Mars rover tyres - coming to a LBS near you.

Still not seen any figures on rolling resistance - they look draggy as hell...

Yeah but stick some LEDs inside and you've got yerself a real life Tron bike. Want.

I give it approx 1 week until we start seeing these on instagram, on a fully kitted out (and immaculately clean) gravel bike at sunset. Perhaps with someone insisting they're a complete gamechanger

Perhaps with someone insisting they’re a complete gamechanger they bring the trail alive

Fixed that for you ;o)

they look draggy as hell…

Does the NASA Mars Rover have energy to waste on driving about with tyres that are "as draggy as hell"? I imagine it doesn't and I also imagine you can engineer whatever properties you want.

That aside I'd say this will disappear like other "no air" tyre technologies. Punctures are annoying but rare enough to make this technology unattractive to the majority of users :o)

That aside I’d say this will disappear like other “no air” tyre technologies. Punctures are annoying but rare enough to make this technology unattractive to the majority of users :o)

I'd agree with the disappearing bit, but I think its more likely due to cost to the largest potential market, (town bikes, BSO commuters, that kind of thing) won't be prepared to spend more than a few quid on a tyre. The smaller markets like MTBers and sporty road cyclists who would spend a decent amount of cash won't perceive any performance benefit so also wouldn't bother.

A pneumatic tyre suspends the load around the whole tube, rather than on a single contact point.
It would be like going back to leafsprings from coilover suspension

According to SMART, 75 percent of the tire industry's revenue comes from replacement tires. As a point of reference, the U.S. produces roughly 246 million rubber waste tires per year. The company's two founders, Brian Yennie and Earl Cole, claim their new tires will disrupt the $250 billion tire industry.

cause that blue transparent plastic wont wear out like a rubber tyre does?

Snake oil.

add these to the stupid products thread.

The curiosity tyres are not exactly in great shape

Does the NASA Mars Rover have energy to waste on driving about with tyres that are “as draggy as hell”? I imagine it doesn’t and I also imagine you can engineer whatever properties you want.

I would guess the #1 property they wanted was resilience. As for drag, they can just add a bit more solar panel area to compensate - a lot easier than than trying to fix a puncture....

They don't look like they would fare too well after hitting a couple of potholes or bouncing up kerbs etc.

Do they make the trails come alive?

Dunno about the tyres, but those amazing new-fangled brakes in the photo! Where can I get some?!

I would guess the #1 property they wanted was resilience.

Except they thought the batteries driving the rovers would only last a few months - so I'd think resilience wasn't high on the list! "Good Night Oppy" on Prime has all the details 🙂

The biggest market is probably wheelchairs, mobility scooters, prams and pushchairs where a puncture can be a real problem and current, ‘solid’ tyres are often heavy and poor performance.

JAG
Full Member

Does the NASA Mars Rover have energy to waste on driving about with tyres that are “as draggy as hell”?

Tyre drag's mostly about hysteresis, the mars rover is very slow and so it doesn't have to fight against tyre "lag" in the same way as pushbikes where we're effectively always pushing against our rubber bow-wave.