Solid "Airfree" Rubber Tires?
 

Has anyone any experience using these "airfreetires"?

http://www.airfreetires.com/

If I understand correctly, they are completely solid rubber and should equal lots of skidding for those who are into this.

get yourself alot of patches or youll end up with a bumpy ride in two weeks .

I would never ride those.
How heavy are those chunks of rubber?
Installation paddle included.

If someone told me these weren't horrendously uncomfortable to ride, I'd give them serious consideration for commuting and jawn.

100% immune to flats is worth an extra 2lbs in total bike weight for some applications.

All I can imagine are the type of tires on a tricycle or little red wagon.

I think the tires on a penny farthing may also be solid rubber.

The tires are actually polyurethane foam according to the website.

Not a good idea. Pneumatic tires were one of the biggest advances that propelled cycling (and cars) forward when they were invented in the early 1900's. The lower weight, increased comfort, increased efficiency allowed people to ride further/faster/longer/better than ever before and no one has looked back since. Nowadays, these things are used on cheap, low end children's bikes.

There is also a consensus that these types of tires are on suitable for cheap children's bikes from wal mart. For any type of serious riding, they provide little to no cushioning effect and rims take a hard beating and have a tendency to fail.

This is an interesting concept so I would give them a try at least once. BUT, they seem to have a lot of limitations that I don't like, for example not being able to adjust the pressure, the way they mount to the rim and it sounds really hard to remove.

From their website:

What are these tires made of?

Microcell urethane. That's the kind of material now used to make automobile dashboards, some seat cushions, and some vibration-dampening devices. We use a proprietary version of microcell urethane that's not typically available to other industries, and we make it up with a specific formula.


What puts the air bubbles in an Air Free tire?

It's a complicated and exacting process, like making really difficult bread. It requires several steps, and conditions have to be just right. You know how, even if humidity is wrong, bread won't rise right? The same kind of thing happens when you make microcell urethane. The bubbles are formed during an irreversible chemical reaction, which happens when you put the two components together. The first compound is isocyanate; the second one is proprietary, which means we can't tell you, but there could be many things in there: little bits of rubber, plastic, ball bearings. Mix the isocyanate with the secret stuff, and one of the byproducts is carbon dioxide. If you put the mixture in a mold, you'll trap a certain amount of the CO-2 in the foam.



So is an Air Free tire full of air, like a rubber tire? Or is it solid?

An Air Free tire has about 1/3 the air that would be in the same size tire if it were made out of rubber. So they're only 2/3 solid. They're full of little encapsulated bubbles. They're made of foam that is light and fluffy, like a souffli. It's like the process of making a difficult bread, but you end up with a souffli.


It also seems like they have done some testing on them too: http://www.airfreetires.com/Technical/default.asp

I'm glad someone asked this question.

I have been using tires from www.airfreetires.com for about 10 years now and I really find that they work perfectly for what I want to do.

From what I read on the web there are a lot of people who complain about them but a lot of this negativity seems to come from people who actually haven't used them.* Their 'complaint' is that they have a friend who had a bad experience with them, or they read that Sheldon Brown didn't like them.

I have a lot of respect and admiration for Sheldon but NOBODY can know everything and I am firmly convinced that Sheldon did not understand Airless tires as well as I do.

As a 69 year old retired toolmaker, I have the good fortune to have the skills to build my own wheels and, due to 'working out' regularly, I only weigh about 165lbs.

The tires I use most are 700 x 20, Nu-Teck brand (sold by Airfreetires) and they weigh around 380 grams (well less than one pound)

Hope this helps you.

Since you have used them, tell us more. Like how long are your rides, what kind of riding are you using them for, how many miles have you put on them, how well do they wear, how hard to get on and off the rim, limitations you have found, etc.

One of the benefits of airful tires is the fact that you can adjust the pressure. When I'm going for a ride on roads that I know are very smooth, I'll add 5psi. When I'm going for a city ride I'll take it down a few, or if it's raining/wet/snowing, or if I'm going to race a technical/tight course...

Can't do that with airfree tires, I suppose.

I love the description on the unobtania one

http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping...ainia-622.aspx

Ditto fluff's questions. I've long considered so Nu-Teck for a "as god as my witness I will make it to work" all-weather-beater bike (work is 6 miles from home). I'd also add, Do you have nu-teck "customize" your pressure?

Just because something was a technological advance in the early 1900's doesn't mean that we can't do better. I think it might be worth trying these tire before you condemn them. My guess is that for particular uses, for instance city commutes, these may be a great option.

haha i know is that a joke???

"Mythos Unobtania"

they want to charge you $180 (more than twice the price of any other tire on their site) for something with a ridiculous description and can't even post an actual photo of the tire?

http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping...medium/843.jpg

It IS a joke.

You sound somewhat confrontational, almost like you want to challenge me.

Well, that's OK, as I really would like to open people's eyes to these tires.

1 ) "Like how long are your rides? " I'm not trying to be facetious here but how long is the road? The length of my ride is usually determined by where I need to go, what the weather is like. I typically ride by myself.

2 ) "How many miles have you put on them, how well do they wear?" Over the years I have used this type of tire on at least 6 different bikes and have never had a tire 'wear out'. One bike in particular has well over 6,000 miles, according to its odometer.

3 ) "How hard to get on and off the rim?" For me, or for you? :-) Seriously, you will get the first tire on more quickly if someone, who has done it before, gives you some pointers. After that you should have no problem.

4 ) "Limitations you have found?" Well, if I were going to ride 'The Tour', I'd use pneumatics but, to just be able to go anywhere, at any time, airfrees would be my first choice.

Hope this helps.

http://www.airfreetires.com/shopping...racer-622.aspx
I'm considering riding those ones next year, no bother bringing a pump with me to school.

I'm not sure if the other guy was being confrontational, but I am genuinely interested.

If you're riding these things on century rides and tours then that is going to be a lot more interesting to me than if you were to tell us, say, that you only use airless tires on your grocery-getter.

And I understood you correctly when you said you had 6000 miles on one set of tires? Wow, that's really impressive.

Also Limeylew:

If you were to recommend a set of airless tires off of that website to someone who has no idea about them, which would it be? I'm considering getting a set just to see what the difference is.
I'm currently riding pretty generic 700x25mm road tires.

a guy I know uses them and loves them, you can get them in different PSI's (the "feel" of different PSI's anyways) but, like most if not all tires these are not made for skidding. :rolleyes:

That's fine, I don't skid.