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from the do-they-still-work-as-kid's-swings? dept.
Now, Hankook has completed initial testing on its fifth-generation airless tire, dubbed the iFlex. The tires do not require any air pressure, instead relying on a new type of eco-friendly material (Hancook demurs when asked for details). Geometric shapes built into the material provide the bounce and springiness normally provided by air pressure. But, unlike the previous iFlex, this version's designed to mount onto a traditional rim, making it compatible with current vehicles.
Hankook ran the iFlex through a battery of tests to compare it to more conventional rubber, measuring durability, hardness, stability, slalom and speed, at up to 80 mph. The company says the tires matched conventional tires in terms of performance.
Anyone who got a flat from the epidemic of potholes this Spring or who is plagued by nails and other road debris that cause slow leaks will welcome this development. Naturally, the real question is whether it's spelled, "tire" or "tyre."
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday July 15 2015, @10:43AM
I usually spend more on tyres because of wear than because of punctures - with a 110km*/day return trip commute, I'm wearing out a set of tyres every 1.5-2 years. I had my last puncture sometime 3-4 years ago.
Somehow, I don't think those tyres are for me (or for anyone commuting on well maintained highways)
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* (that's about 68 miles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Wednesday July 15 2015, @10:54AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday July 16 2015, @01:49AM
How does a flat "mess up your day"? You just get out, get the spare out of the trunk, use the provided tools, and put on the spare and drive away. Then you can go get a new tire mounted on the rim after work sometime that week.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Thursday July 16 2015, @08:53AM
Where things come unstuck is when that doesn't apply for some reason: you hit some debris and get more than one flat, or a tyre blows and causes other damage to the vehicle, you don't have all the necessary tools (or the spare), or one of the many other corner cases. It's even worse if you have run-flats since you almost certainly won't have a spare so a major blow-out will require third party involvement in the form of a tow-truck or someone to deliver a new tyre, and even if you just get a low pressure alarm you are still limited in terms of range and speed - all of which is compounded if it's late at night or you are in a remote location and help/spares are not readily available.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by VortexCortex on Wednesday July 15 2015, @11:07AM
Considering a long commute raises the question as to whether the mileage is any better or worse than the inflatable alternatives.
Having the pressure too low can cause lower one's fuel efficiency. I wonder if the internal material of the airless system contributes enough weight to impact fuel consumption? The wheels that mount directly probably weigh less in totality than the new model designed to fit a standard rim.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 15 2015, @11:42AM
Also see traction. Its very easy to compare industrial caster assemblies that are about the same size for pneumatic or solid, and the solid have some traction issues. Also consider shock absorption.
In the really old days, before my time, or much further up north than even I live, supposedly old low tech tires get flat spots in the winter until they warm up. This is stories from like 50 years ago and/or maybe 1000 miles north of Chicago (like -40F every day). I've never personally experienced it but I've never driven a car more than 40 years old or been out in under -30F (non-windchill) weather so that does set some hard limits to when it could happen. Anyway I would guess a solid lump has more problems than a tube full of air.
Finally heat. Tires get hot and hot is the enemy of plastic. Admittedly, tires that slowly continuously degrade in six months in a predictable manner might be "more fun" than a tire that works great until one unpredictable day it randomly pops.
Something I dislike about bicycles is they're incredibly unreliable and maintenance hogs. No matter how much I spend, the best bikes out there are a complete POS compared to legendary 70s Detroit iron. Why can't I throw down some dough and get a bicycle as reliable and maintenance free as my modern Japanese car? Anyway the point is I wonder if non-pneumatic tires help, or hurt, overall systemic reliability. If they hurt overall reliability, bicycles are already such a POS that its off the table.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @12:51PM
Why can't I throw down some dough and get a bicycle as reliable and maintenance free as my modern Japanese car?
It's simple really... It's planned obsolescence combined with some social engineering: if you have money to spend on a bike, then you must have dispensable income. Because think about it, good workers/wage-serfs don't need bike nor can they afford it. After all, wage-serfs should take the bus.
But if you do, then you must have more of it than what you give the bike shop already, so you are a target to dispense of as much of your DI as possible at the bike shop. Really, they're just trying to make sure you spend as much of your DI there instead of somewhere else.
(Score: 2) by CRCulver on Wednesday July 15 2015, @01:25PM
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday July 16 2015, @02:52PM
Man, my bike needs maintenance more often from just *sitting indoors not even being used* than my car does driving an hour or two every day and being parked outside and never even being washed. And that's comparing a brand new bike (got it less than a year ago) to a car that I bought used five years ago!
The car maintenance costs about as much as a brand new bike each time though, so there's that...
(Score: 2) by CRCulver on Thursday July 16 2015, @04:13PM
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday July 16 2015, @04:40PM
Well, that just changes the location of the problem slightly. Because you can get a decent car by just showing up to the lot and picking something that seems alright...but you're saying I need to be an expert and build the entire damn thing myself to get a decent bike?
(Score: 3, Informative) by CRCulver on Thursday July 16 2015, @04:46PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by skater on Wednesday July 15 2015, @02:37PM
The old bias ply tires were good for flat spotting, even within a day if it was cold (and not even the temperatures you're thinking - just regular mid-Atlantic-state cold was enough to do it). A radial will do it, too, if it sits long enough (think weeks or months). I had it happen on my car after the engine spun a bearing, and I didn't get around to fixing it for a few months. If it hasn't been too long, the radials will work themselves out, but it can get to the point where replacement is the only option.
What are you doing to your bikes that requires so much maintenance? A little grease once in a while and a cable adjustment occasionally (extremely rare after the cable stretches initially) is practically all you need. There are plenty of bicycles out there from the 90s or even older that run fine - in fact, my road bike is from the early 90s, and I rode it yesterday for 17 miles - so it's hard to understand what you mean about excessive maintenance.
You think a car from the 70s requires less maintenance than a bicycle? Changing oil/filter, changing/flushing coolant, changing transmission fluid/filter, changing fuel filter, rotating/replacing the tires, changing the windshield wipers, replacing the battery ... and those are all just regular maintenance things that exclude anything breaking. None of those exist on a bicycle, except replacing the tires/tubes if they get a hole in them. I can't fathom how you think a car requires less maintenance than a bicycle.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 15 2015, @03:05PM
road bike is from the early 90s, and I rode it yesterday for 17 miles
I guess its a per-mile-thing. I have a similar vintage bike although its "hundred of dollar" class, in between walmart class and the $5K class bikes and its constantly needing some bolt tightened or the brakes need adjustment or something fiddly involving a wrench or screwdriver, but per mile my car only needs new oil every 2000 or so miles (every six months).
Per year you may be correct that a bike adds up to similar to a car or possibly less. Possibly the maintenance level of a bike is constant over time and I'd mess with it for ten minutes a week no matter if I ride one mile or 140 miles per week.
Another way to analyze it is my $20K car should have $200 a hundred times the "stuff" for the price, so a car should have a hundred times the maintenance of a bike, yet I'd say its probably less not 100 times more. Likewise a sheer mass argument, my car has 2500 pounds of stuff to maintain vs 25 pounds of stuff on a bike (probably less than 25 pounds but for the sake of easy math..) Of course there is some argument that 100 times the price implies 100 times the engineering so a car really should require less maint than a bike for all those engineering hours. Hmm.
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Wednesday July 15 2015, @05:00PM
In the really old days, before my time, or much further up north than even I live, supposedly old low tech tires get flat spots in the winter until they warm up. This is stories from like 50 years ago and/or maybe 1000 miles north of Chicago (like -40F every day).
Well, I live "1000 miles north of Chicago", and it no longer even gets to -40 in winter. -30 on really cold nights, maybe, once or twice. Lyme disease ticks are now up here too - they are moving north at about 40km/yr thanks to AGW.
Anyway, when it gets cold, you do have to add more air into tires otherwise you are running on underinflated tires. The reason is the colder the air, the more dense it becomes, so you lose pressure. Another major factor happens when ambient temperatures drop below freezing - water in your tires freezes too and gets precipitated out of the tires.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday July 15 2015, @12:29PM
Wait, how does your car get to work then? OMG! Do you have a flying car? AWESOME!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 15 2015, @12:55PM
It's not gettin' there, it is only goin' too far, smokin' and trippin'. The fairies wear boots and so the car wears tyres (but never punctuates them).
You know it makes sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford