I Tried Solid Bike Tires | Here's What I Found
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2024
- Are airless tires the next leap forward for bicycles? The scientific team at Gecko Rubber think so, as they prepare to launch the worlds most advanced airless bike tire.
0:00 Introduction
2:04 Introducing airless bike tires
2:36 How are airless tires made?
3:21 Why are airless tires usually suck
4:38 What's inside a pneumatic tire?
5:12 The environmental damage of bike tires
6:27 Why are pneumatic tires are so effective
7:37 How do airless tires work?
8:32 How well do airless tires perform?
9:45 How much do airless tires weigh?
10:55 Overall review
Interested in what I do? Sign up to my Newsletter.
100% free forever and good for the environment.
drbenmiles.substack.com/
My Links:
/ drbenmiles
A few people have asked so I've added the info below. Some of these are affiliate links. If you make a purchase it doesn't cost you anything extra, but a percentage of the sale will help support this channel and my work to bringing entrepreneurship into science.
My gear:
My camera : amzn.to/3ed5Xac
My lens: amzn.to/3xIAZyA
My lav: amzn.to/2SeE20Y and amzn.to/3nK33wA
My mic: amzn.to/3gUYYEv - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I worked in the tyre industry for 15 years, I tested solid tyres for cars with negative results, mainly because of wet road condition performance. the grip coefficient in dry conditions was lower than pneumatic tyres but still acceptable for low speed applications. in wet conditions it was simply too dangerous. So I think an important test would be on grip performance.
This. For example, Crocs shoes have a nice to walk on (or stand on) modulus / density, but my word - get them on painted concrete, which is in fashion now, after it has rained and they prove to be too dangerous to own.
bicycles specifically feel like they have vairly limited variability in the grip performance just in general.
Just the low weight of the bike and tyre pressure (on road bikes especially) being so high that you have pretty mininal grip to work with anyway.
But seems like kind of enough at the speeds and torques people are seeing realistically. Different in races.
You just can't really turn much on bikes, just in general...
Not enough contact area. It's why mountain bikes and motorbikes have SUPER wide tyres.
imo comfort is really the main drawback than anything, for bikes.
There are ways around in in the frame and the wheels but has fairly limited development.
@@kingofcrunk4237 painted concrete without sand in the paint sucks for almost any shoes though if it's wet. it also sucks for all tires if it's wet. bicycle wheels are usable with fairly big differences in them, fat vs skinny and all though.
Stupid question: why does it make a difference for the wet/dry with solid tyres?
@@JoelTehMole same reason it matters for air tyres,
water acts as a lubricant which helps smooth the surface so your tyre gets less grip.
In a pinch it also cools the tyre down which makes rubber a bit hard. Its true of all elastic materials.
In extreme scenarios it causes hydroplaning where a thick layer of water forces your tyre off the ground and makes your traction go to nearly 0.
Air tyres have the advantage of configurable tyre pressures and at low pressures the rubber squishes out over the ground and makes as much rubber contact the ground as is reasonable.
It reduces the overall risks of reduced traction from water.
I used to work in a bike shop about 30 years ago, solid tires were quite popular then and we made a lot of money re-spoking, replacing bent rims and damaged hub bearings of wheels fitted with solid tires. Air is a fantastically efficient shock absorber. Foam rubber with unpressurized air in the foam are in no way comparable. Elastomers make very poor springs. Personally I have found well protected tires (Schwalbe Marathon for example) are virtually puncture proof, and I prefer the minute chance of a puncture (less than 1/20,000km in my experience) to the massive cost of wheel repair resulting from solid tires.
While I have no experience with solid tires, I can absolutely confirm the performance of higher value tires. I am an overweight dude, and I use my bikes for shopping, too, effectively putting up to 150 kg on my bikes. So you'd think that every thorn or piece of glass I ride over will be pressed hard against the rubber. Still, punctures for me are an absolute rarity in the roughly 5000 km I cycle every year. Bonus: these more expensive tires also don't wear down as fast as the cheaper ones, so despite the higher price they are not really more expensive in the long run.
My personal safety precaution is owning two bikes. With a short commute, punctures are not always noticed during the ride. So when I see a flat in the morning, I just take the other bike and repair the flat in the evening. Also, I put in new tubes and a new rim band at least every two years, regardless of any actual issues with them. Strained rubber ages.
Go tubeless. I haven't had a flat since I made the switch about 5 years ago. Just have to remember to top off the sealant every 2 to 3 months.
I have ridden and raced bikes for decades and with training and racing used to cover 300 miles a week. I tried semi solid tyres on mavic box section rims going to work on my work bike, needless to say they cracked these very strong rims and had the rolling resistance similar to riding through treacle making each journey slow enough to fix a puncture anyway. I quickly returned to pneumatic tyres on my work bike, so I can confirm that you are 100 % correct. Semi solid tyres are a disaster! Still race now, sometimes against Harry Tanfield in our club evening series, when he is home from professional duties. This is one area where pneumatic tyres don't help, trying to catch him whilst he is averaging 30 mph on a sporting course.
@@kandrkandr Tubeless tires use air
@@rogeliosalgado My point was... just because tires are pneumatic, does not mean they have to get flats.
Hey! I’m the guy who invented the “NASA bike tire” and I agree that solid tires are a fantastic part of the solution. In fact, I’m running Tannus tires on the Schwinn featured partway through the video. I’m also running tubeless on my Esker MTB, and pneumatics on my Gunnar touring bike. Ultimately, a diversity of options will benefit the cycling community and I’m excited to see these innovations on the solid rubber tire-especially if the recyclability claims hold up. Similarly, re-treading a NiTi tire would be huge for sustainability.
Until then, I recommend just squirting some sealant inside your pneumatic tubes. It’s quick, cheap, easy, can retrofit onto most bikes, and eliminates the vast majority of flats!
I presume you live in the USA, and the sealant you are suggesting is Slime?
You can get tubes pre-filled with sealant,
in my experience both manual and pre-filled sealant only works if the outer tyre is suffeciently punctured, otherwise it won't work,
it needs the air to cure.
Might be different between brands but can't common on that.
Can't remember time I unironically had a flat caused by something poking my tyre, those times I went over a place I *knew* to have throwns.
At that time I had tubeless and just didn't care xP
Love Nickle Titanium wheel concepts btw.
Don't really see why tyres *have* to be air based right now, we just got stuck in a rut.
Rubber has so many disadvantages. Rudder degridation is my favourite thing to bring up...
Sure you are
@@Mallchad carry a knife and make sure air gets in there then.
Years ago I had a flat with a Slime filled tube while out on a ride. Extremely messy. Never again. Switched to heavier, thicker tires and no problems since. I still carry a small can of flat-fix for small punctures, but have never had to use it.
You don't need NASA or some new materials to not worry about punctures, just use a simple trick.
When you do get a puncture, reuse the old punctured inner tube as a tire liner, just make sure to cut off the valve and clean it, make sure whatever caused the puncture is not there any more.
I never had a flat tire since i did that.
Edit: Forgot to mention that the ride quality didn't feel any different.
they do have a liner that you can buy that is puncture resistant. look online. I installed mine with two sided tape to keep it in place .so far ,so good.
Back in the late 50s, there was a little device called a tyre saver. It was a loop of thick wire, curved to fit round the tyre and lightly brush the surface. Anything that stuck in the rubber was knocked out before it could penetrate further. Of course no use with the ridiculously large, knobbed tyres which are so pointlessly used these days.
I do that plus i just use those hard vinyl Liners on my Mtn bike if the guys but is so soft your supposed to stand up on irregularities on the road also consider a fully suspended Mtn bike walmart has them for cheap,
You can buy lined tires - they cost like 10€ more.
Or just buy lined tires. I'm using Specialized Sawtooths, they're lined with Kevlar, in 5 years of light to medium touring on all surfaces I've had 1 puncture and it was from a very thin piece of steel wire.
As for ride quality: pneumatic tires work so well because you’re not relying on the elasticity/compression of the few cubic centimeters of air between your rim and the pavement-you’re benefitting from the compression of the _entire_ volume of air of the _entire_ tire.
That’s why airless tires have so far fallen short: they can’t spread the force of impacts or bumps across the entire tire like a fluid can. Adding millions of tiny bubbles in a sponge-like fashion may be better than being solid rubber, but it’s only because of the balance between elasticity and weight and compliance, not because it’s reproducing the benefits of a pneumatic tire.
There should be no difference between lots of small pockets of air and a single pocket of air. Pressure will distribute into the entire mass without gradient.
Air is a fluid, dope.
@@kazedcatehhh... Tyres and fluids have very caomplicated properties...
One thing to think about is that large volumes air take more deformation to increase pressure, as I understand it.
Which has the effect of making small volumes of airs (or tyres) much harder much quicker for the same amount of deformation.
Though tyres run at wildly higher pressures than cars because of the pain of rolling resistance.
Another thing is pressure deforms tyres difference depending on their properties.
Solid tyres as a rule of thumb have much less deformation on the 45 degree to sidewall.
Just because their shape, layout and the fact its a solid not a fluid don't allow the tread to move around as much...
Rubber properties also makes a difference and it affects how it can deform and by how much. Solid tyres have rubber most of the way through
so it matters even more. Rubber in general also has a thermally dependent elastisity so...
Different problem...
@@Mallchad Gasses don't have deformation. They fit to the form of their container. What they have is pressure, temperature, and density. Solids do have form and rigidity so you need the foam rubber's rigidity to be as close to zero as possible so that almost all of the bicycles weight is supported by the trap air. Small cells of rubber containing trap gasses has a lot of options to make this happen. Major option is the shape of the cell. You want disk like cell with the flat profile along the direction of the pressure gradient this makes it so that the rubbers rigity is focus perpendicular to the pressure gradient giving a cosine factor approaching zero. Then you can adjust the gas density to make sure it is taking most of the load instead of the rubber. The hard part is mass producing the rubber cell with the correct shape and containing a gas with correct density. It is a manufacturing problem not a design problem.
@@kazedcat huh?
gases don't have deformation but their containers (tyres and tubes for example) definitely do.
Which is the important part,
the air is mearly a means to an end to get favourable tyre deformation.
Also yes, it does sound very difficult to manufacter a tyre with mamy thousands of pressurised air pockets.
This sounds like a very elaborate way to have an air based tyre.
Less problems with air leakage, more problems with giving the internal rubber ways to rip, especially when compromised.
Springiness would be a pain to tune and change wildly with temperature.
Oh I forgot about air permeability in rubber with makes most rubber a bit leaky.
As a teenager, I put over 2,000 miles on a set of airless tires with decades-old technology. One could say it was "just commuting", but it was also from one county to another, with the requirement that I never show up late for work. So...a valuable solution to an important problem, with zero downtime, reasonably good efficiency . . . and low comfort in that era of rubber tire. I'm excited to see first-hand what decades of improvement can deliver in the most maintenance-heavy area of a bike.
I see just one glaring issue with these: they have to be designed for a certain driver weight. And seeing how the bike industry is currently handling design, this weight will likely be around 80 kg. They are unlikely to bother themselves with offering tires for different weight classes. Lightweight riders will be rattled, fat people like me, or people who frequently put heavy loads on their bikes will find cycling unpleasantly hard.
JUST 2000 miles? I have done over 100,000km on a series of pairs of Vittoria Randonneur Cross pneumatic tyres with ZERO punctures, and the tyres routinely lasting for 14,000-16,000km each (2-3 years of my typical riding distance). Zero "downtime", excellent efficiency, and great comfort. And I have never showed up late to work due to a puncture. Pneumatic rubber tyres (well-made) present no real problem, and minimal maintenance.
@@Volkbrecht or you will be able to 3D print your own.
using pneumatics in the city and light terrain, stones and glass happen sometimes. No flat in many years. if you get the slightly have "puncture" safe tyres the risk of running a flat is absolutely minimal. Probably less than any other failure on the bike. For travellers doing longer tours, if those gecko tyres do elimate the risk of a tyre malfunction completely, but only then, it may be worth it.
@@Volkbrecht that's a good point, but I don't see it being too difficult for manufacturers to create different models tailored to rider/bike weight by adjusting the amount of gas bubbles that are incorporated into the rubber. Especially since bike packers could be a pretty large target demographic.
Running shoes have taken a similar approach in recent years by modifying foam density in their women's models, since they are typically lighter.
The first bicycles used solid rubber tires. The problem with a soft foam airless is you can't tailor your pressure for terrain and weight. I think the ideal solution is something like those foam tire liners. Make the foam equivalent to, say, 15-20 psi, and use air for the difference.
Would be curious to see how these tyres handle in the winter. It's currently -26 and I wonder if they'd just turn into a solid disc with no give or grip.
As a Canadian, I'd be keen on studded versions of these Geckos when they get to production.
Regarding this topic, I've been riding on a single set of Schwalbe Marathon+ tires for around 10.000 km's in the past 4 years and never had a flat. They have several hard to puncture layers and a solid insert to minimize punctures. I pulled a long rusty nail out of them and large shards of glass that had me absolutely BAFFLED how they hadn't punctured them. The downside is the weight but they saved me so much hassle I can only gush over them.
I'm also curious, but also a Schwalbe fanboy. I've ended up riding, mostly below 20mph, on 2-inch Big Apples and Fat Franks; rolling resistance of large, quality, not-knobby tires is low, they don't need pumping that often, they tend to resist punctures. Zero punctures is better, of course, but rolling resistance?
I use these tires too. Never had a puncture and they never seem to lose pressure either. I've put some 'slime' in to the tubes just in case for insurance but would highly recommend Schwalbe.
Something Schwalbe made me aware of is, that there is actually a way to recycle the rubber from pneus. Which is quite tricky because of the mix of materials and the containded metal and its way too geeky to explain in a comment.
But it shows that even this is possible maybe not at such high rate as the geckos but it is still a very new approach, so some improvements will be done in the future.
Another schwalbe user here. I commuted to work for a year, from summer to summer in all conditions, but living in Scotland meant pale sun and definitely rain and wind, with the occasional snow fall. My tyre of choice for the job is the G One Speed, almost slick gravel tyre with superior puncture resistance. I went from a puncture every two weeks to no punctures at all. At the end of my commute I used tweezers to pull out small glass shards from the thread. These are tubeless tyre, but I never got to need the sealant to plug a hole. The advantage of being pneumatic is that I can change the pressure according to the load and conditions. There is no beating the best tubeless for flexibility and for pure speed the margins are getting lower and lower. The recycling aspect is definitely an interesting once and I can see how many hybrid or electric bikes can take advantage of the technology.
only time I get any punctures is when the snow and ice melts and freshly grind rocks are bare against the asphalt. it's like constantly driving on glass like shards.
You brought me closer to believing that this is possible. The bicycle is an interesting thing, because so many people think they can create an idea and build it for the bicycle since the bike is a simple machine. But because the tradeoff between energy efficiency and reliability is so delicate on a bicycle, in over a hundred years, we still haven't come up with an alternative to the pneumatic tire. We may never, but this idea is intriguing and promising.
You are 100% correct. The bike looks deceptively simple but it is almost impossible to improve it. The chain is the perfect drivetrain for it. Cheap, efficient, multiple gears and easy to maintain. The derailleur and the gear system is also just perfect. Cheap, reliable, efficient etc.. The pneumatic tire is very good for all things a tire needs to do and the frame is pretty much perfect with relatively small adjustments. Just for riding, manufacturing and maintenance the bike is pretty perfect as is.
Bicycles are all about simplicity. Meanwhile the tire of the bicycle is probably its most complex item. Solid tire makes the bike simpler which in my mind which means it could be better than what we have. Not necessarily in ride quality but in many other aspects. The tire waste issue is definitely a problem that needs solving.
Oh there are alternatives. You're just not using them, snowflake.
With a pneumatic tire, the whole volume of air contributes to the "springiness" (feeding into both rolling resistance and comfort). For the rubber-foam-tire, it is just the bubbles around the area of contact - a considerably smaller volume.
The bubbles AND their surrounding elastomer. The whole trick (or science, or alchemy) is in getting the optimum properties of the elastomer. How close to a pneumatic tire that optimum can be, remains to be seen. At the end of the day, the tire has to be "good enough" for its intended use, which is most likely commuter bikes, and not track (or even touring) bikes. The consumer will be the ultimate arbiter, weighing cost and ride quality against puncture resistance and disposal concerns.
This also has another advantage in that it considerably improves the potential to dampen sudden impacts and help to protect the wheel rim itself from damage. Having a bike tire that survives a sudden impact may not be quite the advantage it might appear to be if it ends up buckling the wheel itself instead.
One of my road bikes has Tannus tyres - I only use that bike on the static trainer. I originally used them on the road but found two problems. The first was that the tyres felt to be dragging - loads of friction - most unpleasant. The second problem (which I hope that Gecko addresses) is that because the Tannus tyres have far less "give" than a pneumatic tyre, they transmit any shocks straight up the spokes to the hub and with a "J" shaped spoke where it fits to the hub I found that several spokes sheared off at the bend in the spoke. As you mentioned in your video, the Tannus tyres are a nightmare to fit so imagine trying to replace a spoke! It can be done but, under no circumstances, allow the nipple to fall back into the rim, otherwise it's game over. This facet is important to physically large cyclists, I'm 6'3" and my optimum cycling mass is around 110kg because I have very broad shoulders. I also still hold my British Cycling Race Licence at age 67 and enter things like Ride100. If any of my comments are of interest to Gecko then please pass them on. I look forward to them becoming available.
I agree and you also need to pedal all the time even downhill and the joys of a tailwind are removed.
It’s a great concept but I can see two issues:
Air filled tires conform to internal rim width, these would have to come in many different sizes to suit different wheels.
They might be comfortable for you at your weight, but give a terrible ride for someone lighter or heavier, so again they would have to come in different densities to match air filled tires.
Yeah, it wold be a nightmare to stock those tires. It's already a nightmare with the countless variants of 26/27,5/29 + etc.
Which, is the same deal you have with car tires
The tires installation surface compresses into the rim (hence the use of a mallet) so a single tire can fit multiple rim sizes just like with air-filled tires.
I used Tannus tyres and pros and cons made them worthwhile for me. Commuting in London i just got sick of punctures trying to get in/out for work, tried all the usual stuff Gator, Marathon Plus, sealant, but the roads were just too poor and too much debris. Fuss-free reliability is definitely great for a specific type of cyclist. Yes an absolute pain to fit, but i did about 6500 miles a year, and they'd last 4 years. Second set was the slightly improved model (meant to be softer iirc) and seemed completely fine too. Also nice not having to carry all the things to fix punctures, which saves weight/space. If you're a commuter i'd defo suggest at least keeping an open mind about them.
Thirty years ago, my bike expert friend tried tubeless tires. He loved them for a few months and then uneven wear around the circumference turned every ride into a washboard road. In your experience, would you say that issue has been solved?
@@keeperMLT Yes i'd say so. On smooth paths there was certainly no judder like the tyres were worn unevenly.
i'll caveat that by saying the rear had slight flatspot from an emergency braking incident with a black cabbie (right hook turning across me when i had right of way), and they are quite firm (aka 80-100psi feeling) so you feel imperfections, but nothing else apart from that.
Thirty years is a long time to improve the formula / manufacturing process, and seem different to info i could find of much older "solid" tyres.
I think using microbubbles will be a game changer. Increase the PSI in the middle, reduce it by half a dozen PSI on a gradient to the sides of the tread for better grip when turning. You can have two layers of the same material with bubbles at different PSI to get that strong spring / weak spring effect that cars use. I could see this completely revolutionizing tires if it works.
At my local bikeshop they have had another competitor that I couldnt find in these comments.
Basicly its a foam like rubber that you insert into your pneumatic tyre so that the tire is still filled with air, you just dont need to pump it up.
The installation is as simple as removing one side of the tyre, putting the rubbertube in and putting the tyre back. It is stab and leakproof too.
So I would like you to compare this solutions to the others. Unfortunately is that I forgot the name of this solution.
Seems like this would be an excellent fit for the increasingly popular e-bikes segment. Bike lane and Pavement-only Cargo and Commuter e-bike styles seem like the best fit. Helps keep the e-bike ready at all times....and importantly, gives the e-bike company better "performance" (spec'd to always offer least rolling resistance for Max Range) and safety features (no flats EVER...gets you home) to tout.
And a bit of extra rolling resistance would matter less on a ebike than a human only power bike.
I'm a bike mechanic, and it looks like we're going in the opposite direction, because people are damn stupid. The last 'trend' of the mass market are those cheap chinese eBikes with Fat tires. Guess what, they get a puncture on average 4 times as often as a normal tire. Imagine having a tire as large as that of a car, but same materials as a regular cheap bike tire. You basically scoop up every piece of debris you find on the pavement.
For higher end eBikes the solution is Tubeless tires. That's it.
@@DerpEye I love how you write debris
@@DerpEye I'm all for other bikes scooping up every bit of debris - that's less debris for the rest of us to get a puncture!
I have have a 2kW ebike (converted old mountain bike with no suspension), so I use the biggest tyres I can get to fit on it with medium pressure to help absorb the bumps.
After 7 years, I've gone from getting a puncture sometimes 3 times a week down to maybe less than 3 times a year, so getting punctures is not something I worry about now.
This coincides with the rapid rise in cycling popularity and dedicated bike lanes around Budapest, even though my average distance has increased.
@@DerpEye I have an e-mtb, it was night and day when I switched to tubeless! Not only puncture are rare although I go on forest paths with spikes bushes, but also the prevention liquid makes the tire leak much less air, so pumping it is also much less often needed.
In the video, he also didn't mention an advantage of air tires: pressure is adjustable. To rider and load weight (can be important for cargo ebikes usage). With solid tires, this parameter is fixed...
And as someone mentionned, it would be very important to test the grip, as in city for ebikes, roads can be slippy because of rain but also oil and ... tires remainings on the road... (+ a big trap is when riding on tramway rail, metal is super slippy when wet).
With the on coming electric bike market this tire needs to be tested on several to see how well they hold up. The way a person normally rides changes markedly when riding an E-bike. really like the idea of no flat tire and recyclable.
most products that push hard on recycling and cost saving aren't neither.
@@cubertmiso4140 true enough
"Schwalbe’s three-tire Marathon Plus lineup is among the company’s most popular and has been around for more than a decade and a half. For the most part, it’s immensely popular among most who’ve tried it. After all, they report it delivers a solid mix between comfort, low rolling resistance, high puncture protection, and a variety of tread patterns from which to choose, depending on terrain." In NQ Australia where we are afflicted with heavy duty thorns, I got many flats on my electric mountain bike until I used Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres :) Then I got no flats, you need to pull out accumulated thorns after each ride, which was good because they have wire beads and require a special technique to get them on the rims.
Totally right, of course there is a market here. However, if you buy decent tyres flats are history for sure. Guess best argument here is, do you actually inflate your tyres regular or do you want zero maintenance.
I think this is interesting, but I would also suggest looking at tire sealant. Ever since going tubeless with sealant, I've enjoyed not worrying about thorns (especially goat heads). I still have to occasionally pump my tires, but it's not often and they feel very similar to regular tires aside from them being so hole resistant
Also if you dont want to spend too much money on a tubeless setup, you can get tire liners which reduced my punctures from goatheads from almost every ride to almost none
Tubeless has been great for me on MTB so far (year and a half). No flats, plus the ability to adjust the pressure, including very low pressure like 10psi that you would never run with a tube. Punctures can more easily be fixed with a simple plug system. The sole remaining problem is that they do need checking and pumping regularly. Also I bet they are lighter than any solid rubber tire because there's no tube. I actually think an almost-solid rubber tire with an air chamber makes some sense. This would restore more of that air cushiness as well as some adjustability for firmness , yet they would still be virtually puncture proof as well as be able to run on zero pressure. In fact a lot of MTB riders put foam inserts in their tubeless tires to help prevent pinch flats and give some run flat ability. If a tire included that kind of technology in the tire itself then you would have basically a semi-solid pneumatic tire like I'm talking about. Of course if a pure solid tire like the gecko is completely recyclable, that is a huge plus.
Vittoria air liners for road deform to next to nothing when air pressure is present in tubeless , gravel version does same but doesn't deform. Both offer the benifits of tubeless and solid tyres 👍
Honestly, I have very low hopes for gecko tyres actually getting recycled any more than pneumatic tyres, just like regular plastic items are hardly recycled despite decades of research and infrastructure creation.
@@francescomastellone9444 the problem will be to keep them seperated from non recyclable tires.
They'ld probably need to do something like free return of old tires when buying new ones. (maybe best via bike shops)
Adjusting the pressure is so important. Yet everybody forgets about it when the talk is on.
Tubeless works better on mtbs than road bike, struggles on road bikes due to the higher pressures.
7:10 The air is not compressed in the tyre any more than it is compressed when a load is first put on it. When the tyre is under load the constant air pressure acts on the non-circular shape of the tyre to push it back to a more circular (minimum energy) shape when the tyre is no longer in contact with the road. Energy is not stored in the air it is stored in the stresses in the rubber tyre being loaded.
That is a different scenario to a micro-cell tyre where the air has nowhere to go when the tyre is deformed. In this case the deformation both compresses the trapped air and its the micro-cell not being in its lowest energy shape (stresses in the rubber surrounding the cell) that provides a restitution force to uncompress the tyre on the trailing edge.
I’ve not been able to read all the posts, so this may have been mentioned already…
In motorcycle off-road sport, especially long distance riding, for many years we have been using mousses instead of tubes. They work very well for us, no punctures of course, and that totally compensates for any performance downsides. You need to see if Michelin, who do most of the motorcycle mousses, are doing anything similar for bicycles, and if not, why not?
Dear Ian, Yours is a good point (though I know nothing about off-road motorcycle sport). If one group of two-wheeled enthusiasts can do it, why can't another. I suppose we should not forget, though, that all the motorised two wheelers will have suspensions and much more power than a human-powered one.
Luke
@@lukewiseman9946 Hi!! Yes the same brand TANNUS TIRES do this mousse for Mountaibike. Similar concept than Motocoross. Also other brands. Good point!
Very interesting... I have found that Schwalbe Marathon Plus + inner tube/sealant combo to be a very effective combo. Relatively inexpensive to fit, and has some amazing results.
My front tyre is 6 years old and has covered some 29,000km, had 1 puncture in that time which the sealant was able to fix after removing the object and pumping up (and that's using a standard Marathon not the Marathon Plus).
My rear tyre is a lot younger at 2 years and 7000km and at the moment has not had any issues.
I have previously tried solid tyres, I think it was a Tannus or a Greentyre. I tried it for about 1000km front tyre only and that was about manageable on a road bike, but it really was not a good experience on the rear. Switched to Gatorskins and fortunately don't have too many issues on that bike.
I am interested in this technology and I hope it can become a competitive product but good tyre choice, and availability of good routes (most cycle lanes tend to fill up with glass and debris) can mitigate the risks from flat tyres almost... until inevitably you get a flat going to work as is the way..
I have been riding on Tannus Tyres for over 6 years now and their ride is very similar to my previous tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Plus kept at the top end of their pressure range to avoid punctures). In the local country lanes, where a flail is used to keep the hawthorn trees trimmed, my Marathons got punctured with thorns. This is not an issue with air free tyres with a consequent increase in ride enjoyment.
Ouch, tyres near the top end of their pressure range must have been uncomfortable as hell. No wonder the solids were comparable in (dis)comfort ;)
Also marathon plus is already about as bad for comfort and rolling resistance as air filled tyres get. They sacrifice everything for durability and puncture resistance.
Marathon Plus suck.
Or you could use sealant in your inner tubes, or run tubeless with sealant and essentially avoid flats that way. But I really appreciate the points about recycling these!
Tubeless is the way to go. I just had my first summer without a flat.
The tyre may not go down but it still has to be fixed.
Tubeless doesn't always work, if your flat left you with a bigger hole and you had to use a slug to plug the hole, you still need to replace the tyre, it will always lose air
Tubeless also doesn't work if you dent a rim from hitting a big pothole. Ask how I know...
@@johnnunn8688 still uses way less rubber then this monstrosity
Sounds absolutely amazing. I want to see how it performs on a gravel or mountain bike. I'm a fan of stiff feeling Bikes on trail at least stiffer than a full squish downhill bike and I love how well they climb. This looks to be revolutionary
This is interesting, thanks. Weight is a huge factor on overall feel and obviously grip in relation to rolling resistance. As an aside, tubeless really changes the game for pneumatics.
While I like the idea of recyclability, the big problem that this video didn’t touch on is the tune-ability of pneumatic tires. The ability to change air pressure is essential. Tire pressure is very complex and there are so many variables from rider weight, tires size, surface and more. If I am riding very smooth pavement, I will run a lot higher pressure. If I am on the loose dirt I will run a much lower pressure. Many times I will change tire pressure in the same ride when going to different surfaces like running higher pressure riding to a mountain bike trail and letting out pressure one I am on loose dirt.
I will also run different pressure based on the total weight going for a quick ride vs fully loaded touring. The only application that I could see this not being as big of an issue is with bike commuting.
As an avid cyclist who has pedaled over 180, 000 miles, I finally installed mousses. I had used tire-liners coupled with "slime" sealant and still gotten sidewall flats. The assurance of no flats now compensates for performances issues, since I don't compete. I put tape over the valve stem holes in the rims to keep water out.
My first bike, when I was little, had solid core foam tires. Those tires lasted through trail ride after trail ride for a ridiculously long time. The rubber compound wore off completely eventually, and the bike fell apart, but they held together - no chips at all. Some of the tread was even shaped into the underlying layers, so 6 year old me kept on riding. It was GREAT, I hope I can have tires like that again, but that hold up to big boy MTB.
I use Schwalbe Smart Sam Plus which has an additional layer of protection. Just like he showed in the video.
Before that one of their Marathon series models which is practically impenetrably.
I am using both since 2017.
Never had a flat tire again.
Whether on gravel, road or hard terrain.
Nevertheless these new tires also look very interesting.
its a massive difference in speed if your tires are not pumped up enough, even on flat land its the difference between constantly peddling v just rolling
Depends how perfect the road is. I'd never think I'm going fast If I feel like there is an earthquake going on. Sacrifice some speed for comfort ;)
Then thinking large future scale, there should be different "solid" tires for different weights. Heavy bike and rider would need a different compound than a lighter one to archive optimal rolling resistance. I think these will also make a lot of sense for cargo bikes in the future. Looking forward.
Specialized makes a very resistant tire called "fat boy." What is amazing about this tire is that it holds air about the best of any pneumatic tire I have used/ What is truly amazing about the fat boy tire is that it is not particularly fat and also it seems treadless and has real low rolling resistance. They are truly amazing. The last time I priced these for a 26" x 1" was a reasonable $23 from a regular dealer.
I had airless tyres which were a foam rubber core with a regular tyre tread about 30nyears ago. They were pretty good - heavier and slower but not so bad really. The peace of mind that you couldn't get a puncture made it worthwhile. I would have hoped things had improved a lot since then but it seems not, unfortunately. Hopefully airless car tyre tech will drive development.
lol, that was my first thought as well... "Hey, I remember those! I HATED them!"
They made my bike so much heavier and less nimble. IIRC, I pulled them out after just a week of using them, because the bike felt completely wrong. Couldn't get the wheels off the ground at all like with tubes.
Totally, I think the weight was one of the big challenges that kept more people using them. If they take away the fun of cycling people ultimately switch back to regular tires. Hopefully this new team's approach will get better adoption 🤞
@@FlesHBoX I've never ridden "good" bikes. So when I had those airless tyres it was alright for my daily 3 hours commute.
@@gladteer873 I've never used them on a "good bike" only cheap walmart bikes. By the time I got my first specialized these were already a distant memory, lol. I can't imagine how badly they would impact a bike that is light.
Pneumatic tyres have improved a GREAT deal in the past 30 years in terms of puncture-resistance. I have used Vittoria Randonneur Cross and Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tyres over the past 20 years and virtually NEVER have any punctures. Only flats have come from old patches (from previous tyres) that have peeled, a couple of tubes that have split along folding lines, and similar. NO penetrating punctures!
I tried some airless tyres about 25 years ago, they were like riding through treacle! was such a relief to get back on pneumatic tyres. Hopefully the technology has moved on a bit
I also tried airless tyres around 25-30 years ago. The size I used were 26x1and3/8 inches and were obtainable from Halfords branches. These tyres gave a very bumpy ride. It needed considerable force to get them on to the wheel; so much so that I was concerned the wheel would buckle in the process. In some attempts to put this type of tyre onto a wheel I softened the rubber first by bundling and tying up the tyre with rope, then putting the bundled tyre into a very large saucepan of boiling water,
Another problem I encountered was that the foam rubber would absorb water when riding in the rain and this absorbed water remained in the foam rubber for several days and led to rapid rusting of the steel wheel.
That was a quarter of a century ago. Technology has changed.
@@Leo-gt1bx yes, if. you read what I wrote I specifically said it was 25 years or 'a quarter of a century' ago and was hoping that the technology had moved on. We'll see if it's any better when we get to try them
Nice review. I been riding a pair of Tannus tires for about 4 years and 6,000 miles now. I love these tires. Never had a problem with grip rain or shine. I am not an extreme rider though. I'm more of a casual to commuter rider. My back tire needs replacing soon but my front tire will easily be able to do another 4,000 miles. Rolling resistance is no more than a pneumatic tire with green slime in them or plastic inserts really. They feel like pneumatic tires pumped up to 90 or 100 lbs. They were super difficult to put on even with the special tool you can buy which I did. I was happily going to buy another set of Tannus tires but if Gecko Rubber tires are easier to install, more comfortable ride and 100% recyclable I am in!
Awesome innovation and fantastic video presentation! 3 points; 1. It would be amazing if the rubber was sourced from a sustainable renewable bio option. 2. For wheel longevity it would be cool to be able to re coat the outer grip layer. Same principle as resouling shoes. Except maybe you could brush it on like paint with a roller. 3. It would be awesome to make 150mm inline skate wheels out of this technology, for off road skating. More of a scandinavian off season training thing but is still fun for short commuting in flat cities with shoddy road surfaces.
honestly I think you've sold me on the idea. I'll probably wait to see the wider experiences people have with them, but it seems to perfectly match my needs. cool review
How about rolling resistance. I usually can control that with the amount of air pressure. This material has certain density witch will confine it's usage to certain width of the tire. It's hard to believe that tires from 23mm to 42mm can be made from the same compound. Softness of the tire is not always desired factor.
Honestly these are the types of inovations I like. Their not some super flashy overly futuristic peice of kit but instead its a well though and well researched product
I now have Tannus tires on all of my bikes. Zero worries about ever having a flat tire. I've heard from some of the cycling snobs that the solid tires ride harsher than a pneumatic tire, and don't grip as well in the wet. This was probably true of the earlier versions, especially on the skinny 23×700 tires. My serious workout bikes are 28×700, and my gravel/commuter bikes 32×700, and I cannot discern any difference between the softer Tannus Portal solid tires and pneumatic tires. I rarely ride in the wet, and if I do, it's just for casual commutes, so if they do grip less on wet roads it is a non issue for me. It is so much better to never get a flat, have the inconvenience of one, have to carry a spare tube and flat repair items.
I adjust my bike tire pressure for the trails for the current conditions of the trails. I'll stick with air. When it's soft you want more floatation/grip and a more conforming tire. Same on my road bike, if it's a bumpy route i take out a little and if its super smooth i add from the normal psi. But I ride for fitness and take different trail systems or road routes. So not always the same. >> Your tire would be great for commuters I think.
Schwalbe marathon plus tires are the best tire I've ever used. Ran them for years and over multiple multi-day bike excursions and barely had to even think about them aside from the occasional fill up. I bit heavier but zero flats over 6000 miles. I'd love to see Gecko license their tech to other brands and allow the market to do what it does and improve these tires even further, while offering loads of size and use cases.
Try the new Continental Contact Urban 2022 model. It's like the Marathon but way better rolling resistance.
commuted from Poole to Bournemouth and back ( 20k round trip ) for 17 years on a cycle ( shift worker ). Sick and tired of punctures in pouring rain and at unsociable hours, so packed it in and bought a 125cc Yamaha scooter. It was fear of being late for work that did it for me. I will look at this development closely. On my days off I fitness cycle on cycle lanes and mild off road on a hybrid, and I get regular punctures. Hope this venture is a success. Tubeless tyres with slime and all the faff is not for the commuter cyclist
Thank you Dr. Ben, solid video!
I did a cycle tour through NZ and Europe, covered about 5 thousand miles on a set of schwalbe marathon tyres...no joke I only got 1 puncture in the last 100 miles, I noticed as I was packing up at a hostel in Amsterdam to ride to the ferry at the Hague and I still managed to pump it up and ride it to change on the ferry because it was so slow, could even of just been a leaky valve because I didn't find a hole in my very brief inspection. I'm still using these tyres now and probably have another 3 thousand miles on them with no punctures. I think it's just the right tyres that matter....
Wow, if Gecko Rubber ever make them in 20x4 inch size I'll be getting a pair for my ebike. Awesome
I'll need that in 20x3, tired of fixing flats on mine.
@@xlgoldfish I put a pair of Shinko motorcycle tires on my Ariel rider and that's solved my problem for now.
I go to work on bike and I have been searching for a good solid tire for a year I have done 1900 km. according to my GPS and catastrophically damaged like 4 or five tires. My biggest concern is the durability of solid ones, makers say they last about 7000 km. but reviewers say they last about 3000 in some cases. I appreciate your honesty and I hope you can get those new tires in the market as soon as possible. Subscribed!
I recently went with the solid tire option, mainly because with the engine and rack i added made my pneumatic tire to pop constantly. the new one is heavier but honestly i love not worrying if it popped again.
Solid rubber with air pockets. It's an old idea, but difficult to manufacture. The next step is to create several layers which are thicker in the middle, and stack those. Each layer has a different density of bubbles, so it would be sort of like a gradient density, with more bubbles in the middle layers than the outer layers.
That is horrible. You want it to be no gradient so that it acts like a pneumatic tire. Pressure spreading evenly. Having a gradient means impacts will not transfer across the whole tire and instead stress will be uneven making you feel more of the bumps.
Great video Ben! I was at one of your business courses at Bath Uni for PhD students:)
In my experience running large volume tires at lower pressure (30psi) nearly eliminates flats and while it does increase rolling resistance slightly, it drastically increases comfort. And a tire will remain at 30 psi much longer than it will at 60 or 90 psi. Pneumatic tires also allow adjustment to different riding conditions and weights as well, and I always put 5-10% more pressure in the back tire since there's always more weight on it.
I am running a set of Continental Double Fighters at 40 they are comfortable and I've not had a flat in 2 years.
I always make purchasing decisions based on total cost of ownership, and I factor in environmental costs. I look forward to seeing this in our local bike stores.
Thanks for doing the video.
Go virtue signal elsewhere
@@TROll-oe9ng it's a youtube comment, not a twitter post. lmao
Or you could be incredibly lucky like me, I’ve always ran conti, with an average of 5k miles a year I had zero punctures on the road from 1998 to 2017. Admittedly I did have a couple of slow ones that had given me a flat overnight. I think the key is to keep correct inflation and replace when they get worn
I've been on Conti Double Fighters for 2 years and not had a flat
I had an airless bike tire back in the 10970s. It didn't need any air. That's the best thing I can say for it. But I suppose that the technology has probably improved since then.
Back from the future.
In 1980 and 1981, I commuted to and from work, 8 miles each way, on airless polyurethane yellow tires. Their cross section, as I recall, was part ribbed, part honeycomb. My hubs were robust sealed-bearing Phil Woods, so I didn't worry about wheel life. At 2 pounds (900 grams) each, those tires were heavy as hell. And they made for a bumpy ride. But the weight was worth it. No longer did I fear getting a flat.
Once, at the factory where I was an office worker, the union workers went on strike. To deter "scabs" from violating their picket line, they had strewn broken glass along the entrance road. You should have seen their faces when I cycled right through the glass.
I tried these a couple of years ago and really wanted them to work. They were very difficult to put on and reflected so much road vibration that they were unuseable. Hopefully they may have improved
I think the solution is to use a regular tire, but replace the air tube with a low density solid material with similar properties to air.
That stuff would prolly get smooshed pretty quick
I was considering getting Tannus tires for a while now after having a bunch of flats in a short time a while ago. Surprisingly I haven't had a flat in over 3 years since then, but when considering going bikepacking or touring on my bike, I thought about Tannus again to avoid flats during those moments but people are pretty clear that they have very bad comfort, so I've kept waiting for better solutions.
well tannus has a armor insert thats a lot better than the entire airless option.
My tannus tyres are the best upgrade i ever made to my commuter bike. Been riding on them for a year now and they've been great. Yes they do make for a more bumpy ride but the peace of mind of not having to deal with flats anymore makes it worth it.
Same here.
Would’ve been great to see a test of actual grip with the surface, including in the wet.
With pneumatic tires, it’s more the psychological fear of a flat than the actual frequency of it (maybe once a year or so) in my bike commuting experience.
Last year, I had four flats. This year, I've had one, and I've ridden a lot more this year than last year, and on some pretty gnarly single track trails, too.
@@Durwood71 Yeah, guess the quality of trails and roads matter. Also, having a tube lined with that kevlar-like material helps.
@@aroundandround I really can't explain why I've had so few flats compared to last year considering that I've ridden further and harder this year. I'm rather mystified.
@@Durwood71 You perhaps subconsciously improved at dodging suspicious surfaces, avoiding head-on sharp step-like cracks etc on your roads.
That tech can be applied to car tires too imo. And it gave me an idea on how to improve it!!!! Thx for the video!
In the 80's we had puncture-proof tires, to solve that exact problem. Rode a little hard, but totally worked. Essentially a thicker rubber/steel mesh + air as normal. Nuff said.
I'm amazed that you are getting flats that often. I've been cycling for fitness and pleasure since the 1990s averaging 2000 miles or more per year. Initially I was riding on the tires that the "racers" used and I was getting flats about 2 - 3 times per year despite religiously maintaining recommended tire pressures. I eventually switched to the less "fast" but more durable kevlar belted tires (Specialized Armadillos) and after that similar type tires from other manufacturers. I have been riding Continental GP 5000 for at least 10 years. I have had all of one mishap in the last 20 years and that was a freak event, a flint chip flipped on to the sidewall of my front tire causing a blowout. All in all, one flat in 20 years (approximately 40,000 miles... I think I'll stick to what works.
Looks like the way forward at least. Repairing punctures can be really stressful esp. on a cold rainy day. Anything that can get rid of this and bring us up to date with modern materials is a massive plus!
The sooner they make tyres that don't puncture the better, I'm a 62 years old and ride an electric trike six days a week to and from work, it's an hour's walk if my bike off the road , like it has been this last week (awaiting pay day) ,and that's the second puncture in one of the rear wheels this year 2023 ,,and it's so nice to hear someone who is from England for a change
I used 'Tannus' tyres 32yrs ago in the wet it was like riding on ice and it was like riding up hill all the time, great for training but bloody hard work.
I like the sound of the Gekko's.
What was grip like in the wet?
What about tubeless, air-filled tires? I mountain bike, and these are ubiquitous in the mountain biking world. I'll admit that they require a bit more maintenance than I imagine an airless tire would, but I have never really had to worry much about flats.
Not recyclable since they require a bead material, fabric carcass and different rubber compounds.
Just got through changing the tire on my wife's tubeless Toyota. (Technically, I changed the wheel, tomorrow some tire shop will change the tire) Tubeless does not prevent flats, because ultimately the tube does not provide much puncture protection. It's just kind of a thin air bag. Once something gets through the tire, tube or not, you have a leak
@@47f0 Tubeless mountain bike tires are usually used with a sealant that goes on the inside of the tire. This allows for small, or even fairly sizeable, punctures to basically self heal. I assume you are talking about a car tire since you mentioned a Toyota. These tires are much thicker, and standard tires are not really intended for off-road use. Due to this, they have much less need to run with a sealant inside the tire like mountain bike tubeless tires typically use.
@@komoumi - There have been various goops, slimes and goos used for allegedly sealing both tubeless and tube type tires for decades.
Allegedly.
My point was that tubes, since they are very thin rubber that provides almost no puncture resistance don't really alter the puncture equation much one way or the other. And yes, you can definitely fill your tubes with various kinds of snot. That is not unique to tubeless tires.
Such an airless tire is obviously not a solution for Mountainbiking, since you need little tire pressure for suspension, and riders adjust the pressure for their needs.
Update: This sounds (and was) a great product. I think the company has run out of cash, so unlikely these will ever see the light of day. If you get an offer for investment into the company, my advice would be to turn it down.
I think good idea
Sounds like a good idea but the devil is always in the details. Price. Performance (efficiency, comfort, longevity). Ease of recycling (widely, efficiently doable without any proprietary tech/methods).
There are loads of intelligent products create that are better, but why they are not heard? Many reason of cos but the main , my opinion is the monopoly of giant brands. They will try to stop any new tech that will hurt their business. Unless there is a clear intervention, it wont change. Take the car industry, gas vehicle has been around for ages, why? Giants brands, oil and gas company lobbying etc. Even now the transaction to electric is being influence by politics, not tech. Main point is, its not about the tech, its about whos playing the game. My take? Its going to be a flop, unless you sell it to big companies, with a tone or marketing budget, then may be.
As others have said, get some inner tube sealant, put in tube, or if you're adventurous and like pumping, go tubeless and put in tire. problem practically eliminated. 3000km without flat for me, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Changeable pressure also a plus.
I’ll wait until they’re in the shops and proven.
I tried solid bike ties back when I did long distance cycling. I never got a flat, but my wheels eventually were destroyed, the spokes all popped. The extra wear on the wheels themselves ended up being important.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Just wondering how well these tyres seat and remain in the rim at high speeds. Are they reliable at high centripetal forces ?
I would like to see if they remain in a very sudden and violent braking action
I am curious how the Gecko tire would perform for heavily loaded touring. Any opinions on that?
My current touring set up weighs in at 110Kg without water or food (also not including me) I know it sounds heavy, but I tour with a Sitar and a full set of tools, just to list a few... ;)
My wife and I will set out on a 3 year tour soon and eliminating the worry of punctures would be great. At the moment we both ride Schwalbe "Marathon Plus Tour" tires and are generally happy with them. During our last tour which was 1 year long, I only had 4 punctures, but I did carry 4 extra tubes and a patch kit.
Thanks for this information. Very interesting.
Even when I rode a bicycle a lot, as in it was my main mode of transport, it took many years to go through one tyre and I've only rarely had to buy a new tube. The latter typically outlasted a tyre. Also in spite of riding on all manner of roads and surfaces punctures were not a regular occurrence, and when they did it was a quick job to pop on a patch that will never come off and actually makes the tube even harder to puncture. So for that price these solid tyres would have to do a lot better than lasting a mere four years. I appreciate that they're easy to recycle, although recycling itself comes at a cost.
I used kevlar tires. They were pretty much resistant against getting flats. They could withstand the typical broken glass bottle that would normally give you a flat.
Kevlar tires only have kevlar on the sides. The part that touches the soil is exactly the same as their wire counterparts.
Still waiting for airless MTB tire
@@timcutler1792 I was thinking about a hybrid MTB tire that is about 30% pneumatic and 70% synthetic lightweight rubber ?
9:44 Comparing weights is a good idea. Of more interest would be comparing the rotational moment of inertia of each tire/wheel combination. This would tell us how easy it would be to accelerate the bike.
Londoner cyclist here, I've been using tannus solid tyres for about 2 years and done at least 5000km on them and I have to say I don't agree with a lot of what you said about them. I absolutely think that solid tyres are an excellent option for commuters and the tannus tyres are really quite good. Comfort is not that bad, they feel pretty fast (28c tyres on my road bike) and installation is closer to 20-30 minutes when you get it right. Plus on ebay (and probably other places too) you can get them for like £25 each. Nothing against gecko I haven't tried them just think you undersold tannus. My only major gripe is that it does put more strain on wheels/spokes and so I recommend stronger wheels and you'll have to replace them every couple years but still absolutely worth it.
Exactly the same experience here. Also people talk alot about grip. I'm not a guy trying to be some Tour De France wannabe. Just an average commuter.
What about half Gecko half air?
An air innertube inside a Gecko tire is something they are experimenting with at the moment. Looks interesting, but still runs the risk of a puncture. Might give an even smoother ride though?
How long does it last? I have replaced the outer tires on my bike before, and I'd imagine they last longer than this one (since they are designed mainly for grip/longevity).
In that vein, would it not make more sense to only replace the inner tire with a gecko one, and still keep the outer tire? Then the gecko would last pretty much forever, and only the outer tire needs replacing when it's worn down.
Aim is for 2-4 years. But there have been a couple of early beta testers that still ride theirs from 6 years ago.
Could be an interesting idea yes. The difficulty is in getting a good attachment process so the gecko and the bike tire both fit securely in the rim
@@DrBenMiles Thanks for the reply! I think I'm not the target audience in that case. I'm Dutch and ride my city bike very often.
As is the case with many people here, I ride a second hand bike that's around 100 euros. I'm not sure if it's the type of bike or maybe the infrastructure, but I very rarely have flat tires. My last flat was more than a year ago, and the outer tire was worn down completely as well (so I replaced both). I'm pretty sure I don't even have special anti puncture outer tires.
It would be interesting to see how these tires would perform on my TerraTrike. I actually struggle trying to find tires with a flatter profile since I don't tilt into turns like a traditional bicycle. If these are stiffer, then traction may not be that great. I scrub a lot in high-speed turns. I wish I had a bit more steering axis inclination on turns (a bit more camber while turning), but I realize trikes are a very specific niche.
I've had Tannus bike tyres for 4 years and I'm so grateful. No more punctures going to work or on long journeys. Punctures made me envy the Victorians even if they had a bumpy ride.
Follow the money..WHY, indeed, would ANY tire manufacture produce good, long lasting, puncture proof tires??! That's not good for business! And before anyone suggests "solid core" tires (I'm not going to name them here). They're absolutely rubbish and DANGEROUS. Substandard traction and DEFINITELY A NO GO when it rains!! A NO NO. You've been warned.
Dr Ben Miles: I'm gonna do my best to present this story as subjectivly as I possibly can.
Nah sorry man I think you messed up here and were way to objective in that video :-)
😅 I tried, hence the heavy caveats. I have to admit, I think these are cool
@@DrBenMiles "Subjective" means your own point of view, "objective" means impartial and unbiased. So at the start of the video you said you were going to be as biased as you can and that's what Hans is teasing you for :)
In the 70's cyclists with 10-speed bikes used a device for each wheel called the tire-saver, a piece of wire shaped in a half circle to ride close to the tire's wear surface, supported with some flexible plastic tubing which was in turn supported by a piece of wire fastened to the brake bolt for each wheel. By riding very lightly on the tire, the wire picked off the bits of glass and sharp gravel on the first wheel revolution after they stuck in the tire. This prevented the glass/gravel from being repeatedly forced further into the tire with each revolution. As a result of beginning to use these, my annual flats (riding 3 to 5,000 miles per year, about half in a large U.S. city on streets) went from 8 or 10 to less than one. I think bike shops stopped selling them in the 80's, probably because they were bad for business. They cost about a dollar per pair but saved you time, tubes, and tires (and patch kits) - but bike shops sold a LOT less tubes and tires, and less repair service for those people who didn't repair their own flat tires. Modern tires have some flat protection, and I have worn-out my old tire savers, but I still get flats from staples, something that didn't happen 50 years ago. Given we are trying to be ecofriendly these days, somebody who is not strapped for tire-related profits ought to start manufacturing and selling them. I see some ads when I google them, about $15-20/ pair, which is a profit margin of about 2,000 per cent.
I started commuting a few years ago and after getting 10 flats in under a year I switched to solid tires. It was a horrible fight to get them installed and I'm not sure I would do it again when these wear out but not having to worry about having a flat half way through the commute was worth all the trouble
Take my money please 🙏 🙂 💰
Tannus inserts are about 1/2" foam at thickest, and I've found it's the best middle ground since the areas I bike are littered w scrap metal, nails, glass and was getting flats more than twice a month.
I had solid foam on my first bike with training wheels, worked great, nice and light, not maintenance, could take a nail or sharp object fine but the tread wore fast once I started practicing skids lol
Some products we pretty much figured out like doors.
And if you have to check each morning for your tires being okay you’re doing something wrong.
I would recommend changing inner and outer tire (for a high quality tire) so you will be okay for the near future
Thanks. I shared this with my bike riding brother. Jim Bell (Australia)
A good way to do it may be a hybred, solid on the outer half and air in the rim half. They should be a little easier to mount, still be adjustable for dif rider weights and road conditions. It may also help if a hybred, to have the tires a bit taller then standard air tires. With ebikes on the road going up in numbers, with tires as fat tire 4x20 inch, there may even be more waste tires to deal with in the future. I've heard of many having problems with them going flat.
I'm looking forward to this going mainstream, even if I don't really get a lot of flats, air tires still deflate and not spending effort on that should be great
You also have to add a few grams to the pneumatic tires for the compressed air in them (maybe about 5-7g of air depending on pressure, size of tire, etc.)
Some years back I did some work at a large oil patch site. I noticed a number of their employees were riding on large single speed mountain bikes equipped with solid tires. One of the workers let me take their bike for a ride. I found it rough. heavy, & rather hard to pedal but it certainly was a low maintenance bike. Solid tires are also popular on toddler bikes & tricycles. They are also used on fork lifts which are used on concrete floors & smooth pavement. I think your Gecko tires would very good for kids bikes. You know how dad hates to work on bikes. They would also be ideal for most adults not interested in the Tour de France.
The thing I like best about aired tires is that their hardness is adaptive. of it's cold, rainy, and you're going cautiously the air in the tire is cooler, so it takes up less volume and the tire is softer. Which is better for those conditions. But on a hot sunny day when you're really opening it up that tire heats up, heats that air inside, which then expands and you get a much firmer tire which seems better for gripping higher friction dry surfaces. The difference numerically isn't that big maybe 1-3 PSI either way at max it seems. But there really is a feel to it that matches what your doing.
With an airless tire on the other hand (the few I've used over the years anyway) They always seem to have the same amount of give regardless of the weather or surface. I think it really adds to the sluggishness. But then again. I do go down a lot of roads that are not in the best upkept neighborhoods. So even though it's more sluggish in general, it really is nice to not have to worry about popped tires.