Originally Posted by
Rocket-Sauce
Why are Zipp rims and hubs dimpled? I get the golf ball reasoning, but if that is so, then why are no other aero products dimpled? Airplanes, cars, cars etc all face greater aerodynamic loads than a bicycle wheel, and yet none are dimpled.
But then the Mythbusters worked on this a while back:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/22/m...-dimpling-mpg/
Could be because of wheels are a rotating mass? Aerospace engineers might know. The other rotating mass would be the helicopter propellers.