On 19/10/2018 09:32, NY wrote:
"Richard" wrote in message
news
One thing about ISO sizes bewilders me: why do they specify the
height of
the tyre (OD - ID) as a percentage of the width? Seems an odd way to
do it.
Surely the three measurements that need to be specified explicitly a
inside diameter (ie diameter of wheel and of bead), outside diameter
(ie of
tread) and width. And preferably specify all three in the same bloody
units - either all in mm for Europe (and *maybe* UK) or else all in
inches
(for US) - not some half-arsed mixture of the two.

Imperial complication 1Â*Â* Metric simplicity 0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_TRX

When have the French ever done things like the rest of the world? SECAM
television, non-self-cancelling indicators (Citroen), single-spoke
steering wheel, rubber pad for footbrake "pedal" (Citroen again!),
"hockey-stick" dashboard-mounted gear lever (Renault and Citroen).

There is a lot to be said for the world devising a common standard for
things like wheels and tyres, to reduce the variety of sizes that need
to be stocked.

And don't get me started on the pillock who invented the space-saving
spare wheel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-20984194

If I was "king" I'd make it mandatory that every car had to
be designed to accommodate a spare wheel which was fully-interchangable
with the running wheels, with no speed or distance restrictions, to
allow you to take a flat tyre to the garage when *you* want, rather than
being stranded overnight because you are about to start a long journey
(or are even half-way through it) and you get a puncture late at night
or on a Sunday. And wheelbraces should be cranked, to make it easy to
hold the opposite end with your hand as you apply pressure with your
foot on a wheelnut that refuses to budge; the modern L-shaped ones pull
off the wheelnut. And on my old Peugeot, the long bolt that released the
spare wheel from its cage under the boot had a crude semi-circular notch
nut in it, into which you put the flattened end of the wheelbrace as a
crude screwdriver. What a stupid design - if the bolt jams, you can't
apply enough force before the "screwdriver" jumps out of the notch. How
difficult would it have been for them to put a hexagonal head on the
bolt of the same size as the wheelnuts? That would have been a proper
solution.

The one rule about innovating and being different in the hope that
people will adopt your standard is that your non-standard solution must
be *better* than what's already there, not worse :-)