New ‘Wheel’? Just Roll With It

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He didn’t cry over spilled milk. He didn’t turn a mole hill into a mountain. But David Patrick did reinvent the wheel.

The downtown L.A. inventor’s creation looks like nothing so much as a warped LP record. The selling point of the wheel is that it can get better traction on soft surfaces while still maintaining speed on hard ones – ideal for, say, bicycles that are ridden on sand and sidewalks. He claims the wheels provide a surprisingly stable ride; in fact, they eliminate “speed wobble” – or loss of stability at high speeds.

The idea was spawned five years ago after Patrick developed a wind turbine that accidentally rolled away from him one day.

“We figured out that it rolled, which was weird because six sides were flat,” laughed Patrick, who is developing the wheel with business partner Zack Fleishman at the L.A. Cleantech Incubator, where they are continuing to develop the wind turbine.

It’s named Shark Wheel because it looks just like “Jaws” from a certain angle.

“When you are on a soft surface, the wheel is similar to a sidewinder pushing himself from left to right,” Patrick said. “But if you were blindfolded, you would think you were on a regular wheel.”

The company has scheduled a public unveiling of the Shark Wheel at Venice Beach on Dec. 15. It will demonstrate the wheels on an electric bicycle, scooter and skateboard. Customers can preorder the wheels; small ones, such as for a baby stroller, begin at $10; electric bicycles equipped with Shark Wheels will begin at $2,500. Patrick and Fleishman also hope to develop the wheels for cars.

Stephen C. Lu, professor at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, looked at the wheel online for the Business Journal and said it has significant potential – and possibly wide repercussions.

“It’s certainly different,” he said. “If those wheels are useful, then all car designs and stroller designs may have to be redone.”

Patrick and Fleishman have funded the development of the wheel with their own money thus far. They’re now searching for investors.

The duo has no sales yet, but they hope to license the wheels to companies in different industries, from baby strollers to wheelchairs.

“We want to do exclusive deals with a bike company or we picture Lamborghini saying, ‘We want this for our cars only and we don’t want Honda to touch it,’ ” Fleishman said.

– Jacquelyn Ryan

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