Patent ID: 8113593
Filing Date: 2012-02-14
Classification: B60B

Abstract:
1. A wheel for a bicycle, comprising: a rim and having a hub comprising a fixed hub axle and a hub body rotatably mounted relative to the hub axle, and having a plurality of spokes disposed between the hub body and the rim to non-rotatably connect the rim with the hub body, wherein the rim comprises two rim flanks, a rim well and a rim base with spoke holes, in which the spokes are received, each of said spoke holes having a diameter; a separate holding member configured to receive a spoke nipple attached to one of the spokes, said holding member including an upper portion forming a hole cover, said hole cover having a width corresponding to said diameter of one of said spoke holes; an assembled unit including the holding member, the spoke nipple and an end of the attached spoke connected together, the assembled unit being mounted to the rim in a tilted-back position and removed from the rim in a tilted position, while in the tilted-back position, the assembled unit contacts the rim in which it is received to be tension-proof so as to fix the spoke to the rim, and wherein the holding member of the assembled unit includes two symmetrical rim flanges, each of the rim flanges extending at least partially behind said rim base, and said hole cover has a surface that is flush with a surface of the rim base and seals the spoke hole when the assembled unit is in the tilted-back position, wherein a length from an end of one of said rim flanges to an end of the other of said rim flanges is greater than a diameter of the largest cross-section of the spoke nipple transverse to the spoke; the spoke holes comprise an elongated shape and extend to be longer in the peripheral direction of the wheel than in the axial direction, wherein the spoke nipple includes a nipple body having an outside diameter and the holding member defines a through hole having an inside diameter, the inside diameter of the through hole being sufficiently greater than the outside diameter of the nipple body so as to define an annular space between said nipple body and said through hole to allow an angularly variable orientation of the'spoke relative to the rim, to which end a rounded nipple head is received in a rounded nipple head seat of the holding member, said annular space being dimensioned to allow said angularly variable orientation after said nipple head is seated in said nipple head seat; and wherein when the assembled unit is in its tilted-back position, the support surfaces each contact the rim base and the nipple head of the spoke nipple is securely seated in the nipple head seat of the holding member.