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Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

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Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#31

Post by JonChesterfield »

pmoriarty wrote: post #22
eCa wrote: post #18

For normal world applications, a tubeless[1] setup will perform infinitely better. Though less eye-catchy. [1] https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/tubeless/

"Sealant, poured into the tyre or injected through the valve, helps plug any tiny leaks. This sealant stays liquid inside the tyre and will heal small punctures suffered while riding." Isn't that basically the same as Slime, which is (from what I understand) widely reviled in the biking community?

I like the slime inner tubes. They've saved me a few times. Only on lowish pressure tyres though, I can't imagine they work well on a road bike.

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#32

Post by asdff »

pmoriarty wrote: post #22
eCa wrote: post #18

For normal world applications, a tubeless[1] setup will perform infinitely better. Though less eye-catchy. [1] https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/tubeless/

"Sealant, poured into the tyre or injected through the valve, helps plug any tiny leaks. This sealant stays liquid inside the tyre and will heal small punctures suffered while riding." Isn't that basically the same as Slime, which is (from what I understand) widely reviled in the biking community?

People do get annoyed with tubeless to be honest. Its a mixed bag of people who like it because the rolling resistance is 1 watt lower, and people who hate it because its a lot more maintenance keeping up with sealant and hard to patch sometimes compared to just throwing in a new tube (which a lot of tubeless users end up doing when they get a puncture flat anyhow).

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#34

Post by asdff »

slg wrote: post #4

It is interest that from a functional perspective these are just traditional tires with thicker walls to prevent punctures and internally compartmentalized to reduce the impact of a puncture.

Its the same design as any other airless tire, whether it be on an electric scooter or a skid steer

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#35

Post by bityard »

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist."

Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or using some sort of hard closed-cell foam underneath the rubber layer?

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#36

Post by currency »

bityard wrote: post #35

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist." Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or…

Solid tires crawl around the rim as you ride them. Okay for very low speeds; not okay for cycling speeds.

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#37

Post by [deleted] »

bityard wrote: post #35

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist." Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or…

[deleted]

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#38

Post by glitchc »

currency wrote: post #36
bityard wrote: post #35

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist." Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or…

Solid tires crawl around the rim as you ride them. Okay for very low speeds; not okay for cycling speeds.

Bingo! That's the main reason why. Compressibility of the tire turns rolling friction into a translational force. Pneumatic tires also experience a translational force that tries to push the tire back and off the rim as it interacts with the ground.

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#39

Post by [deleted] »

bityard wrote: post #35

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist." Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or…

[deleted]

Re: Tennis balls serve as decent bicycle tires that don’t easily puncture

#40

Post by thesausageking »

bityard wrote: post #35

Okay, dumb question from someone who rides a bike but is not a "cyclist." Road bikes have a pretty high tire pressure, to the point that the tire itself basically offers no cushion at all, on it's own. Why are these tires pneumatic at all? Why not wrap a rubber donut around the rim and call it a day? I'm sure part of the answer is weight, but surely this can be reduced either by making the rubber relatively thin, or…

They exist and are called "airless tires". Tannus is one of the most popular brands:

https://tannusamerica.com/pages/tannus-airless-tires

They're solid foam and can't go flat. They're not very popular because they don't perform nearly as well as tires with tubes. They have a higher rolling resistance (ie, you have to pedal harder to go the same speed) and have a rougher ride.

Good quality tires don't puncture that often and, for most riders, are worth the trade off.

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