Airless Tires
 

Has anyone an opinion?

I have Kelvar-lined tires and Slimed tubes, but I dread flats. It is odd, I have the manual dexterity to play the piano and organ, but I am very bad at fixing flats and replacing tires; the various components seem to take a life of their own when I try to work with them.

All I've heard was bad.

Only time you see me near an airless tire is when I've got a flat!

A friend of mine just bought a set. He was making a sharp but low speed turn and the front tire popped off the rim. End of experiment.

About a dozen years ago we tested 'airless' tires for a company on our tandem. On a very smooth road, they were fine. Any bumps and you lost the 'boyancy' that an aired up tire provides. Lots of road vibration!
Crossing a cattle guard (we live in the wild west) it felt like an earthquake!
Not a good idea!
Like learning to play the piano/organ, changing a flat takes 'practice!' So in your garage, take off wheel(s) on your bike and practice removing/installing a tire/tube. Not that difficult after a few attempts!
Good luck!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

So say Sheldon Brown:

"Airless Tires

Of all the inventions that came out of the bicycle industry, probably none is as important and useful as Dr. Dunlop's pneumatic tire.

Airless tires have been obsolete for over a century, but crackpot "inventors" keep trying to bring them back. They are heavy, slow and give a harsh ride. They are also likely to cause wheel damage, due to their poor cushioning ability. A pneumatic tire uses all of the air in the whole tube as a shock absorber, while foam-type "airless" tires/tubes only use the air in the immediate area of impact.

Airless tire schemes have also been used by con artists to gull unsuspecting investors. My advice is to avoid this long-obsolete system."

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires plus Mr. Tuffy. Solid tires have improved a lot in the past hundred years, but pneumatics have improved more.

Paul

the right tire tools help big time, i'm a fan of the crank brothers speed-whatever (with the telescoping arm that connects to the axle) & the nice hard yellow tire levers..some one else can fill in the proper product names if necc.

Embrace the flat! Just keep telling yourself: I couldn't fix a flat on my car myself. I don't know. maybe you could, but I don't even know where to begin to fix a flat on my car (other than say, Discount Tire). So I patch my tube and love it!!

heh, I uses a solid rubber tire (forgot the brand name but it is the one being sold at Wal-Mart). I know what y'all mean by the lack of cushioning so I've had bought the (very) cushioned seat with 3 in of gel and some suspension underneath it. It had helped me reduce a lot of my worries about getting flats. Here in colorado springs, I would almost always gets a flat whenever I go anywhere beside my usual commuting routes. Though now I'm gonna have to go over to the "Bicycle Mechanic" forum and figure out how to straighten out my rear wheel a little more. :o (I go over too much curbs).

Elkhound, I visited your town in 1970 when you had a coal burning power plant and visibility in the downtown area was 8 blocks. I sure hope it has gotten better. When I get repeated flats (rare) on a commute I try other routes. Usually works.

@ken_cummings--Yes, it has gotten a lot better.

Wow, another 2+ year old thread revival.

Well I'm sure ken had been dying to know if the smog in the town had improved!

For various reasons, the topic of airless tires had come up and I wanted to review the research I had done on the matter; hence, my revisiting this thread.

It just shows that patience pays off!

Rode w/3 different types and psi ratings. All the Nu-Teck brand. Still believe them to be a workable alternative for urban commutes of 10 miles or under. One will be slowed 1-3 mph depending on terrain and will be guaranteed no flats, but they do have drawbacks. They cost alot. They WILL come off the rim if not properly sized. The ride is bumpy and they 'feel' strange at first, but one gets accustomed to the 'squirrelly' feel. If you weigh over 200 lbs, forget it. You'll break spokes and want to send them back. I'd still be using them except I ride long commuting/utility distances, live in a hilly area and got tired of the grind. Because of the rolling resistance cycling became a chore and I started hating to ride. But, I hated flats more, so I gritted my teeth and kept pounding away. Then I had a mechanical situation on my main commuter and had to borrow my wife's bike for a couple of days. It's a 3x6 Specialized Crossroads Hybrid w/32mm pneumatics...DING!

So, I decided to go back to pnenumatic tires. Lurked here on BF -Commuter, General, Touring, Car-Free, etc. and decided the best all-around option were the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Gatorskins and Armadillos were seriously considered as well. So, now I've got 3 sets for my commuter bikes. On my primary commuter I've got over 7000 miles w/one flat and one slow leak. It's a Motobecane Fantom CX w/28mm SMP's. When the slow leak developed I got a new SMP for the rear and have over 1000 commuting miles on it w/no issues. The front tire has over 8000 commuter miles w/no issues. The other 2 bikes are both conversions used both as commuter and recreational rides. One's a singlespeed and one's a 1x8 roadie w/barend shifting. Both have SMP 25mm. Over 2500 combo miles on both and though I've had pinch flats and rim burrs puncture the tubes the tires have been unscathed. In every case the loss of air can be traced to some negligence on my part, not the tires.

So, for the same money I'd recommend staying w/pneumatics, getting SMPs and a Kool Stop tire lever as you'll never get them mounted without it. Use a little dishsoap on the bead, too. Carry the tool w/you in your tool kit and get a Topeak Road Morph w/guage frame pump. Anxiety-free commuting. :thumb: