The desire to build a very large scale wheel, just for fun, has been stewing in me for a few years now. Slowly the design has been gelling into something feasible, and it developed into this concept for a hubless wheel assembly. This wheel has an 86″ diameter. Wheel big indeed!

And just for fun, the supporting structure is a tensegrity structure. The tensioning cables provide a great deal of strength with minimal weight and material costs. Plus it is just darn cool. It weighs in at just over 100 lbs.

The wheel will be rolling at this year’s Adult Soapbox Derby on the 18th. Come out to see what happens!

… an update …  Great day of racing! Many more images can be seen here.