Seriously a major oversite from vex to not… idk, making a stock of flex wheels over the summer to sell. The fact vex is “temporarily out” is so annoying for any product, but for something this big that is a massive need for this game and for competing is just… sigh
Now i understand there are things i dont know about as i dont work in shipping… but i would think they would put more effort in for an item that makes a good chunk of money.
Anyone know when they will be restocked?
Yes, they will be in stock once they arrive in Greenville, inventoried, and the web site updated…
Seriously, on this forum you can’t get more factual response 
VEX, like many companies, orders in batches to keep costs down. Their ordering model probably favor their educational market, which as more predictable, vs competition market in which you can’t really predict what solutions teams will develop or converge on.
This is one of those real world design constraints for your solutions - you have to build with what is available.
If you are steadfast on only using flex wheels, I would recommend on reaching out to nearby teams to see if they can help your team out.
Might try other suppliers. AFIAK legal. Anyone know otherwise?
Your best bet is to email [email protected]. They do do their best to stock items especially those from other suppliers like West Coast Products I think it is who makes flex wheels. And please note that no flex wheels are not necessary for this game, there are plenty ways to quickly pick up the rings this year, I have tested three myself so far with great results. Check around the forum and you might find them :).
Disclaimer: as I mentioned it, I’ll put it out there that if some how WestCoast products does happen to have them in stock, only the exact specifications found on the VEX website would be legal (30A, 45A, 60A) (1.625, 2,3,4 inches).
R7 seems pretty clear that non-Vex supplied Flex Wheels are not legal, at least on my reading. I’ve rejected non-Vex Flex Wheels at ERCs during inspection.
This is accurate. However, vex buys their flex wheels from WCP so if you buy from WCP you will receive an identical product. Similar to smc and pneumatics. Just keep in mind WCP seeks plenty of other flex wheels that are not VRC legal as they aren’t listed on the vex site. (Such as 5 inch wheels)
I see that phrasing in R7a, but as 9MotorGang points out, vex sources from WCP
So long as the wheels are in the sizes allowed in V5RC, it would be impossible to distinguish one from another, as they are the same product.
I guess I am wondering how you made the distinction?
The ones I rejected were neon green (and not because the students dyed them). Pretty sure they said they ordered them from AndyMark.
I mean, it’s worth a Q&A. The SMC pneumatics had a specific carve-out. The fact that no carve-out exists for WCP/AndyMark would indicate they are not the same as the SMC products, though it could be an oversight.
Interesting… did a quick poke around at andymark. They do not sell 30a or 45a wheels - so if you see green, blue or orange wheels they are extra non-compliant.
Did a further dig to see if there were some industry standard color-to-durometer standard (which would be handy) but not the case.
Also looks like WCP wheels might all be black, regardless of hardness. Q&A would be a good idea before purchase.
This is not accurate.
As per usual, QnA will be the best place for the correct answer regarding legalities of any specific wheels.
I wanted to buy some HS shafts a while ago and they were out of stock. If you open the chat box, just ask the employee that you get in contact with; they can tell you a time frame or even a date most of the time.
Curious.
There appears to be quite the rabbit hole involving this as I look further into it. Have some emails sent out and I’ll make sure to share the results here.
Disclaimer: I don’t work for Vex, RECF, or WCP and am not on the GDC
All right, after some emailing and digging around in the way back machine I am confident on my assessment on the legality of west coast products (WCP) flex wheels.
Up until either late 2023 or early 2024. The WCP product page looked roughly like this (some errors with the web page displaying properly so this is the best I could get):
These are the EXACT same flex wheels that vex currently sells as per the email back I got from WCP. Regardless of whether or not these parts are technically legal, there is absolutely 0 way to discern where these wheels were purchased from after they get mixed in with the vex ones. I know my old org 67101 has bought flex wheels from both companies and in order for anyone there to be 100% sure they are using legal parts they would have to throw out all there parts, which is quite unrealistic. I am sure many other organizations are in a similar circumstance.
However, sometimes in late 2023 or early 2024, WCP changed there product page to the following:
These flex wheels are NOT legal. they difference can easily be discerned. (WCP on the left Vex on the right, color may vary)
In the same email from WCP, they stated that had no plans to restock the VRC legal flex wheels.
Similar flex wheels from Andy Mark are not legal despite looking very similar. It is discernable with a keen eye though. (Andy Mark on the left Vex on the right, color may vary)
In conclusion, Vex is the only current seller of legal flex wheels. However, flex wheels purchased from WCP before 2023 are identical to the vex wheels in every way and using G3 (common sense) are legal.
Thank you for these useful graphics should inspectors need a visual guide.
It wasn’t my intent for this to be something inspectors would use as its pretty rough around the edges and missing a lot of information. This weekend I’ll go and download all of the cad files for the different sized wheels from popular sites. Make a proper guide for inspectors to be able to easily tell if flex wheels are legal or not.
I do not think we should over think about detection - but for teams, you are correct in pointing out facts about “same as” is not sufficient because it kind of looks like.
My advice is to look at specific exceptions in Game Manual that allow for specific alternatives to be purchased, which in pneumatics realm is pretty well understood. FLEX wheel it is clear no outright carve out has been made, and hence you need to get a Q&A answered, or find some alternative solution with items in stock.
If you are using sourced materials outside of VEX, be prepared to be called out in high stakes competitions - seen it happen too often.
