No more bicycle flats, forever.
  • @Moonrise2473@feddit.it
    122•2 years ago

    The verge is completely wrong in this headline.

    They wrote “are now available to buy”.

    No. It’s a Kickstarter that might ship next year. The headline should have been “Bike tires made from NASA’s bizarre shape-shifting metal might be available to buy next year if the crowdfunding campaign isn’t a scam”

    • Phoenixz
      0•2 years ago

      might ship next year won’t ever ship

      FTFY.

      This is just Kickstarter scam #362646683 that takes people’s money and then… well, profit that’s it. They won’t ship products because they don’t have products, they don’t have anything

  • @anachronist@midwest.socialEnglish
    41•2 years ago

    There have been solid, foam filled or gell filled bike tires for a long time.

    The fundamental problem is that the ring of pressurized air in a pneumatic tire is a shock absorber. When you hit a bump the entire tire (even the part that isn’t touching the ground) contributes to the dampening because it turns into a shock wave in the donut of air. When you switch to any sort of tire that doesn’t have pressurized air in it, the dampening can only occur by deforming the tire in contact with the ground, and it’s not going to be anywhere near as good. Typically you end up with a tradeoff between uncomfortable ride on the one side, and bottoming out on the rim and lots of rolling friction on the other.

    • cobysevEnglish
      21•2 years ago

      When you switch to any sort of tire that doesn’t have pressurized air in it, the dampening can only occur by deforming the tire in contact with the ground, and it’s not going to be anywhere near as good.

      I mean, these new tires do deform with the ground. That’s the “revolutionary tech” they brag about; the rings are designed to compress a bit and deform to compensate for impact, but always bounce back to their original shape no matter how much force is exerted on them. So you get a simulated air pressure.

      • papalonian
        24•2 years ago

        these new tires do deform with the ground

        They aren’t saying they don’t. The foam and gel tires they mentioned also deform with the ground. Like you said, the rings only compress a bit at the site of the impact. Person you’re replying to is pointing out that pneumatic tires disperse this impact across the whole tire

    • @Abnorc@lemm.ee
      3•2 years ago

      I haven’t looked at the numbers, but I’m willing to give these a chance. If they can make tires that are almost as good as air ones but require less maintenance, they’ll be worth it for some people. If those metal rings aren’t too stiff, it should work.

    • @MaxHardwood@lemmy.caEnglish
      -10•2 years ago

      These are street tires. Unless you weigh like 10kg the pressurized air isn’t doing much of anything for dampening.

  • Metal Zealot
    21•2 years ago

    10 mins of internet relevance, a lifetime of obscurity and never being mentioned again

  • @roastpotatothief@lemmy.ml
    12•2 years ago

    Just use schwalbe marathon. They are puncture proof and last forever. I once got home and picked a shard of glass as king as my fingernail out of one.

  • @CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee
    8•2 years ago

    I do everything on a roadbike and fixed gear, which are claimed to have the highest risk of getting a flat tire.

    I usually have 2 flats a year which cost around 6€. I usually get a new pair of tires roughly once a year “just to be safe” when i notice the rubber showing oddities or they start losing grip a little. I usually go for continental GP (4kII/5k) tires if they are discounted and pay roughly 80€ for a pair.

    I’m curious to see if this “no flat” tire will be cheaper and if it can be run tubeless.

    • @Dekudibusei@lemmy.world
      3•2 years ago

      Well, as to the last point the metal is providing internal rigidity, so that’s why there’s no inner tubing.

      But agreed. I cannot see this trumping my replacement costs during my lifetime. It’s cool, and it might be more environment-friendly, but cost/benefit calculation says no.

  • Curious Canid
    6•2 years ago

    Despite all of the “this is new” in the article, nitinol has been around for a long time. I have a great set of small split rings made of nitinol from at least a decade ago. Wish I could get more of them.

    • The Barto
      4•2 years ago

      That would be a pretty funny movie if the terminators were all bike tires.

  • nfntordr
    2•2 years ago

    Pretty sure this was on US Dragons Den and it got laughed out due to the cost. I’m like, yeah cost is pretty high initially but when the hell we gonna move on from rubber?

      • nfntordr
        -6•2 years ago

        No, I thought it was made from the crack of yo mama’s ass

    • @HughJanus@lemmy.ml
      2•2 years ago

      People these days pay more for bike tires than car tires these days already. There are $10k bikes now. Seems there’s no amount of money some people won’t pay for bike parts these days.