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Chris Friesen

wrote:

And I know
that bike wheels depend on the inflated tire for a great deal of their
cohesiveness. After riding for a half mile on a flat tire, I can
attest to that. :-)

I'll have to disagree with you on this. The inflated tire protects the
rim from road damage, but does absolutely nothing for the mechanical
integrity of the wheel. (And with clinchers, it can end up with
basically zero net force on the rim, anyways.)

The spoked bicycle wheel has been analyzed thoroughly from an
engineering point of view (complete with finite element analysis) by
Jobst Brandt in his book "The Bicycle Wheel". The spokes are tension
elements, while the rim is in compression. Inflating a tire outside the
rim can add some additional forces, but they are fairly minor compared
the tension applied by the spokes.

Chris