1 yr. ago • 85%

NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for purchase

newatlas.com NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for purchase

Two years ago, we heard how the Ohio-based Smart Tire Company was developing shape memory airless bicycle tires. Well, the resulting Metl tires can now be purchased via – you guessed it – a Kickstarter campaign.

NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for purchase::undefined

36 comments

Misleading title. They're not "available for purchase". There's a kickstarter.

114
- And the link is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smarttirecompany/space-age-bicycle-wheels-using-nasa-technology/ Might as well skip the noise
  
  34
Wow, I saw this tech on Veritasium's channel and wondered how long it might be before we might see it. And here it is. Just like that, a future where bike tires never go completely flat may almost be here.

50
- I’m hoping they actually make it to production and they’re a fantastic replacement to pneumatic tires.
  
  BUT, it’s a Kickstarter, with estimated delivery almost a year from now. I’m withholding my excitement until they’re actually in use by regular people in the real world
  
  55
  
  ya, im done throwing my money away on kickstarters
  
  23
  
  It also looks like a Kickstarter where one is paying well above the future price to get to be one of the first
  
  I don't think I want to be an early adopter here. I know how my current tyres handle a fast corner, I would like to see theses on bikes ridden fast before considering them.
  
  4
  
  Yea I really think that an established brand would pick this up if it were really viable. They have the r&d capacity to make this work where I’m not convinced a startup does.
  
  2
Permanently Deleted

30
- there are people with €1500+ city bikes out there
  
  3
  
  We're not putting 500g tyres on our bikes, though.
  
  3
  
  Stolen bikes.
  
  -2
- If you research it, the general consensus is that they'll be good for rental bikes and that's it
  
  1
- I'd dig them for BMX freestyle but that is about it
  
  1
No they're not

This is Kickstarter scam #3752726, don't waste your money

29
I guess it would be cool if these worked. There are already similar products in the market and they suffer from being difficult to install, deadening and heavy.

26
- My biggest worry on this would be where you'd get them re-threaded.
  
  4
  
  You'd have to buy them from the manufacturer. Probably have to subscribe.
  
  6
I had airless tires on my BMX bike in the 80's. Not so cool now, are you NASA?

16
- Nah, they're still pretty cool: NASA invented this tech in the 60s.
  
  9
- The tires on my bike right now are airless.
  
  6
- Wooden wheels were airless before it was cool!
  
  3
  
  And sustainable
  
  2
Well for that price they can go fuck themselves and also isn't that the same metal as high end vape coils?

16
- You're probably thinking of Nichrome, which has been the bog standard for vape coils since forever. It's the same metal as used in most toasters, used because its resistance doesn't change with temperature. The 'high end' version is Kanthal, which is even more stable at high temperatures (and it tastes better). They're used because most heating applications need a consistent power delivery based on a constant voltage input, which you don't get if the resistance changes as it heats up (power = volts-squared/resistance).
  
  But then, for vaping, temperature control (TC) came along. This prevents burnt hits, and can help get the best flavour out of e-juice because some flavours are temperature-sensitive. TC relies on using a metal which does change resistance with temperature, because this is what allows the technology to measure the temperature of the wire. For safety, resistance needs to rise (not fall) as it gets hotter. Early TC used nickel, whose resistance increases a lot with temperature, but the tech is now good enough to work with stainless steels, whose resistance changes so little that it can be used in both watts mode and TC mode.
  
  This has been your enitrely irrelevant interlude. Back to bike tyres.
  
  7
  
  That was really interesting, actually.
  
  2
- I think you're thinking of Nichrome.
  
  1
I always thought this tech was cool, and this implementation seems promising, but I'll definitely be taking a wait and see approach.

8
Airless tires exist since forereve though.

6
Neat.

How heavy are they?

5
- It’s in the article. 450g
  
  16
  
  Yeah, for 700x35c. That's not bad at all
  
  7
  
  ... I somehow glossed over that lol
  
  Not bad!
  
  3
- They’re so light they’re weightless
  
  -5
Those look really cool! I wonder what the installation process is like. I installed tannus solid tires on my commuter bike and I like them but they where a nightmare to install. My arm and shoulder where sore for like a week after I put them on because of how much pressure and finesse it took to get the 200 or so plastic pins to pop into the rim. At least I'm confident they will never come off on there own.

3
Do they come in a studded version? A necessity during the winter months

3
- Doesn't look like they do yet, but if these are successful they probably eventually will.
  
  2
Any notion on weight limits? Didn’t see it in my skin of the article or the kickstarter.

1

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