MERCER ISLAND, Wash. (BRAIN) — Dan Sotelo, one of the most prolific innovators during the 1990s mountain bike boom, is returning to the wholesale side of the industry with a new wheel balancing system he is presenting to wheel, tire and bike makers around the world.
Sotelo is best known as the founder of Onza, a parts and accessories brand in the 1990s. (Sotelo has no connection to the current Onza brand,) He is the inventor of the mountain bike bar-end and worked with several bike brands including Shimano, Specialized, Maxxis and Panaracer. After leaving the industry he operated a music instrument business for several years. More recently he has operated a bike shop on Mercer Island, near Seattle, called Bike Lair.
Sotelo's new venture is called Dynamic Speed Balance. It relies on a patent-pending system of wheel, tire and tube that combine to make a perfectly balanced wheel without the addition of any weights. Sotelo said the benefits of a properly balanced wheel have been long overlooked by riders and the industry. For example, a balanced wheel can improve performance and comfort and eliminate high-speed shimmy, he said.
Sotelo has been aware of the benefits of wheel balancing since he was a motorcycle racer in his younger days. In the 1990s, he balanced wheels for top mountain bike racers including Missy Giove, and he offered a wheel balance service at his retail store.
For years he used small weights to balance wheels. But around 2013 he came up with a way to do it with no additional weight that is practical for OEM production. After refining the system, applying for patents and finding investors for the new venture, he has been traveling the world recently meeting with all the major wheel and tire makers.
Sotelo said that an unbalanced 6-gram weight on a wheel can have the force of a 15- to 20-pound sledgehammer when the wheel is spinning at 55 mph. That can cause the dreaded high-speed shimmy that many road riders have experienced. Bike mechanics have seen it in action on the workstand when they spin the wheels at high speed and watch a bike begin jumping up and down. Dynamic Speed Balance videos (see below) show unbalanced and balanced wheels being spun on a workstand.
Sotelo's system relies on identifying — during the manufacturing process — the unavoidable heavy spots in rims, tubes and tires, and positioning those masses to counteract one another. For example, a tire manufacturer would identify the tire's heavy spot and print the tire label accordingly, so that when the tire is mounted with the label above the valve, the entire system is balanced. The DSB system also includes inner tubes with special lightweight aluminum valve stems.
Once out on the road or trail, a rider could replace the tire or tube with standard parts if necessary, but would lose the benefits of the balanced system.
Sotelo's company has designed systems for road, mountain and electric bikes, and has developed balanced wheel reflectors that are CPSC and TUV approved. He said wheel balancing is especially rewarding on e-bikes because the parts are heavier and the speeds are greater. Balanced e-bike wheels can increase battery life, drivetrain durability and riding stability, he said.
After traveling to Taiwan, Eurobike and Interbike this year, Sotelo said several tire makers have been receptive to his ideas, as have a few bike makers. He said wheel makers have been less receptive.
"Most all wheel makers are in denial, claiming wheel balance is not an issue, nor is it their problem, when in fact they're the major contributor to the mess that is just getting worse," he said. "Sadly I don't think they have any idea they are endangering their very own consumers, and those around them, because the problem of high-speed wobble always rears its head at the worst possible time."
More information: dynamicspeedbalance.com.
