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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, 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.