Saw this on Ride.io or suttin…
Seems a bit mad. Not much good for muddy conditions mind.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9SWIsY8rzQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]

Website here;
http://www.energyreturnwheel.com/

Would make tubeless a right PITA

1. He was riding out the saddle for almost the entire clip, wonder why?
2. It was a bone dry trail with no mud, snow, river crossings etc. How claggy and draggy would those tyres get riding through the mire of the real world?

Hmm – sprung wheels have been around almost since the invention of the bicycle, and never get very far. The problems are that the contact patch is pretty small – watch that wheel as it goes over a rock, it barely deforms. That’s because with a spring, the deformation force is independent of the object, whereas with a pneumatic tyre the force decreases with the size of the object.

In other words, a pneumatic tyre will roll smoothly over something smooth, but will deform around a stone. A spring wheel will deform the same amount (or not) no matter what it’s going over. So it’ll either be squidgy and slow all the time, or solid and fast all the time.

At 2:18 you can see how much the tyre bounces across rather than deforming.

Tyres without air… …is just silly

Yes but what are they like if you take things carefully and slowly

How is that a test of them ? So we know they seem to handle mincing in the dry “well” – ie you dont die

http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=26&i=13111

You could give a baby special shapes to fit through the holes!

Put them on a commuter and ride through a few puddles and you can shower on your way to work.

Put them on a commuter and ride through a few puddles and you can shower on your way to work

like doing you washing int he centre of a Tioga Disk Drive!

1. He was riding out the saddle for almost the entire clip, wonder why?

His seat was too low?

Not a bad concept, but think it may struggle.

I like the idea, no tubes, no mess, no punctures. Initial thoughts are cost, ‘pressure’, weight, dirty weight and tread patterns.

I think we ought to go back to the early 90’s foam inner tubes. That’s reall the same idea but with existing tyres and rims. Worked really well (apart from the ride and the tyre rolling off the rim on every corner!)

I think we ought to go back to the early 90’s foam inner tubes.

what goes around…

http://www.hutchinsontires.com/en/a_la_une.php?id=221

Worked really well (apart from the ride and the tyre rolling off the rim on every corner!)

So not at all then!

Worked really well (apart from the ride and the tyre rolling off the rim on every corner!)

And being hellishly uncomfortable, and having to be so tight to fit that it was a tossup whether the tyre went on or the rim bent, and getting flat spots so you went “bdump bdump” all the time 🙂

And then, as soon as everyone’s forgotten how rubbish solid/foam/springy tyres are, someone invents them again…