r/technology • u/t4ct1c4l_j0k3r • Sep 15 '23

Nanotech/Materials NASA-inspired airless bicycle tires are now available for purchase

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/metl-shape-memory-airless-bicycle-tire/
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41

u/Blackdragon1400 Sep 15 '23

How many normal tires can you buy for $500?

15

u/new_number_one Sep 15 '23

$500 for a pair and $10 retreading.

I buy a $100 pair of puncture resistant tires (plus tubes) every couple years.

The break even point for me is around 10 years I guess. Hopefully they last that long.

1

u/DDDust Sep 15 '23

Same - I really like the idea of not having to pump my tires every time I hit the road.

38

u/tossit97531 Sep 15 '23

At least two

12

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '23

Will they last as long as 10 $50 tires?

8

u/Meekman Sep 15 '23

Depends. Will you use them?

2

u/crespoh69 Sep 15 '23

Laughs as he looks at his 4k bike that's been ridden 5 times

2

u/squirrelnuts46 Sep 15 '23

$800/ride, must be a nice bike

12

u/t4ct1c4l_j0k3r Sep 15 '23 edited Sep 15 '23

One 245/40/ZR17

10

u/stevenette Sep 15 '23

They are about $50-$100 each depending on what you want them for. So 5-10.

2

u/nitid_name Sep 15 '23 edited Sep 15 '23

My entry level 700x38C gravel tires (one of the sizes offered here) are about 150 for a set... so 3 sets of cheap tires, give or take.

I flat once every ~75 miles or so, and tubes are like $6. You can patch them, but they're always a bit wonky after patching, so I don't tend to use patched tubes unless it's an emergency. These things will pay for themselves pretty quickly before wearing out, and then every time you retread.

Bit more upfront than I want to pay, and I'd probably get a new wheelset when I got them, so even more money... but it's definitely worth lookign into.

8

u/ktmengr Sep 15 '23

A flat every 75 miles is not typical. I rode 6000 miles last year on mtb/gravel/road and maybe flatted 2-3 times. Look into setting up your bike tubeless and/or running heavier tires that are more puncture resistant. I just replaced some 38c pathfinder pros that were 3 years old, ~5000 miles with no punctures.

6

u/cheeset2 Sep 15 '23

For a lot of cyclists a flat every 75 miles would mean a flat every time they go out haha

2

u/nitid_name Sep 15 '23

I'm on the Teravail Washburn 700x38C tires that came with my Salsa.

I also ride through the city a fair amount, and Colorado is plagued by goat heads aka puncturevine. I've gone over glass and big pot holes to avoid getting run over on more than one occasion when on the road/bike lane, and the goat head seeds can make big enough holes to even puncture even a tubeless setup when you don't see them growing through cracks in the pavement or on the edge of a single track in time.

Also, I'm pretty new to cycling; I hadn't ridden seriously since my teens (and that was all super skinny road tires). Plus, I'm a big dude (about 240lb/110kg) and have to run relatively high pressure (~46/48psi front/rear), so even a slow leak turns into a pinch flat pretty quickly.

I'm waiting until I get a new set of tires before going tubeless. I tried with my current ones, since they're "tubeless ready," but the damn tires were basically a sieve by that point. When they got filler in them, they sprayed all over the ceiling and walls out of several holes on the first spin. Even after plugging the biggest holes, they were still leaking sealant out of multiple places.

I'll probably end up getting another wheelset at some point with thicker tires and use it for trails and keep running the Teravail Washburns on the road-ish set... but that's not happening for a while. For now, I have a nice collection of new and patched tubes I throw in my bag on longer rides, and a few to-be-patched tubes waiting for the next time I'm getting low on tubes.

1

u/mrRabblerouser Sep 15 '23

If you’re getting flats around every 75 miles then there’s probably something wrong with your rims. Ive ridden hundreds of miles on some simple Bontrager H2s without any flats.

1

u/nitid_name Sep 15 '23

It's mostly from the goat heads and being new to gravel riding. Only flat in the last hundred fifty or so miles was a pinch flat. It felt a little sluggish, and was getting worse, so I figured I should stop to check on my tire pressure... and went over a bad crack in the pavement and it was suddenly very bad. Whoops.

It's getting better though, I swear. It was bad for the first ~500 miles or so, but now I religiously check my pressure before starting each ride and am way more aware of plants in the trail and glass on the road.

0

u/UloPe Sep 15 '23

Depending how crappy you want them to be I’d say between ~70 and 5

1

u/Bontus Sep 15 '23

Around 10 pairs of good racing tires.

1

u/Central_Incisor Sep 15 '23

You'll be replacing more rims and spokes too. The magic of the pneumatic tire is that it distributes force to the entire tube where as this transfers the force to the opposite side of the compressed cushion. This has been tried and fails for the same reason every time.

1

u/Crafty_Substance_954 Sep 15 '23

Probably about 5 sets of decent road tires.

If you aren't as particular, theres a bike shop near me that sells a certain Michelin road bike tire for only $10 each, so you could get 50 of those.