davidalone wrote:
Because the wheel spins in a 360 degree circle, the minuscule amount of drag caused by the rotating spokes in the tangent direction of rotation is cancelled out by the exact same drag generated on the opposite side of the wheel. The amount of air drag that actually stops the wheel spinning is going to be extremely minusucule. the difference in bearing seals and wheel balance is the factor making up rotational losses.
This makes no sense to me. You are saying that the top spoke's drag is cancelled out by the bottom's spoke drag. This implies that there is no aero loss whatsoever. By the same token I could spin a domestic fan, and it would consume no electrical energy (other than that lost in the bearings). The fan's blades are being pushed through the air to create air movement. This costs energy.