In our new STEM: Technology category, today we explore the world of skateboarding. As skateboarders who do substantial tricks know, one of the biggest problems is a phenomenon known as wheel bite. Wheel bite is what happens when skateboarders are executing a sharp turn and the board tilts and makes contact with the two wheels on one side. The end result is certain to wipe out the skateboarder.
Enter Chase Kaczmarek, a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the inventor of little attachments that go on the wheels of a skateboard like fenders and simply stop the wheel bite. With the device in place, the board is prevented from touching the wheels.
In addition to preventing wheel bite, the “wheel shields,” as Mr Kaczmarek calls them, also:
- Stop water from splashing up and dousing the skateboarder as he or she rides through puddles
- Allow the skateboarder to stand on the wheels, enabling new and cool tricks
Mr Kaczmarek has put this project on the Kickstarter site and is in need of $25,000 in funding in order to put his invention into production. The good news is that he’s only about $5,000 short of the mark; the bad news is he only has five days left.
Kickstarter is an all-or-none project driver: if he doesn’t reach his goal by the deadline, he doesn’t get any money, and the 300 or so people who have backed him thus far will continue to worry about wheel bite and wetness as they ride.
However, since the University of Maryland saw fit to encourage people to back him on its home page a few days ago, I had to do the same. Innovation in the world of longboarding: it will change the industry forever, some say.
“I have, seriously, dreamed of something like this going to market for a long time. Thanks so much, Chase, for putting in the effort, time, and know-how to make this happen,” wrote Robert Thomson on Mr Kaczmarek’s Kickstarter page.
“While it is a simple idea, in practice the execution of the idea is not easy (preventing rotation of the shield, preventing stones etc snagging, making it tough enough but light enough and so on). You’ve done to well to solve those issues (and more) and have a seriously marketable product ready for the general public. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: brilliant.”
“We think downhill and freeriders will be the first to widespreadly adopt Wheel Shields,” Mr Kaczmarek responded to one poster. “Imagine in just a few months when Wheel Shields are an essential part of longboarding.”
