Revolutionary airless mountain bike tyre

[Or888t]

Something on my twitter feed as just spat this out at me
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-222...
Looks really interesting tbh.

[gazza285]

It is a variation on a recurring theme, sounds fine in theory, bloody horrible to ride on.

Google airless tyre and knock yourself out.

[JIM600]

That would be fun after 10 mins of riding any of the muddy/rocky trails at this time of year. No punctures but your tyres would be full of mud/stones/grit. One for drier climates maybe? Why don't they fit an inner skin to stop stuff getting inside the tyre?

[Fartomatic5000]

There's a lesson here about reinventing the wheel!

[Gizmoish]

People have been punting this idea on cars for years. In fact, since before pneumatic tyres.

It's fine in a straight line but cornering is impossible.

[yellowjack]

I remember something along these lines way back in the 1980's. Tyre looked 'normal' from the outside, but in cross-section it had a load of 'mini inner-tubes' moulded into it's solid body (Like a sort of 'honeycomb'). They were too expensive for me back then, and as I understand it, they were also significantly heavier than standard tyres, with some handling issues. The idea was that by separating the volume of air inside the tyre into many separate chambers, the compromising of the integrity of one or more chambers would not result in a flat, and the thicker (than a tube, at least) walls of the chambers would retain their shape more readily even if the structure was compromised.

I also remember that the idea seemed to disappear as quickly as it appeared, although without t'interweb it would have relied much more heavily on press advertising and the 'bush telegraph' to get the word around. Got to say I don't really fancy the current idea very much - as JIM600 said, it won't take long to fill up with mud and stones, adding huge amounts of rotating weight and preventing the tyre from imitating the 'feel' of a pneumatic tyre. Completely unsuitable for any area with heavy, sticky soil, where tyres collect enough clag on the outside, without providing collection holes for the stuff.

As has been said already, this idea has been trotted out numerous times before, and almost always goes away again. One day someone will come up with a system that actually works, which might usurp the traditional pneumatic tyre in time, but I can't believe that it will happen any time soon. We'll know when such a system has been developed, and found to be satisfactory, when the big players in tyre manufacture all have such a thing in their range, and start to push it as a real alternative to tubes/tubs. Until then it will remain a niche product from smaller firms selling only to cyclists willing to experiment with future technology. (And to 'fixie hipster dheads' who probably don't know one end of a tyre lever from the other, and never carry patches or tubes because "they don't look kool")

Addendum:
Why does the site automatically censor the arse in ahole, but not the word ARSE itself. Arsebiscuits. It's the same as the dick in dhead, but not in dickwad.

fked if I know.

[rossmc88]

Is it a case of, tyre manufacturers want you to get punctures so you have to keep buying inner tubes from them?

[Or888t]

yellowjack said:

I remember something along these lines way back in the 1980's. Tyre looked 'normal' from the outside, but in cross-section it had a load of 'mini inner-tubes' moulded into it's solid body (Like a sort of 'honeycomb'). They were too expensive for me back then, and as I understand it, they were also significantly heavier than standard tyres, with some handling issues. The idea was that by separating the volume of air inside the tyre into many separate chambers, the compromising of the integrity of one or more chambers would not result in a flat, and the thicker (than a tube, at least) walls of the chambers would retain their shape more readily even if the structure was compromised.

I also remember that the idea seemed to disappear as quickly as it appeared, although without t'interweb it would have relied much more heavily on press advertising and the 'bush telegraph' to get the word around. Got to say I don't really fancy the current idea very much - as JIM600 said, it won't take long to fill up with mud and stones, adding huge amounts of rotating weight and preventing the tyre from imitating the 'feel' of a pneumatic tyre. Completely unsuitable for any area with heavy, sticky soil, where tyres collect enough clag on the outside, without providing collection holes for the stuff.

As has been said already, this idea has been trotted out numerous times before, and almost always goes away again. One day someone will come up with a system that actually works, which might usurp the traditional pneumatic tyre in time, but I can't believe that it will happen any time soon. We'll know when such a system has been developed, and found to be satisfactory, when the big players in tyre manufacture all have such a thing in their range, and start to push it as a real alternative to tubes/tubs. Until then it will remain a niche product from smaller firms selling only to cyclists willing to experiment with future technology. (And to 'fixie hipster dheads' who probably don't know one end of a tyre lever from the other, and never carry patches or tubes because "they don't look kool")

Addendum:
Why does the site automatically censor the arse in ahole, but not the word ARSE itself. Arsebiscuits. It's the same as the dick in dhead, but not in dickwad.

fked if I know.

0/10 Non rant with extensive pointless swearing episodes.

[Or888t]

I instantly thought the same. Totally usable as it would obviously pick up a ridiculous about of mud adding to the reciprocating mass within minutes.
What's idea with it being bad during corners i'm intrigued?

[Gizmoish]

Or888t said:

What's idea with it being bad during corners i'm intrigued?

Think of a slightly-soft traditional slick pneumatic tyre on a smooth surface going around a corner in slow motion. The force of cornering pushes the rim away from the contact patch sideways; but that force is also transferred around the tyre. As the wheel rolls forward, the force smoothly shifts to the next part of the circle, and so on.

With tyres that are made of discontinuous blocks - like MTB tyres on a smooth surface, there is a step as the grip from one block suddenly transfers to the next one. It's not that big a step, because the blocks are all mounted to the same casing.

But on a tyre made of totally separate sections, the force being exerted on one section, pulling it towards the surface, is not acting on the next block along at all. It's not ready, there's no build-up. So, if the force is enough, when it's time for that part of the tyre to do its job it hasn't been 'aligned' and it skids.