Introduction: Intel Edison Fat Bike Tire Analyzer

By robonza.blogspot.com
About: I like to tinker with just about anything, sometimes it works out in the end. Have fun looking at the projects, try tearing something open and let me know how it goes. cheers, -Joe

If you fat bike, you talk about tire pressure. The goal for many is to run as low a pressure as possible. I was curious just how much it differed at various pressures.

So with that, an Intel Edison and Flex sensor were used to look at PSI.

Step 1: Parts

I used the following parts:

Intel Edison Inventors Kit https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/sparkfun-inv...

Flex Sensor: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8606

Step 2: Connect

Wire up the flex sensor to A0 reading the postive leg, and + - to the flex sensor, with a resitor on the negative line.

Step 3: Install

The flex sensor was stuck to the inside of a Maxxis Minion FBF 4.8" tire on an 82mm DT Swiss rim.

Step 4: Code

I used this code to read the ADC: https://github.com/humberto-garza/SparkFunEdisonAD...

I modified it to record the readings and take PSI as an input which is just used to make the filename. It is attached as tireTest.py . The results are stored in a CSV.

I graphed them in excel, manual I know, but I don't plan on repeating this much.

Attachments

Step 5: Results

So what is the most interesting here too me, the tire gets the most flex at 6 PSI! Not 4 like I would have assumed, and as you would assume it is the most round at 10 PSI. I would have assumed 4 was the most flat, but interestingly while 4 PSI does not provide the widest footprint it does react the most. By that I mean the profile of the tire changes the most at 4 PSI.

By no means is this groundbreaking research, but anytime you make a widget it is fun!