hi all,

by this time of the year 2011 we started to develope our roadies bike tyres for the 1/5 bikes.
they were ready for the market in june and did extremly well in both, competition and hobby.

now the winter time starts and we are thinking about new projects for the future.

1/8 bike came into our mind these days but i am afraid we do not have any knowledge about those bikes and tyres.

i would kindly ask for your help and ideas about creating a roadies bike tyre for 1/8 bikes.

is there any need for it ? are you happy with the tyres allready availlable ? what could be done better ? on which kind of surface do you run your 1/8 bikes ?

all this kind of questions need to answered and i would kindly ask you to take part in the poll and give us a quideline with your comments.

i cannot promise anything but if you let us know that there is a need for a better tyre, we will try to do one.

thank you very much in adavance for helping us.

oh Good God!!!!
But... I do like the idea!
I voted yes, and run on outdoor tracks and parking lots... But... I have ran 4 batteries through my Venom since... ehm... last year this time!!! Not indicative really!

Hi Clark,

Yes, yes and yes.
Any more questions?

Joking aside: Speaking from Experience with the Venom GPV-1 Tires, the fronts are good (hard, rubberlike inserts), but the rears could provide more grip, and we never got around to try the "Hard-Insert-Technology" that boosted the Grip on the 5th Scale Bikes.

The main problem in my view is, that there is currently no rim that fits all Bikes. The OTO/ZH Racing stuff fits, but needs adapters, and the front tire is a bit too wide.

Let me know if I can help in any way..

@gartenzwerg,

thanks for the infos. any further info is welcome.

which is the most popular bike ? so which is the rim we should go for and are there any race and their rules which must be covered ?

Most popular bike in my view is the Venom GPV-1.
There might be more Kyosho Bikes around, but you never see them on a track.

@Rules: The ones from our Austrian Onroad-Cup are simple: Commercially available, and no Foam tires (Moosgummi).

As far as I know the only other races for 1/8 Scale bikes are in Spain and maybe in France, so we have to wait if someone from there chimes in and gives us their rules.

Currently the best 1/8 Bike on Sale is the ZH-Racing Bike. The old one (201) lacks a bit of leaning angle, but the newer one (203) should take care of that. They are heavier than the Venom, and more robust.

@Rims: Venom rims are cheap, but tend to break, and sometime the hex is distorted.
ZH-Racing Rims are much better, and can be mounted on the Venom Bike as well. Just take care of the front tire width.

I run my GPV mostly in the winter, so its on carpet for me. I have made my own foamies for that. The latest news for me is loading the rims, to copy the success of the heavier ROADIES in 1:5. So far it's good results.
If you should make klein-ROADIES for 1:8, I would like them made just like the big ones, with one change.
Make the rim with a partly flat inside to sit on a ground-flat wheels from either Venom or ZH. Save the flange on the side to serve as a guide and alternative fastening.
This would be like a normal roadies rim, ground flat inside the tire radius, keeping the mounting flange.
Complete the wheel with CF spokes to fit ZH-type hubs.
Don't know if I make any sense but it looks ok in my head:

@Clark

Wir, Steff, Walter, Christoph und ich fahren die Venom, und würden uns auch über 1/8er Roadies freuen. Fahren im Normalfall draußen. Wie Bernhard schon schrieb, ist beim Vorderrad auf die Breite zu achten, da das OTO-Rad an den Holmen der Venom streift und somit nicht einsetzbar ist.

Nachdem mein Englisch nicht vorhanden ist, der post auf Deutsch

lg rene

Still assembling my GPV-1, but the more options the merrier, so ...

MaX.

Originally Posted by Gartenzwerg

As far as I know the only other races for 1/8 Scale bikes are in Spain and maybe in France, so we have to wait if someone from there chimes in and gives us their rules.

Currently the best 1/8 Bike on Sale is the ZH-Racing Bike....

News about 1/8 racing from Spain.

This class is completely open to prototypes (bikes, tyres, weight, brakes) with just two restrictive rules:

7.4V lipo max and black rubber tyres.

About the ZH bike, people here started to race HOR bikes, some switched to GPV-1 and then OTO/ZH bikes arrived to cope the grid. Some guys designed custom prototypes (narrower OTO/ZH fiberglass bikes) then and back in 2010 I made my first entry at the small scale.

Almost all guys use OTO/ZH rims. I used Venom rims till I designed my own ones. And a good friend made a beadlock system from OTO/ZH spokes and nylon beads joined together by 5 screws.

I think the best way to introduce 1/8 Roadies could be a spokeless/rimless system. Anything that would fit over any standard rim where wheel channels have been filed out. Place the tyre/insert ring over there and glue them together using some ciano.

I drive my Kyosho HOR bike on the race track. Do the wheels as you do to the 1/5-bikes and then make different rims/spokes and adapters to fit with any brand, Kyosho, ZH, Venom, etc. Stick to the same width and diameter of the wheels as the other manufacturers use.

// Fredrik

I agree on just producing rubber for already made rims, zh is nice stuff

Originally Posted by trf_414_m2

...I think the best way to introduce 1/8 Roadies could be a spokeless/rimless system. Anything that would fit over any standard rim where wheel channels have been filed out. Place the tyre/insert ring over there and glue them together using some ciano.

I agree, different words comparing to my post earlier but same point.


Look below.
"Another clever idea from a spanish designer."
Indeed!

This is a graphic explanation of my previous words.



From any type of 1/8 rim (Venom or OTO/ZH) we have to completely file three of the bead rings of the wheel, leaving one for tyre centering porpuses (spokes not displayed but will remain on the wheel ring).

The red insert of the 1/8 Roadies could have two differently centered bead shapes. I´ll try to explain this. Due to the different bead profiles of the Venom/Zh wheels, one side of the red insert would allow perfect centering on a Venom wheel and the other side for ZH rims. Just choose position before sliding it over filed rim and glue together. This detail will lead to just one production mold instead different ones for each rim brand.

Autocad files available for you, Clark, if you were interested about this...



Overall wheel weight is an important detail as you see on 1/5 Roadies. I don´t know the density of the red nylon and rubber you´re using but I think complete front assembly must not go over 55gr, and some lighter insert versions (40gr) could be available to fine tune our small rockets stability.

Another clever idea from a spanish designer.

hi all,

thanks alot for all your input and taking part in the poll. i apreciate your information alot and with those i have quite a clear picture of the situation as it is now.

unfortunalty i have received a message from a big dealer who says that the venom bike is not in production anymore and the future of the class is to be questioned.

we have been offered help to develop and test prototype tyres during the winter time.

as a first step we would have to check wether our rubber works on carpet or not. then we would need to do a proper concept for the tyre. it is not shure that the hard insert concept works fine for the 1/8 bikes as well as it does for the 5th scalers.
then we would have to descide the rim concept.

alot knowledge has to be collected and alot effort needs to be taken. i am afraid it will not happen earlier then next winter to present something. so i do not whant to create too much expectations.

please keep on posting infos. we need as much input as possible to do any good tyres for the 1/8 bikes.

Here in Southern California we race all year.., but the 1/8 bikes are raced mostly on prepped indoor asphalt... Although there IS a local 1/10 scale outdoor track that we run on sometimes... And due to the lack of rain, even the outdoor track stays in race-ready condition.. I have both the GPV-1 and the original OTO bike, as well as a couple of HOR bikes... The OTO is more beefy, but the Venom is more "flickable" and has better lean angle... The new ZH bike is just amazing