Do I need 3 full-size arduinos to control this LED setup? I'm sourcing the parts now for an LED persistence of vision setup on a bicycle.  Two wheels with anywhere between 16-32 LED's per wheel, as well as 24 LED's mounted on the frame of the bike itself

Since the Arduinos have to be mounted into the wheels to drive the POV displays - do I need a total of 3 arduinos?

Driven by 2x [Nano 3.0 Atmel Atmega328P Mini-USB Board][1] + an Arduino Uno from the frame?
So far I think I'll pick up 2 x [433Mhz RF Transmitter Module + Receiver Module Link Kit][2] for wireless control, [Reed Switch Magnetic Detection Sensor Module][3] for calculating velocity from a small magnet mounted somewhere on one of the forks. 4 x [WS2811 RGB 8-LED Light Strip Module][4] as the POV LED's, or maybe some of the [DotStar Digital LED][5]
and miscellaneously perhaps are some of these required/ useful? maybe instead of the 4x8 I could go 4x [SSC Seoul P4][6], or from [SparkFun][7],  following pieces of [this guide][8] 


DIY AT89S52 Microcontroller Development Board Set
[KT0026 Electronic Parts Pack][9]
[Square Prototyping Plate][10]
[ZnDiy-BRY Z-069 MB102 Breadboard + Power Supply Module][11] 


My main concern is refresh rates....getting everything controlled...and making sure I have enough I/O. Any help would be greatly appreciated.  (URL's available on request :P)
Maybe look at NeoPixels Revealed: How to (not need to) generate precisely timed signals. The author there controlled 1000 Neopixels with a Duemilanove with fairly simple code. These were WS2812 not WS2811 but perhaps the code could be adapted to suit. Judging by the datasheets they are fairly similar.

Since he got 30 fps with 1000 pixels, your requirement of around 100 pixels would seem fairly straightforward.