| 摘要 |
A light weight, porous wheel cover (10, 28) for reducing the aerodynamic drag and reducing the "sail" effect of side winds on covered spoked wheels (2). The cover comprises a protruded graphite/fiber ring (12, 30) sized to fit snugly within the rim (4) of the wheel (2). A porous fabric cover facing (14, 40) spans the ring (12, 30) except for a central axle opening (22). In a first embodiment, the facing (14) is stretched and adhesively attached to a U-shaped ring (12) and the ring is removably attached by split pins (24) to the spokes (6). In a preferred second embodiment, the ring (30) has a peripheral bead (38) and the facing (40) is retained on the bead (38) by a flexible retainer strip (42) having a concave channel (44) fitting over the bead, the covers (28, 28a) being retained on the wheel by interconnection of the rings (30, 30a) of opposed covers by connecting members (48) having enlarged ends (50, 52) frictionally retained within inwardly facing concave channels in the rings. The respective rings, flexible strips (42, 42a) and connectors (48) all have a like cross-section throughout, so as to be readily formable as by protrusion. The covers are of use on spoked wheels in general and are especially advantageous for use on racing bicycles, sulkies, racing wheelchairs and the like. |
