The VEXpro Flex Wheels were just made legal for use in VRC, so I thought I’d take a look at them to see what they’re like. These are the 30A wheels, I don’t have any of the 40A or 60A ones currently. I don’t expect 40A or 60A wheels to be much use to anybody in VRC.
TL; DW:
1.625 - Too small for anything useful.
2 - Good for lots of stuff, will probably be used a lot.
3 - Versahub means that there is almost no flex left in the wheel.
4 - Big, nice, and expensive.
Versahub - Standoffs unneeded, but still large and bulky.
Adapters - Surprisingly heavy, also quite large
If you want to see some more of what they’re like, just buy some, they’re not too expensive in the smaller sizes. I recommend the 2 and 4-inch wheels. Get like 8 or more 2-inch wheels, and 2 or more 4-inch ones. For this season, don’t order more than 2 of the 3-inch flex wheels unless you know what you’re doing with them.
Great vid taran : )
I’m glad I can just link someone this vid now instead of explaining the same stuff over and over. You’re likely right that the 30a 2” and 30a 4” will be the most used, but i can see a use for the 40a 2” in specific cases this year
I believe the idea of putting the standoffs through the holes is simply to prevent unwanted compression in that direction, something the versa hubs don’t do. But as you said in most cases it’s likely not necessary because these wheels will normally not be under much stress
Overall i love the new flex wheels, kudos to everyone involved for making them legal, but i do wish they introduced it before the season started, though. Having spent a long time designing and developing my own compliance wheels, it’s disconcerting to see them now purchasable only after going through all the design development lol; after all- intakes were one of the main design challenges this year
One thing that you could do is purchase the flex wheels that you want and test them out against your custom wheels to see if the legal ones were worth the investment.
Sorry for noob question, but what is the competitive advantage that you get with flex wheels? What is the problem with other intakes, like the ones that were used in tower takeover?
The flaps and tread have very limited compression and power, and being able to use wheels that were designed to flex makes intakes and rollers much more efficient and powerful than just using normal wheels or tank tread chain.
There are Versahub and Versahex? adapters. Versahubs are the big circles to 1/2 inch hex, while the versahex are 1/2 inch hex to 1/4 inch (HS) square. There is only one size of versahub, but there are two sizes of versahex, 1/4 and 1/8 inch. THIS IS NOT THE WIDTH OF THE SHAFT YOU PUT IN THEM, ONLY THE LENGTH OF THE INSERT ITSELF.
To use a 4 inch wheel on a LS shaft, you need 3 adapters. The versahub, versahex, and normal HS → LS insert.
To use a 2 inch wheel on the same LS shaft you only need 2 adapters.
Good gracious…so you buy a 4" flex wheels. Then everyone needs a versahub, to use it at all, correct? Then you need to buy versa hex for what? Is that only for ls shaft or is there another use? Then, what is the “normal” hs to ls insert? The same one used in hs gears?
tldr; If i want 2 4" 30a flex wheels, please just tell me exactly what to buy lol
For every 4" flex wheel you need 1 4" wheel, 2 versahubs, and for every 3 wheels you need 1 pack of adapters. The adapters are hex to high strength shaft.
You should be spending approximately $15 per 4 inch wheel, plus any HS to LS inserts you might need.
Thanks I actually quick went back and saw it in the vid so that’s why I withdrew. Thanks tho I’m planning to order soon but there’s so many different options on the product page and I didn’t know what was needed and what was best
Could you use two intake rollers instead of the VersaHex adapters in the 3" and 4" wheels? How flexible would the wheels be and how much force does it take to slip?
