Plagued by flats?

https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/16/st...urvivor-champ-
debuts-airless-bike-tires-based-on-nasa-rover-tech/

"Startup founded by ‘Survivor’ champ debuts airless bike tires based on
NASA rover tech"

"As NASA is quick to remind people, the investments it funnels toward
space exploration often wind up improving life on Earth — and it’s now in
the business of speeding up some of that work through startups. SMART, a
startup founded in 2020, has a partnership with NASA through the Space
Act Agreement and is part of the agency’s formal Startup Program that
aims to commercialize some of its innovations. The young company today
revealed its first product: An airless bicycle tire based on technology
NASA engineers created to make future lunar and Martian rovers even more
resilient."


hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 5:04:35 AM UTC-4, News 2021 wrote:

hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

FRom https://www.bikeradar.com/news/smart-tire-company-metl/

"According to STC, a prototype version of the tyre that was built to simulate a standard pneumatic tyre inflated to 100psi has been ridden by the test team and the difference between the Metl tyre and a pneumatic tyre was “not noticeable�."

They are working with Felt, and the demo videos show the tires mounted on a Felt TT bike, so it seems they can perform on at least that level. Cornering traction might be a different story, since TT bikes aren't built for crits.

On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 09:04:31 -0000 (UTC), News 2021
wrote:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/16/st...urvivor-champ-
debuts-airless-bike-tires-based-on-nasa-rover-tech/

"Startup founded by ‘Survivor’ champ debuts airless bike tires based on
NASA rover tech"

"As NASA is quick to remind people, the investments it funnels toward
space exploration often wind up improving life on Earth — and it’s now in
the business of speeding up some of that work through startups. SMART, a
startup founded in 2020, has a partnership with NASA through the Space
Act Agreement and is part of the agency’s formal Startup Program that
aims to commercialize some of its innovations. The young company today
revealed its first product: An airless bicycle tire based on technology
NASA engineers created to make future lunar and Martian rovers even more
resilient."


hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

But they currently make "airless" tires, and have been for years. Look
at any wheelchair :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 05:41:40 -0700, scribed:

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 5:04:35 AM UTC-4, News 2021 wrote:

hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

FRom https://www.bikeradar.com/news/smart-tire-company-metl/

"According to STC, a prototype version of the tyre that was built to
simulate a standard pneumatic tyre inflated to 100psi has been ridden by
the test team and the difference between the Metl tyre and a pneumatic
tyre was “not noticeable�."

They are working with Felt, and the demo videos show the tires mounted
on a Felt TT bike, so it seems they can perform on at least that level.
Cornering traction might be a different story, since TT bikes aren't
built for crits.

The image I saw showed mesh, so I'm wondering how they sealed it to
inflate/pressurise it.

Overall, I wonder how something developed for low rpms can suddenly be
suitable for a far higher revolution use.

On Thu, 18 Mar 2021 05:46:57 +0700, John B. scribed:

On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 09:04:31 -0000 (UTC), News 2021
wrote:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/16/st...urvivor-champ-
debuts-airless-bike-tires-based-on-nasa-rover-tech/

"Startup founded by ‘Survivor’ champ debuts airless bike tires based on
NASA rover tech"

"As NASA is quick to remind people, the investments it funnels toward
space exploration often wind up improving life on Earth — and it’s now
in the business of speeding up some of that work through startups.
SMART, a startup founded in 2020, has a partnership with NASA through
the Space Act Agreement and is part of the agencyÂ’s formal Startup
Program that aims to commercialize some of its innovations. The young
company today revealed its first product: An airless bicycle tire based
on technology NASA engineers created to make future lunar and Martian
rovers even more resilient."


hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

But they currently make "airless" tires, and have been for years. Look
at any wheelchair :-)

Err, not ANY. IME, plenty require inflation as 'running flat' is like
wheeling through heavy tar. Talking to wheel chair users, generally the
inflated tyres are preferred for less rolling resistance.

On 3/17/2021 6:25 PM, News 2021 wrote:
On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 05:41:40 -0700, scribed:

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 5:04:35 AM UTC-4, News 2021 wrote:

hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

FRom https://www.bikeradar.com/news/smart-tire-company-metl/

"According to STC, a prototype version of the tyre that was built to
simulate a standard pneumatic tyre inflated to 100psi has been ridden by
the test team and the difference between the Metl tyre and a pneumatic
tyre was “not noticeable�."

They are working with Felt, and the demo videos show the tires mounted
on a Felt TT bike, so it seems they can perform on at least that level.
Cornering traction might be a different story, since TT bikes aren't
built for crits.

The image I saw showed mesh, so I'm wondering how they sealed it to
inflate/pressurise it.

Overall, I wonder how something developed for low rpms can suddenly be
suitable for a far higher revolution use.


How? Marketing!
See also bicycle industry, "Rigid, yet flexible" and so on.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 7:25:19 PM UTC-4, News 2021 wrote:
On Wed, 17 Mar 2021 05:41:40 -0700, scribed:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 5:04:35 AM UTC-4, News 2021 wrote:

hmm, something tells me it sn't going to be a high performance tyre and
will feel like riding a partially flat tyre.

FRom https://www.bikeradar.com/news/smart-tire-company-metl/

"According to STC, a prototype version of the tyre that was built to
simulate a standard pneumatic tyre inflated to 100psi has been ridden by
the test team and the difference between the Metl tyre and a pneumatic
tyre was “not noticeable�."

They are working with Felt, and the demo videos show the tires mounted
on a Felt TT bike, so it seems they can perform on at least that level.
Cornering traction might be a different story, since TT bikes aren't
built for crits.
The image I saw showed mesh, so I'm wondering how they sealed it to
inflate/pressurise it.

They don't. It's "airless". If you look closely at the tires on the TT bike, you can actually see right through them.


Overall, I wonder how something developed for low rpms can suddenly be
suitable for a far higher revolution use.

CAD/CAE. As the article I posted notes: "According to STC, a prototype version of the tyre that was built to simulate a standard pneumatic tyre inflated to 100psi has been ridden by the test team and the difference between the Metl tyre and a pneumatic tyre was “not noticeable�."