http://www.airfreetires.com/Mountain_Bike_Tires.html

Has anyone used these airfree tires?

I am particularly interested in the
Teton All-Terrain HP 85-95 psi

I presently use Michein WildGripper Sprint S
http://www.bicycletires.com/wildgrippersprints.htm

They are a nice ride, but can go flat even with kevlar insole.

I would prefer an airfree tire that rides like the WildGripper ..if such a tire exists.

The only "air free" tire I'm aware of is way more of a pain then what it's worth. Stick with good old fashioned tires.

In November 2001 I installed Ocelot 26x1.9 160 psi no-flat tires (no air tube - solid polyurethane and nylon) from www.airfreetires.com on my Schwinn "Impact" 18 speed mountain bike. After eight months and a tad over 2000 road miles I am pleased to report that these tires are A-OK. They have zilch rolling resistance, cannot go flat or blow out and roll through broken glass and nails with impunity.

I weigh 275 and special ordered 160 psi-equivalent tires as I wanted and got zilch rolling resistance.

In May 2002 I bought four each Teton All Terrain High Pressure 26x2.0 90 psi. Installed two on my grandson's 18 speed MTB. He is pleased.

Last week I installed a Teton AT HP 90 psi on the front (and kept the Ocelot 26x1.9 160 psi on the back) of my Schwinn 18 speed. I now have considerably better control in muck and sand, a somewhat softer ride and still have zilch rolling resistance.


All things considered I am well pleased. I see no reason to ever use pneumatics again.

Don't believe what every newbie says. People sign on here all the time just to sell something.

If you want to find out for yourself, try some out and let us know how they are. But you've been warned, here. ;)

Sounds like a spammer to me. Everybody I know that has tried these d@mn things thinks that they are just absolutely $hit. My LBS gave up on them (after 3 or 4 customers had them roll off their rims), cut them up, and used them as wall bumpers on their staircase.

Sorry-I don't believe it.

As LittleBigMan said

If you want to find out for yourself, try some out and let us know how they are. But you've been warned, here.


If you will take the trouble to go to www.airfreetires.com you will learn that you may return the tires within 90 days for refund if you don't like them.


In June 2000 when I first asked about these tires noone of this forum had heard of them. Now I understand why that is.

I got mine.

You don't want to investigate new and improved things? Cool.

Live well and prosper.

They tested very simular tires on the BBC's Tomorrow's World, riding over broken glass, and nail embedded wood.

I had a look at the website, but don't think very much of the "off road" tire trends they advertise...

I think I'll stick with my blow up tires for the time being, but thanks for the info :)

Rich

Let me say a little more--

We're not stupid on this forum.

Please take us off your spam list.

LBM,

Lewis Campbell (limylou) has used the Airfree tires on his GRR for a couple of years. He has been very happy with them and tells everyone so. There are a couple different compounds (compressions), and at least two mfgs. I understant that the HR compound from Airfree Tires is much better. But to each his own. And please don't assume everyone with a good comment is spamming. Hugh Waters, the owner of Airfree Tires posts regularly to the ARBR usenet group. And Hugh Doesn't spam. He responds to questions. I am waiting for the new Open Road recumbent tires (20/26) to hit the shelf.

www.airfreetires.com

Tom Balmer
Goatbiker/V2

"Vlad?"

"Vladislav?"

Both newbies? C'mon! ;)

I don't assume everyone with a good comment is a spammer. I just don't appreciate sales rep's. pretending to be a poster with a question, then pretending to be a respondent with an answer.

spam, he's trying to sell stuff and hence joe please delete this thread. thank you, everyone can go back to your regularly scheduled program. :)

Look who's talking! :D

With two years between posts, I don't really think he is a sales rep trying to drums up sales.

Personally, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's on to something.:confused:

Really I think it's the same guy, even his writing style is similar.
:rolleyes:
:p
:crash:

He is the same guy, no doubt of that. He had trouble posting under his old user name, hence the switch and he's a newbie again.

He even says in one of his replies that he first posted something on the tyres in June 2000, which is the post date on the Vlad post.

I have doubts over the product but I don't think he tried to make us think he was two different people.

Maybe this thread just needs to be shifted to the 'Shameless Promotions' forum.

Like I said before, Hugh Waters, owner of Airfree Tires, is not a spammer, does not employ spammers.

He is a regular on the Alt-Rec-bicycle-Recumbent newsgroup.

Go to the Airfree website, click the link to Hugh, and ask him. But don't be rude. I have had many e-mail conversations with him and he is a very decent guy.

And I'm not a newbie. You should know me well enough by now to know that I don't sling B.S. I don't know either of the "V"s, but I'll bet dollars to donuts they are not selling for Airfree tires.

Tom Balmer

mmmmmmm! spam! i love spam. this is true spam. those who doubt the spam content of this should do a search of vladislav's posts. all three of them advertising the same thing. two in this thread and one here.

Wham! Spam! Thanks, dude!

http://www.spam.com/assets/hp/GoodGone3_animation.gif

Airless tires?

www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_a.html#airless

I challenge anyone to show me a reputable bicycle shop anywhere that recommends airless tires, or even sells them.

LBM,

Here is the link to one of the pages for the Open Road tires. check out some of the other info on other pages too.

http://www.airfreetires.com/OpenRoad/Default.htm

The newest tires are made of a new compound (the HR tires), the same sort of stuff that the elastomers in shocks are made from.

They are heavier than regular tires, but for someone who commutes to work by bike, they will provide the ultimate reliability. There have been many discussions on Alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent on the value of a heavier tire (everyone wants to go fast) but many are setteling for reliability.

Airfreetires has made tires for larger rims, but now they are about to release them for the thinner rims, the 16-18mm used on many recumbents. They are starting with a 20", then will have a 26". The Open Road is a new shape they hope will excell in road use.

I know Sheldon Brown doesn't think much of airless tires in general, but a lot of his articals are old, and he may not be familiar with the newest technology in airfree design.

Tom Balmer

(repost)

Author Topic: road test report no-flat airfree bicycle tires
vlad
Cabinite
Member # 16
posted January 24, 2002 20:17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[hpv] Air Free Tires?
Paul Goodrich hpv01@keyconnect.to <mailto:hpv01%40keyconnect.to>
Wed, 25 Apr 2001 01:16:41 -0700
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>What's the word on Air Free tires and their compteitors, American Tires Air
Riders? I found
>their websites, which of course say favorable things, but I haven't heard
an opinion from anyone
>who doesn't have a vested interest.

As luck would have it, I've just come back from my first full-length commute (about 30 miles, all told) on AirFree tires. They're still new enough that the silicone hasn't all worn off, so they're more than a little squirrelly at the moment. More carefully stated, the running surface is fine, but the sidewalls and the sides of the tread are still slippery enough that they
"bounce off" minor ridges in the road rather than climbing over them. I
expect that this will improve once I wear the silicone off (for those who
are wondering, it is used to enable the tire to be extracted from the mould).
Even when they're fully silicone-free I'm sure I'll have some learning to
do: the front tire is equivalent to 120 PSI and the rear to 160 PSI, so
there's not much rubber on the road compared to the 90-PSI V-Monsters which
they're replacing.

Ah, though -- the joys of riding without having to scrutinize every inch of
oncoming pavement! There seems to be a significant segment of the
population in Portland that self-medicates their Seasonal Affective Disorder by imbibing alcohol, then throwing the empty bottles onto the street, from whence the big tires of the cars and trucks sweep the shards of glass neatly over into the part of the outermost lane and shoulder where bicycles tend to ride. I plowed straight through a good half-dozen patches of glass today, any one of which would ordinarily have caused either (1) a flat or (2) a potentially dangerous dodge into traffic to avoid the hazard; the AirFree tires took everything Portland's streets could throw at them with nary a complaint. Freed of the glass-hunting chore, I was at liberty to look around, observe more of the flow of traffic, see the scenery and just generally enjoy the ride.

Rolling resistance isn't a problem, either cruising or climbing -- I
deliberately specified very high-pressure tires for that reason. I can't
really speak to speed issues at the moment, because a hip injury last summer (non-bicycle-related) has kept me off the bike for the last several months and I'm taking it *very* easy for these first few weeks back in the saddle. I'll report back to the list in July or August with more accurate info on overall speed <grin> ...

Mounting the 120-PSI tire on the rim was no problem, but the 160 nearly
killed me. I finally developed a technique that involved zip-tying the tire in place at one point in the rim, engaging the mounting tool in the rim, kneeling on the ground and _laying the tire down_ on the ground and on my thighs. This allowed me to bring my body weight to bear on the mounting
tool, pressing it toward the rim to keep it from popping off about
two-thirds of the way around. The manufacturer also recommends pre-heating
an oven to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, turning it off, then wrapping the
tire in a towel and letting it sit in there for 10 minutes or so to let it
get (slightly more) flexible before mounting it, as well as slathering the
tire and rim in soapy water before starting the mounting process.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably get somewhat softer tires, just
to give myself larger contact patches for better steering and braking. I've heard that the new formulation (currently in testing) has much better
rolling resistance than this generation of the technology, so I'm hoping to
be able to come down into the 100-PSI range without feeling like I'm rolling a beanbag.

I was surprised to see how much stuff I was able to strip off the bike once
I mounted the AirFree tires. There's a surprising amount of technology
required to support pneumatic tires: pump, extra tube, patch kit, tire
irons, Schraeder-to-Presta adapter, extra dust covers and extra valve-stem
locknuts, at least. My rack-top bag used to be nearly full, and it's now
nearly empty.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. If there are other
questions, ask away and I'll go out and ride around until I can come up with an answer <grin>! Usual disclaimers apply: I don't work for AirFree, etc.

Fair skies and tailwinds --

Paul
Rans Rocket #7


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(repost)


vlad
Cabinite
Member # 16
posted November 23, 2001 17:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No flat tires on my BOV-bicycle.
Nov 9 I telephoned AirFreeTires http://airfreetires.com/
to place a credit card order; two each airfree high resilient Charleston Runabout 27x1-1/4 @ 160 psi-equiv.

They arrived yesterday. I did not succeed immediately in installing the tires per instructions. A few minutes of grunting and muttering convinced me there had to be a better way to install 160 psi-equiv tires. It occurs to me that tires with lesser psi-equivalent are probably easy to install with the tool I bought with the tires. I quit for the day having installed zero tires.

This morning I had a better idea. This method is actually easy.

-lower the tailgate of your pickup
-set the wheel on two 4x4 blocks on the tailgate
-run a rope around the rear bumper and over the driver side of the tailgate and through both bicycle wheel and tire at the 6 o'clock position. (You are standing at 3 o'clock.)
-at 12 o'clock use a ratchet-type-nylon-strap load binder.
-run the strap around the rear bumper, over the side of the tailgate and through the tire.
-work the ratchet to stretch the tire.
-put plenty of liquid hand soap on the inner surface and sides of the tire
--spray water on the rim
-lever a portion the tire onto the rim with a flat screwdriver or similar
-secure that segment of the tire with wire ties
-reposition one or more times as necessary to install the tire



By this time it was midday and warmer than I like. I rode only 5 miles. The tires had zilch rolling resistance. The 160 psi transmitted every bump to my bones as expected on a hardtail bike. I had purposely removed my gel seat pad so as to gain an appreciation of these tires with a normal bike seat. On a bike with springs and/or gel seat pad you probably would not notice the difference in tires -- except no flats.

I called AFT to order two Teton All Terrain HP 26x2.0 high resilient @ 160 psi-equiv for my Schwinn Impact 18 speed mountain bike. The answering machine answered. Maybe a long weekend? I will order the other tires first thing Monday morning.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How's this for some great ad copy:

"For some urban dwellers the bicycle is their main form of transportation and a flat tire could cost them a days pay or even in the most severe situations a crippling or even fatal accident. Granted this is a little melodramatic because most of the time it’s just going to be someone like you out for a fun day on your bike and you’ll have a flat tire and have to push or carry your bike to the nearest shop to have it repaired. Even if you have the tools and patches with you, in most cases you still won’t have much success with an emergency repair because about half the time the rim will be damaged."

Let's chase a squirrel up and down a pole until it gets tired.

On second thought, I quit. :D

If anyone cares, some bicycle shops will not work on airless tires. This could be a problem if you need a spoke replaced and a wheel trued, for instance.

In central Washington, there is an area infested with what's commonly called "tackweed," and i've seen tires come from that area with literally hundreds upon hundreds of thorns in them (particularly off-road tires). The usual solution is to combine Slime tire sealant with one of the following measures:

• Mr Tuffy tire liners or other equivalent brands
• Thick, thorn-resistant tubes (also an excellent way to practically eliminate pinch flats)

Combining all three of these measures is possible too, if there is adequate cause.

If you do run airless tires, keep an eye on your spoke tension, particularly in the rear wheel if it's a dished wheel. In a conventional pneumatic tire/wheel combo, the wheel isn't supported from the bottom. It hangs suspended by the bead all the way around the wheel, unless you hit something big enough that the rim bottoms out. The spokes in the bottom half of the wheel have less tension, but there's no focused zone of low tension.

With an airless tire, the tire's contact patch is the focus of a zone of low spoke tension because the tire is full of foam which is being compressed between rim and road in the contact-patch area. The spokes' tension goes up and down more, increasing the stress cycling on them (the primary cause of breakage) and possibly encouraging them to loosen as well.

No disrespect meant to the happy owners of airless tires. If they're working out for you, great! :)