Once upon a time ... the Trilex rim
12/03/2022
Back then, when trucks didn't have power steering and long-distance drivers still had to be seasoned powerhouses, flat tires were a far more frequent nuisance than they are today. To ensure that the freight still reached its destination on time, the driver naturally had to fix the problem on the roadside himself. But even the most muscular haulier would have failed to remove a tire from a one-piece rim without the help of a machine.
Georg Fischer AG from Schaffhausen therefore developed a three-piece flatbed rim that could only be dismantled using a tire iron and thus "removed" from the tire in individual parts. The leaking inner tube could then be pulled out of the tire and either repaired or replaced with a new one before the rim segments were reinserted.
In contrast to car wheels, the wheel spider remained mounted on the hub for the tire change. It would have been in the way when removing the rim anyway - and a truck tire with a diameter of almost one meter was already heavy enough without the additional metal. Instead of a complete wheel and tire combination with bolts, the rim and tire were therefore attached to the wheel spider with six clamping claws.
As tubeless tires are unable to hold air due to the design of the Trilex rim, they are virtually extinct in today's long-distance transport - in contrast to flat tires. It had not only technical but also visual advantages: its multi-piece six-spoke design gave Saurer N2C and Co. an almost sporty appearance.
