Awesome Wheels

Wheels are good at maneuvering vehicles over most surfaces, but they’re not always great at climbing irregular or rough obstacles. Engineer James Bruton fabricated these unusual “Pedrail” wheels that use a system of articulated “legs” and “feet” to roll and walk over uneven terrain. They look cool, but are they practical?

YouTube channel Brick Bending specializes in creating unexpected geometries using LEGO bricks. This satisfying video shows how they built an oversize wheel using three kinds of hinged components in a repeating pattern. We imagine you could use this method to build a wheel as large as you want, given enough bricks.

Inspired by Goodyear’s concept for a ball-shaped tire, engineer James Bruton created a spherical wheel that can roll in any direction. After validating the design, he built a trio of the wheels and attached them to a robot as a testbed for the technology. We’re impressed with the little fella’s agility.

Normally, a vehicle’s suspension sits between the frame and the wheels to absorb shocks. After seeing a vintage photograph of a car wheel with springs built into it, the car hackers at Garage 54 built their own to see how it would affect ride quality. It sounded like a busted shopping cart after the rubber came off.

Wheel rims from a car seem like an odd material for building a wood-burning stove, but that’s exactly what André Göbel of Create Custom Designs did, a set of old steel rims to provide the structure for a cylindrical stove inspired by Bullerjan stoves, which use bent pipes to circulate cold air from the bottom and out of its top.

We already know that using saw blades as wheels can provide traction on ice. With this in mind, The Q replaced the wheels on his bicycle with gigantic circular saw blades, then took it for a little spin on a frozen lake. We know it looks cool, but it seems like this could end very badly.

Being able to change a car tire is an essential skill that everyone should learn. Stunt driver Terry Grant has figured out how to change a car tire while the car is still in motion. Back in 2010, he set a Guinness World Record for the fastest wheel change on a spinning car, a feat he managed to achieve in 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

Revolve splits the tire into segments, which are then mounted on a hexagonal frame. The frame lets you collapse the wheel into a pod that’s 60% smaller than normal. Inventor Andrea Mocellin hopes it will lead to transforming and compact transportation devices.

Based on a similar, but simpler design to their airless car tire concept, Bridgestone is showing off a bike wheel and tire combo which use a series of flexible thermoplastic spokes to absorb shocks and can never go flat. They hope to put them into production by 2019.

The latest gen wheel illumination from MonkeyLectric is designed to automatically turn on and off as you pedal, displaying bright and eyecatching colors and designs as your wheels spin. A new hub-mounted rechargeable battery makes them easier to use than ever.

These unusual wheels have found their way onto fork-lifts and other machinery in recent years, allowing vehicles to maneuver in all directions, and in very tight spaces without a steering rack. Here, we see some Robotnik Summit XL OMNIs strutting their stuff.

Footage of a drop-top Nissan Murano sporting a set of insane 34″ Amani forged wheels. The proportions of the Murano convertible were already wacky, and adding these crazy rims just make it more so. Also, we wouldn’t want to drive it faster than 20 mph.

Protect the pricey rims on your car from getting curbed with Alloygators. These durable strips fit between your rim and tire to absorb any dings or scratches, and can be cleaned up to look good as new. Available in both bright accent colors and stealthy black or alloy hues.