Bike tires made from NASA’s bizarre shape-shifting metal are now available to buy (from Kickstarter)
No more bicycle flats, forever.
This being a kickstarter makes it a non-starter for me but it looks pretty promising: Hopefully they work great and become popular.
Amazing!
I'll check on this when they're mass produced to see if it's economically viable, stopping 12 mins to replace a tube for $7 is cheaper than all the bulletproof $250 tires made of NASA tech or $100 tubeless concoction.
12 minutes? what spell are you casting to automatically change the tube?
Or do you have bike shops that aren't filled to the brim with work, somehow?
Yeah, if I weren’t having my tubes replaced every few weeks, if that, last year from nails and blowouts… at $20-25 a pop, I wouldn’t have went with tubeless (solid foam) tires. But, these ride well enough for ~$100-125 for the set and $35-50 for the install.
Sure, I guess I could get some more practice in on street repair, but meh. This is easier.
Depends how often you typically have to replace that $7 tube. Also depends on distances you travel.
While a $7 tube once a year is a much better price, that number skews if you happen to need to walk miles when it goes.
I am a fan of Flatout: I use it in my hybrid bike and my ebike. Seems to work well, at least with tubes.
Big if true
But seriously if these live up to their hype it would be incredible.
Doubt. 😄
If you ride them on a hot day, does the coil turn back into a rod?
So these are non-pneumatic or what?
They are not pneumatic: The metal structure gives them their shape and resilience, no air pressure needed.
Are they any good? No idea.
Looks like they are using a nickel titanium alloy for the shape and some exotic polymer for the covering. So, yeah non-pneumatic.
The current cost to own a pair is quite high and really unlikely to come down significantly in price though
If this actually takes off, price should come down substantially.
Kickstarters aren't known for manufacturing prowess or efficiencies of scale.
Given the materials it'll always be expensive, but there's a lot of room to come down if these are sold in the 10s or 100s of millions
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Metl bicycle tire is the first consumer product we’re aware of to use nitinol, a NASA-developed shape-memory alloy made of nickel and titanium that can be trained with heat to remember its shape.
Just be careful: the tires are being sold via a crowdfunded campaign on Kickstarter and that brings along risk, which I’d rate as high for something as cutting edge as this from a small startup.
You’re also looking at a pledge of $500 for a pair of blue or clear Metl tires (weighing 450g with an equivalent size of 700x35c) that are “DIY easy install” onto most common road or gravel bike rims.
Here’s a Verge video that provides a deeper dive into nitinol and its NASA origins (and future):
Despite their memory-metal construction, the tires do provide grip thanks to an integrated all-weather tread that offers “medium low” rolling resistance, according to the campaign.
Stretch goals (if the campaign earns enough) include making wider Metl tires for e-bikes and mountain bikes, and more road/gravel sizes and tread patterns.
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