Spokes men reinvent the wheel

Since the dawn of the Tour de France more than 100 years ago, virtually everything about bikes has changed. Except the spokes. Now, three alumni of the UMN College of Science and Engineering have fashioned strong spokes from a flexible polyethylene polymer. Charlie Spanjers (chemical engineering '10), Kyle Olson (electrical engineering '10 and Ph.D. '16), and Brad Guertin (mechanical engineering '10 and M.S. '14)-bike nerds all-began by tossing around ideas for reducing weight and making other improvements. Eventually, they devised a braided polyethylene fiber with a threaded stainless steel rod inserted into the hollow cavity of the fiber. The threads of the rod connect to nipples within the rim. The technology is like a Chinese finger trap-the more it's pulled, the tighter the connection gets.
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