Hollow Wheel Manufacturing and Shipping Update #21

We are in production.

I don't have the completed timeline just yet as there are some behind the scenes things I am still working with the vendors right now, but the information request below is crucial for helping me get that final shipping date (from China that is). Next blog post I will have a very detailed timeline. 

I posted this in another email and some of you may have received this message once already, but it is so crucial that I get your information. Thank you to those that already filled out the form. Skip to the section "****" as there are some other interesting things I want to tell you.

Thank you so much for your patience. This has been a long and arduous process, especially being hit with COVID along the way. But, I persevere and don't give up. We are in production right now and I need to confirm some user details as well as collect data to analyze performance metrics on the Hollow Wheel.

I have created a short 2 minute survey to:

• Collect and analyze user riding style and attributes
• Confirm shipping and order details

First bullet point: I am collecting info such as rider weight and boards so I can better understand field performance. It's just part of engineering where I want to start a dialog with my users to understand how I can better improve the Hollow Wheel. It can also help with durability. As you are well aware, I have been gathering user feedback and durability testing for a very long time now, but now I have a chance to get data at scale so I can continue to create new products for the community.

Second bullet point: I want to make sure I get your order right. In the beginning, I didn't collect enough info about bearing size or ABEC vs. Kegel, so my data is a little spotty. This survey gives me a chance to complete the picture to get your order right the first time.

Here is the user and order survey:https://zks7r4fy7uz.typeform.com/to/dXaRllGK

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Doug, can you remind me of what is ABEC VS. Kegel?

Kegel has 10 pins. ABEC has 6 spoke.

By the way, ABEC clone or Cloud wheel "Discovery" pulleys directly plug and play into the Hollow Wheel. I made the tolerances super tight. On high torque boards coupled with 220lbs+ riders, you should stick with ABEC pulleys when using these wheels.

Doug, I don't know if I have an 8 or 10mm Bearing. Help?

Take a dollar bill and lay it flat across your current bearing.

This is an 8mm bearing:

This is a 10mm bearing:

New Boxes

I had to make the boxes a little bit small to help save on shipping cost because it is going to be insanely expensive. Here are the pictures of the boxes. You'll notice some wheels in the box. Those were just early samples - only testing fitment inside the box.

Production Progress:

All the material has arrived, is staged, and manufacturers are kicked off. Working out the details and getting all the ducks in the row to execute. It's like organizing an orchestra to work in harmony. Not the most compelling photos but I'll have some really cool ones in a couple of weeks to share.

Suspension inserts

I am behind on these so these will likely ship separately, but I am trying my best to ship at the same time. With the many mold tool changes that I had to do, I had to rethink the suspension insert as I did not want to introduce any durability issues to the wheel.

Here is the original suspension insert juxtaposed to the new design (only 3D printed). I have to pay and make another production tool for it - about a month.

I had to design and test a whole bunch of different geometries, which you can see some here:

Here are a ton of different iterations. I didn't want to stray away from my original value propositions so I spent a ton of time doing a bunch of different iterations. This configuration was the best for minimal range loss yet still maintaining the ability to drastically change the ride. Adding the weights can be customized to get more "coastability", changing stiffness, or changing grip. Yet, it doesn't affect comfort much still. It's a hard feeling to describe, but I'm very happy with it. I'll post another blog post in a few weeks after I knock out the new tooling and get all the production stuff out of the way.

Thank you to everyone for joining me on this journey.

Doug