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Bike tires made from NASA’s bizarre shape-shifting metal are now available to buy
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Technology
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And at only about 10 times the cost of traditional bicycle tires, you’ll only need to not replace your tires about 11 times for this to be cost-effective!
It might be worth it to not have to ever worry about having a flat.
I already don’t worry about that anymore using the anti-flat tyres I have on my bike. I can just ride through a pile of broken glass without a worry.
I'd probably still worry about falling over
No worries if you’re going fast enough. ;)
Or if you know how to track stand.
Thanks Newton!
Modern bikers use tubeless systems which don’t generally have flats. They are filled with a compound that plugs up holes as soon as they happen. You only get flats for large holes or sidewall punctures.
Do those actually work? I don't have tubeless tires, but I haven't had much luck with the liquid that you put in the tubes. In my experience, I still get flats, and the goo just makes a big mess inside the tire.
Maybe my holes are large? I regularly get flats from goat heads, and one summer I got a dozen or so flats on my work commute before finally buying Schwalbe Marathons, which seems to have solved the problem (have had like 1 flat per year since).
They work. I ride mtb downhill in a jungle and I haven’t had a puncture in ages.
Huh, maybe I'll get those with my next MTB. Thanks!
Tubeless tires solves that issue aswell. You can drive over nails and the sealant inside the tire automatically plugs the hole.
Give it a decade and economies of scale, and maybe it will get it down to twice as expensive.
It's a human feather.
Humans don't have feathers.
Doigenes walks in in a feather boa.
So you replace your tires twice/year? I do it like every 3+ years. Then again, I don't race or anything, my bike is just for transportation.
I used to ride 20+ miles/32km per day, 4-5 days/week for my commute. Most of it was on an isolated bike path through the countryside, so not much glass and a lot more thorns.
I went from having a dozen or so flats in a few months to having pretty much none just by changing tires. If flats are common for you, better tires could probably help.
Regardless, I'm jealous of you being able to ride your bike that much. My current commute is just too far to commute by bike (it's like 25mi/40km each way), so I end up riding like 1-2x/week just to the local store for groceries.
Tyres last about a year, so this sounds fine
Yup, same. I bought Schwalbe Marathons a few years ago and haven't needed new tires since. They're kinda heavy and don't ride as nice as other tires, but flats aren't an issue anymore.
Either you bike a lot, or you use very thin tires. I bike occasionally, and I still have the original tires on my bike that I've had since I bought it in 2018, I think.
How do you get your groceries? How do you get to work?
Once per year is pretty typical for folks who use bikes.
For those I typically drive because there's no good way for me to do it by bike. But I also put a few hundred miles on per year biking recreationally on a variety of surfaces.
So, yeah, you basically don't use your bike