The magic wheel.
To me, bicycles are pure magic.....
On the one hand, a complete road bike weighing 17 pounds and made of carbon fiber, aluminum, steel, or titanium seems almost too light to believe. Thin wall tubing and ultralight parts make the bike seem almost delicate and fragile. But capable of sprinting at 40 mph, climbing the highest mountain, or decending at 50 mph, a bicycle is a strong, powerful machine, and anything but fragile.
I started building road wheels some three decades ago. I was amazed by how you could lace together a hub, a pile of spokes, and a rim into this incredibly strong structure that could support 200 pounds, handle bumps and impacts, and still travel thousands of miles. Some people don't realize that the spokes supporting a rolling wheel are in tension, not compression. Or that the hub actually hangs from the rim. As a structure, the bicycle wheel has one of the strongest strength-to-weight ratios of any man-made design. Wheel technology keeps moving forward. Advances like improved aerodynamics, carbon fiber rims and ceramic bearings are making wheels faster and better than ever.
If you have comments on using TRUism, a favorite pair or wheels, or a wheel tip or story to tell, share it with others here.