January 25, 2018
Witness
WHEELS
ADVERTISING: AVIR THULSIRAM ON 084 278 3447
SA rookie driver comes out tops in what veterans call the toughest edition of the Dakar race yet. — Page 4
… NOW YOU’RE MOTORING
Allterrain folding wheel Potholes are no problem on these bicycle rims ALWYN VILJOEN In 2013, we devoted this front page to the expanding wheel de signed by Malawian Ackeem Ngwenya, then a masters stu dent at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College in London. Ackeem had set about to rein vent the wheel by doing away with the road and called his de sign a “Roadless Wheel”. His aim was to make a wheel that could be thin to slice through mud, or thick to spread its weight over sand — all to make it easier for people in his rural village to push heavy wheelbarrow loads to their homes. German designer Andrea Mocellin had a similar altruistic motive when he decided to also reinvent the wheel by making one that can fold into a smaller shape. Three years and countless models later, he has patented a 26inch wheel that collapses to less than one third of its height into a large rugby ball that can easily be stowed. When unfolded, magnets en sure the wheel keeps its round shape, and Mocellin said he spend a lot of time to make sure the overlapping segments of the wheel run without bumps.
Ackeem Ngwenya with his expanding wheel. PHOTO: FILE He used airless tires which he said are “entirely comfortable in every condition” and added the tread pattern can be altered for different surfaces. While he is already working on a folding bike to ride on this wheel, Mocellin told New Atlas he hopes his patent will be used on wheelchairs, whose occu pants always worry about dam age to their wheels when stow ing them on a train or bus. “People with disabilities who wish to travel have no choice – they must take their wheelchair with them, and travelling with a wheelchair is very difficult, be it on an aircraft, or in a car, on the underground, anywhere. “Helping people with disabil ities to have an easier life is one of the key goals of the project, and I expect that once the in ventors of the world have seen
the components I have devel oped, there will be some ingen ious solutions developed in short order.” He said applications for his ideas also include any type of ve hicle that has to transported to its place of work, like land drones bike carts, trolley and even cool boxes that need higher wheels to move over rough surfaces, but small wheels when stowed. But a folding bicycle is the next main aim. “ At first, my goal was to devel op the wheel to the point where it worked perfectly, and now I have a final prototype that works, my next stage is to devel op the folding bicycle to work just as well as the wheel.” Mocellin himself has big plans for an ingenious bike that folds down to scooter or a trolley. “I many times got really an noyed with existing folding bikes because when they are small and light, they invariably have small wheels, and that severely limits what they can do. “In an urban environment, there are gutters and steps and cracks in the pavement and ob stacles that are a problem for small wheels ... and I also wanted the speed and practicality of a large wheel. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
German designer Andrea Mocellin plans to built a bicycle with 26inch wheels that can drop down to become a stand on scooter with the wheels collapsed into their eggshape and fitted with side wheels, or even fold up to be taken on buses or trains. PHOTO: MOCELLIN
This 26inch wheel collapses into eggshape ball that can be fitted with side wheels and used to roll other devices, like standon scooters or even a cooler box. PHOTO: ANDREA MOCELLIN
AUTO BODY SUPPLIES
BODYPARTS, RADIATORS, AUTO GLASS SALE
QUALITY PARTS FOR ALL MAKES INCLUDING TOYOTA, MAZDA, NISSAN, VW, KIA TATA, GWM, HYUNDAI, GEELY
• BONNET FENDERS • DOORS AND HOODS • HEADLIGHTS, INDICATORS • TAIL LIGHTS, SPOT LIGHT, FOG LIGHT • TAILGATES & WINDOW WINDERS • BUMPERS (FULL RANGE) • RADIATORS, FANS, CONDENSERS • LOCKS, HANDLES, KEY LOCK SETS • CAR AND TRUCK PAINTS • WINDSCREENS • BODY KITS, FOGS, LEDs • CAR RUBBERS, DOOR, BOOT AND WINDOW, CHANNELLING, WINDSCREEN RUBBERS
• MEGUIRE POLISHES • CLIPS, SCREWS, FASTNERS for PANELS ETC. • DOOR MIRRORS ELECTRIC & MANUAL • SPOILERS & BODY KITS • WINDSHIELDS, BONNET & LIGHT SHIELDS • TONNEAU COVERS • BULL AND ROLL BARS • GRILLE UPGRADES, BADGES • MUD FLAPS WIPER ARMS, BODY STRIPES KITS FOR ALL BAKKIES (ALL MAKES)
KOREAN VEHICLE SPARES BODY PANELS @ LOW PRICES
Ujet brings origami to biking YOUNG people in congested cities do not want to own cars but still need to be mobile. Companies from BMW to Ford to Mahindra are making electric bike/scooters for this market. Now Luxembourgbased company Ujet launched a folding scooter that looks to become the Rolls of folding ebikes, with a 150km range, a charge time of 2 hrs, a 4 kW/ 90 Nm hub motor, regen braking, a top speed of 45 km/h and a cost of over R135 000.
BUMPERS, FENDERS, DOORS, GRILL, LIGHTS, INDICATORS, RADIATORS, MIRRORS, RUBBERS, WINDSCREENS, DOOR GLASSES, CAR PAINTS, CAR & WINDOW RUBBERS DAEWOO, Cielo,Espero, Lanos, Matiz, Nubira HYUNDAI, Accent,Atoz,Elantra, Getz, H100, Santafe,Sonata,Terracan, Tiburon, Tucson KIA , Carens, Carnival, Cerato, K2700 Bakkie, Picanto, Pregio, Rio, Sephia, Shuma, Sportage, Sorento
ALSO FOR JAPANESE , GERMAN, ITALIAN , CHINESE & INDIAN MAKES !
407 GREYLING STREET, PIETERMARITZBURG PH: 033 345 2326 “The helpful guys”