Short story is my that my Dad and I are building an ultra-light airplane. The plans call for 20" bicycle wheels, but some of the other people that have built them have ran into bent axles and rims or blown out bearings. Most guys are just using some shitty cargo bike wheels and I told him I can do way better.
I'd just an anti-gram or something, but we want to go with disc brake. We have lathe and mill access and will most likely be making a custom axle for whatever we go with. I'd kinda like to stick with something similar to the g-sport style axle design just for the ease of modifying it, and the strength. I can't seem to find any beefy street oriented hubs with disc mounts.
I've looked at 20mm thru axle hubs, and figure we could make an axle for them no problem, but a lot of the ones I see have rather small bearings. We have also considered replacing the bearings with a bushing if they become a problem, not like the wheels need to roll all that well on a plane. Again though, not much room to be fitting a bushing in.
Another option I have looked at is using a lefty hub. This makes sense as the wheels are only going to be mounted on one side anyways. Making an axle is a little more complicated, but within reason. They are also kind of pricey though.
A final consideration is that the more off the shelf it is the better. If an axle (or female bolt) were to break on a flight, it would be nice to be able to hit a local store and make a repair.
Just curious if anyone has any ideas?