexboardz mechanic
if there was a modified version that fit small thane wheels that would be epic!=
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Any updates…
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Yep! In the tooling process right now and awaiting to hear back and I’ll update that timeline. Haven’t heard anything negative though.
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Those do look good but probably have a lot of delamination issues because urethane gets really soft and weak at 130F. They probably have a lot of big mechanical locks.
The camber on the Hollow Wheels would react well. Those steering geometry is more similar to a car.
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Cool, I really look forward to someone trying that out!
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Hey Everyone,
We are still in the tooling process as outlined in the timeline below.
The vendor is still machining the revised production molds. There was a 1 week Chinese Labor holiday. I had to finalize some DFM (Design for Manufacturing), they had some questions and had to make a couple of small changes in order to make sure urethane could be injected properly (we also changed a lot of mold lines and other things to get production efficiency and defect rate to be better).
Note: You might have to zoom in
Green represents a completed task and yellow is in progress. The tooling is slated to be completed on the 25th.
They are still in tooling phase and the tooling phase is being completed on the 25th. That is a firm date from the manufacturer. Then they are making the batch, which is about 5-10 business days. Then it ships, but I still have to get a firm date on how long shipping can be. Depending on how expensive it is to air ship, I will air ship, which is about 2 weeks (more if they get stuck in customs). If shipping is insanely expensive for air shipping, then I would have to do boat, which is about 4 weeks. I am pushing for air shipping of course, if I can afford it without going bankrupt.
The wheels will be in full black and have the final logo printed.
By the way, here is the final box too:
I plan to test 50 sets of the wheels out of the 200. All we are doing in this testing sequence is checking to see if the quality is good from an aesthetic to production. I’ll throw them on the test rig as a check. Since I have a plethora of data on how they fail, it will be pretty quick to identify if we are in the clear or not. This is why the testing is only a week.
Then if they check out, then it ships from there.
Thank you all for your patience. I am so sorry there continues to be delays but I hope that my full transparency provides some sort of relief. Feel free to reach out any time.
Here on out, I will provide a weekly report and just be as transparent as I possibly can.
Doug
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So if I were to order now, I would get one of the 200 first batch?
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I just bought them. Couldn’t face missing out as they look like something that will make my board even better!
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No, not in the first 200 batch, but the batch next would be slated for a couple of weeks after. The benefit of injection molding is that the production process is not labor intensive like hot pour urethane.
But you ask for an update and here it is!
Hey everyone,
Just wanted to drop a really quick update and stick to my weekly updates.
Here is the latest timeline. The factory pushed hard and finished the tooling 1 day ahead of schedule - at least for the new thread revision. See update 12 if you want a refresher (https://momentum-boards.com/blogs/news/hollow-wheel-manufacturing-and-shipping-update-12)
Well, correction, they finished the thread tooling, but they are still working on the revision for the suspension inserts, but the most important is the thread tooling, which doesn’t need as much validation. But this is a risk factor, but I think low risk.
I got the update from the vendor on the news of the completion of the tooling. I am still awaiting the timeline for production. I was chatting with the injection molding factory and they said they were waiting on the urethane from the material factory. I will be sure to update you all on the timeline here on the next update.
The next step after that is to then wait on shipping as well, which can be painful as shipping from China can take 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how congested air space is. Sea shipping takes closer to 4 weeks whereas air shipping takes closer to 2; however, the price of shipment can be 10 times more expensive than sea shipping. So it depends on how much my wallet can take a hit, but I would obviously like to do air shipping if I can afford it.
After that, then I will perform inspection and testing to make sure the wheels are good. This is a mass scale test to make sure the manufacturer can manufacture at scale. Because producing a couple of wheels to test is one thing, but production of wheels at scale is another challenge. Fingers crossed. We have a good relationship, many people working on this project over in China, and a lot of determination.
Without further ado, here is a picture of the completed tooling. You can see from the pictures of update 12. Here are the new pictures of the tooling with the ribs.
Feel free to ask me any questions!
Thanks,
Doug
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See above! Sorry for the delay in update, everyone.
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Just read this entire thread from start to finish and man that is a ton of information. I have to say though these wheels look amazing. I live the idea of having the standard white wheels and black ones as well. Is the white still an option or was that decided against? I didn’t see it on the website so I figured I would ask.
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It will come, but the MOQ (minimum order quantity) is pretty high and a little big of a big pill for me to swallow right now. But my goal is to offer that by Summer’s end or when I can put up the money for that separate MOQ volume
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Fair enough, still going to try and hop on the order train for the black ones because they look awesome as well, there was just something about the unpainted white thats looks like its on another level, as far as wheels go.
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