Is internal tire pressure localized or does the entire tire pressure cycle up and down as volume changes with tire impact? If its not localized, then the "ankle compliance" is only being exercised when we have a rim strike (assuming our tires sidewalls are not stiff enough to deflect the rim). i have a hard time believing that we engage "ankle compliance", unless the tire is bottomed out. my guess is that if we are regularly taking advantage of "ankle compliance," we should probably increase our tire pressure. I am a fan, however, that it could potentially be a safety net to avoid pinch flats.
on the vertical compliance and spoke loading/unloading vs spoke fatigue and failure, i suspect that it is highly present in any wheel that has give. here is a pretty cool video of WR1 doing some impact testing. note that the failure where the spoke pulled through is very close to the unloaded spokes.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOb7__9FYs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOb7__9FYs)
my only uneducated concern with these wheels is that an unloaded spoke is going to routinely put pressure on rim strip and rim tape causing premature tape failure and a loss of pressure. all in all, i like the theory. if they are low maintenance, durable, and add a degree of pinch flat protection without using an insert, count me in.
June 6, 2019, 8:17 p.m. - tdc_worm
Is internal tire pressure localized or does the entire tire pressure cycle up and down as volume changes with tire impact? If its not localized, then the "ankle compliance" is only being exercised when we have a rim strike (assuming our tires sidewalls are not stiff enough to deflect the rim). i have a hard time believing that we engage "ankle compliance", unless the tire is bottomed out. my guess is that if we are regularly taking advantage of "ankle compliance," we should probably increase our tire pressure. I am a fan, however, that it could potentially be a safety net to avoid pinch flats. on the vertical compliance and spoke loading/unloading vs spoke fatigue and failure, i suspect that it is highly present in any wheel that has give. here is a pretty cool video of WR1 doing some impact testing. note that the failure where the spoke pulled through is very close to the unloaded spokes. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOb7__9FYs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOb7__9FYs) my only uneducated concern with these wheels is that an unloaded spoke is going to routinely put pressure on rim strip and rim tape causing premature tape failure and a loss of pressure. all in all, i like the theory. if they are low maintenance, durable, and add a degree of pinch flat protection without using an insert, count me in.