DIY Tailgate

The Wheel

I am moving forward working on an installation based on the resonant frequencies of bike wheel spokes.

More work on the Wheel

So I have managed to do a quick test with the wheel, amplifying its resonance with a guitar pickup. The results were not the best, but with enough amplification a decent tone can be achieved. I think some delay might need to be added into the loop.

What I'm thinking about now?

Bike Spokes... Recently I was getting some advice on truing my bike wheel and was informed that the easiest / quickest way to get the wheel to spin straight was to check the spoke tension by ear and adjust based on the resonant frequency.

You can see an article about this here Check Spoke Tension By Ear

So I'm thinking that something interesting could be done with bike wheels tuned to specific frequencies or harmonic series. This also offers an interesting design aesthetic to approach, as I can utilize a number of bicycle parts for gallery visitors to interact with such as pedals to move the sculpture, and brakes to stop it.