Solid tyres?

fauxpas said:

With such high pressures and issues with punctures, has anyone ever dabbled with solid tyres?

There are various vehicles out there with solid tyres for various reasons.

I believe you could release an entire range of solid tyre with differing properties...

[center]airfreetires.comSalePage.htmlOpen ↗[/center]

alfeng said:

[center]airfreetires.comSalePage.htmlOpen ↗[/center]

Those must ride rough!!

alfeng said:

[center]airfreetires.comSalePage.htmlOpen ↗[/center]

Yeah perfect for your ultra lightweight wheelset that you just spent thousands on to get your rotating weight down..... just add another pound to your bike!!😄

Lama said:

Yeah perfect for your ultra lightweight wheelset that you just spent thousands on to get your rotating weight down..... just add another pound to your bike!!😄

Definitely not for racing but it might be comforting knowing you aren't getting flats when riding on highway shoulders with tons of broken glass, in the middle of nowhere, 55 miles from home!!!

Each tire - for road - is about 175 grams heavier than a comparable road tire (350 grams total) . Drop the tube weight, which is about 110 grams each (220 grams total). So now you are 130 grams total more for the Airfree. Then drop your spare tube(s), which drops another 110 or 220. Drop your pump or CO2 dispenser with cartidges and your patch kit. The Airfree tires would, overall, be lighter, somewhat.
NOW, I have never used them so I have NO idea how they ride. But the weight issue, for non-racing, is no really relevant.

li0scc0 said:

Definitely not for racing but it might be comforting knowing you aren't getting flats when riding on highway shoulders with tons of broken glass, in the middle of nowhere, 55 miles from home!!!

Each tire - for road - is about 175 grams heavier than a comparable road tire (350 grams total) . Drop the tube weight, which is about 110 grams each (220 grams total). So now you are 130 grams total more for the Airfree. Then drop your spare tube(s), which drops another 110 or 220. Drop your pump or CO2 dispenser with cartidges and your patch kit. The Airfree tires would, overall, be lighter, somewhat.
NOW, I have never used them so I have NO idea how they ride. But the weight issue, for non-racing, is no really relevant.

They will ride like [censored]. The single biggest contributer to a nice ride on a bike is the spring rate of the air in the tires.

alienator said:

They will ride like [censored]. The single biggest contributer to a nice ride on a bike is the spring rate of the air in the tires.

And have ever tried putting one on a rim. It's a no-holds-barred wrestling match.

Sheldon Brown says that airless tires are a scam and are inferior. I trust his opinion :-)

sheldonbrown.comtires.htmlOpen ↗

What about solid tyres for track racing?

By solid I mean a rubber band stetched around a disc or pursuit wheel. A really solid rubber which does not absorb energy covered by a soft rubber for grip would provide very low rolling resistance. The rough ride wouldn't be an issue for the track, and weight is less of an issue for pursuits. Think of the shapes that could be developed if it was a solid moulded shape!

If your worried about contact patch how big is the contact patch on a 20c tyre pumped upto 180psi?

li0scc0 makes some good points.

I have used tubeless tires in an attempt to cope with glass on the road. I used them for about 6 months and my exerience was fairly positive, though I ultimately moved back to inflatable tires. No doubt about it, they are an end to flats, and that is a good feeling of security when your route promotes flats at a high rate. And, I was not struck by the ride being rough, though I may not be a connoisseur on this point. But on the negative side, it IS hard to get them on (and off). Two things got me to move back to regular tires: in the winter, I found them slippery on frosty roads. And, kevlar tires (Armadillo and Gatorskin) have given me adequate flat protection with what seems to me to be better grip.

chero said:

li0scc0 makes some good points.

I have used tubeless tires in an attempt to cope with glass on the road. I used them for about 6 months and my exerience was fairly positive, though I ultimately moved back to inflatable tires. No doubt about it, they are an end to flats, and that is a good feeling of security when your route promotes flats at a high rate. And, I was not struck by the ride being rough, though I may not be a connoisseur on this point. But on the negative side, it IS hard to get them on (and off). Two things got me to move back to regular tires: in the winter, I found them slippery on frosty roads. And, kevlar tires (Armadillo and Gatorskin) have given me adequate flat protection with what seems to me to be better grip.

My biggest concern with the anti-solid tire rhetoric is that nobody who bashes them has ever ridden them. I think Sheldon Brown generally has great info but it seems that here he has formed an opinion without any empirical evidence. Now, I admit - as I admitted earlier- I have not I ridden solid tires either! But there are, conceptually, some advantages as stated earlier.

Getting them on/off the rim should not be an issue unless it is impossible to get them on the rim. Clearly it is not because some people ride them. It is not like you have to take them off to change a flat, so it is a rare occurence to have to do this.

I would not use them because I do not get flats that terribly often. I use Michelin Krylion Carbon tires and they rarely flat and I ride 200-275 miles per week. I ride on highway breakdown lanes often, and still they rarely flat. HOWEVER, if I rode on horrid surfaces with glass everywhere, I might give the solid tires a try. Or I might support my local LBS and get some Armadillos.

21st century solid tires today are not the same as the pre-pneumatic tire of the 19th Century. The earliest solid tires were solid and hard as a rock, but it is my understanding that the Airfree tires do have some sort of cushioning in them. And the owner seems to be honest. I contacted them once two years ago out of curiosity, and he gave tire recommendations for racing that were NOT airfree tires as he stated his tires could not equal the weight and rolling resistance of top end racing tires, but said the Airfree tires would be good for training.

It is good hearing from somebody who actually used them, so thanks for posting, Chero.

I used solid tyres made by the Green Tyre company in the early 1990s. At that point they were being distributed through my local bike shop. I fitted them on a 26inch x 1 3/8 wheel tourer, front and back. I bought fairly soft ones - I guess they were equivalent to 65psi in hardness.
Fitting on the wheel was a struggle. (For safety reasons, the tyre does not stretch, so you have to heave it over the rim - two man job). But I only ever did it once. No flat means no need to remove the tyre. You can true a wheel and replace a spoke without removing the tyre.
I used to love not having to weave around broken glass by the side of the road - there was lots of it where I grew up.
The ride was firmer than I was used to with pneumatic tyres. It took 50 miles or so for the tyres to bed in and for the the edge imperfections to smooth off. This was disconcerting when cornering - which I tended to do fast. But I stayed on the bike and the problem went away with wear. If I were buying again I would buy slicks.
The bike I used had hub gears too. This and the puncture free ride ensured a maintenance free bike. This was quite something.
I didn't ride much in the rain, so can't comment on performance in the wet.

The company still exists as www.greentyre.co.uk and they sell through mail order.
A nice thing about green tyres is they are manufactured using the rubber from old car tyres and so they are a recycled product, hence the name. They are the price of an entry level tyre plus inner tube.

I read Sheldon Brown's article and agree with it, though it possible to overstate the point.

I would buy them and use them again for my runabout. But I ride in London where the gutters are lined with glass - and only a ten mile journey.

If you need ride comfort, responsiveness and maximum safety in the wet go pneumatic and fix punctures and invest in a really good track pump (makes life easy). If you want to guarantee to be puncture free and therefore reliable, go solid and get used to a different feel. Your choice will depand on the conditions you intend to ride in, the likelihood of your getting punctures, the inconvenience to you of getting a punctures.

Why not get a spare pair of wheels and fit solid tyres to them. You can decide ride by ride whether to use the solids or the pneumatics.

I have recently used slime liners as a puncture barrier with pneumatic tyres with some success. I got no punctures in two years - but I might not have got any anyway, you don't know.

Hope this helps.

result of search for airfree tires threads

http://www.cyclingforums.com/search.php?searchid=459447

helmutRoole2 said:

And have ever tried putting one on a rim. It's a no-holds-barred wrestling match.

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They rent out a tool to help with the job - but it does look like hard work😕

fauxpas said:

With such high pressures and issues with punctures, has anyone ever dabbled with solid tyres?

There are various vehicles out there with solid tyres for various reasons.

I believe you could release an entire range of solid tyre with differing properties...

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I bought some(not good quality ones like Airfree) in the early 80s. I was sick of getting punctures while training/riding to work - pre Kevlar belts etc in tyres.
I didn't get around to fitting them but sold them to a friend(who's still a friend!) to use on his basic 10 speed for commuting to University etc. We fitted them and he used them through winter - summer etc for 2 or 3 years with great success. His only goal in having a bike was free transport so performance wasn't the aim - but he got to where he was going and I never heard a complaint from him about them. 🙂

Bigbananabike said:

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I bought some(not good quality ones like Airfree) in the early 80s. I was sick of getting punctures while training/riding to work - pre Kevlar belts etc in tyres.
I didn't get around to fitting them but sold them to a friend(who's still a friend!) to use on his basic 10 speed for commuting to University etc. We fitted them and he used them through winter - summer etc for 2 or 3 years with great success. His only goal in having a bike was free transport so performance wasn't the aim - but he got to where he was going and I never heard a complaint from him about them. 🙂

I have considered putting them on my wife's bike. She won't change a flat (I have tried to show her) and rides around with one or two of our children in the bike trailer. I'm always concerned she will get a flat a few miles from home (she never goes more than 3 miles from the house, but still...).

I install airfree tires alone, though I admit it is easier with someone to help.

1. Liberally apply liquid hand soap to tire and rim. (It dries to powder and does not harm.)
2. With wire ties, or paracord, secure tire tightly to rim at two points.
3. With flat screwdriver press a small portion of tire onto rim, and hold.
4. Repeat step three until all of tire is on the rim.
5. Bounce the wheel until the tire is seated correctly in the rim.

As you perhaps know, I use airfree tires since Oct 2001. I would pneumatics again only in extremis.