Track wheels

turnerc99

I was watching some of the track racing on the TV at the weekend and I noticed the different front wheels used in the different events. It seemed to me that everyone was using disc wheels at the back, but in some races they were using spoked wheels at the front. I think it was mainly the sprint races that used the spoked wheels - the pursuit races seemed to be using discs front and back.

What's the logic for using the spoked wheels for certain races? I wondered if it might be to do with rotational inertia (does such a term exist?) whereby a front disc would be harder to steer...but that was just a guess.

Simon Notley

I think there might be regulations that prevent discs on the front in certain events. The reasoning is probably pretty much what you say - discs are hard to steer becaue they have a presumably have larger moment of inertia which results in a higher angular momentum for a given rotational velocity.

I think those are the 'correct' terms, but rotational inertia makes sense to me.

Beeblebrox

Simon Notley wrote:

I think there might be regulations that prevent discs on the front in certain events. The reasoning is probably pretty much what you say - discs are hard to steer becaue they have a presumably have larger moment of inertia which results in a higher angular momentum for a given rotational velocity.

I think those are the 'correct' terms, but rotational inertia makes sense to me.

No idea what you're on about :P
Inertia of wheels shouldn't affect steering since the weight difference is marginal - and at the extremities it is identical - so there is little change in inertial properties.

I think on tracks the most 'important' consideration is aerodynamics, there is no difference between spokes and discs on the front wheel going round alone - except presumably spokes are slightly lighter - so perhaps there is some benefit in front disc wheels in another rider's slipstream.
That's unfounded conjuncture, though.