Years ago, I got a call from a gentleman owner of a bike shop in Virgina asking for solid bicycle tires with out any metal in them. Since I heard of this before, I asked was it for a "Geo Cart" (survey wagon with no metal) and the man was astounded. He said, "I can only tell you my client is the CIA" and "yes it for a geo-magnetic survey mission with a cart that has no metal in it so as not to throw off the instrumentation", but he said that he "couldn't tell me where".
About once a year we get calls like this. Turns out that metal anywhere near these instruments affects them. Someone at some survey company lands a contract that requires them to use magnetic measurements and they have to design a cart from scratch. Googling "geo-carts" will turn up nothing so we do get a few calls. All these carts have to use plastic wheels and even the inner tube valve stem has too much metal. Some of these carts carry up to 300 lbs and may traverse rocky terrain and others carry less and travel by road at slow speeds.
Anyway, that secret mission turned out to be the Island of Vieques off of the coast of Puerto Rico. The Navy had used it for bomb training and I guess rearranged the land, so the purpose of the survey was to draw property lines on areas where the property lines got blowed up.
Airless tires will not affect your compass should you get lost. :-)
07/25/2010
07/23/2010
Kik Tire - Made By Amerityre
Kik Tires Lives On
The Mako Wheelchair tire made by Kik was legendary for its' springiness and longevity. Amerityre now produces the Mako so the millions of people who used them can now find them again, but sorry, only in black.
Here is a rare picture of a red Mako taken in 2001. This tire had a high rebound elastomer and was everybit as good as a high quality rubber tire. Amerityre uses a different urethane but the tire will still have its' familiar ride and toughness.
No Mor Flats - Where Did You Go?
Airless Urethane Inserts
A great idea but bad execution. No Mor Flats has been around for years. At one time, manufactured allegedly in Colorado, this fairly good concept offered a limited number of sized inserts that could fit a decent number of bicycle rims. In case you didn't know, No Mor Flats is a urethane "doughnut" that fits inside of a rubber bicycle tire and once mounted to the rim of a bicycle, will render it flat proof for practically forever. It is true, No Mor Flats will allow the rider to go over a bed of nails and still keep going. In reality, several dynamics are at work that make the No Mor Flats almost impossible to dislodge once properly mounted, making ideally suited for wagons or carts that go off road or even EMT off road gurneys.
Read more and see more pics
But..... the problem is the urethane the No Mor Flats is made of is very dead. Meaning if this stuff was rolled up into a ball it wouldn't bounce but one inch off the ground when dropped from ten feet. It is squishy, squirmy and devoid of jiggle, but it is also dense and ...dead. What really gives this system trouble is weight. Since the No Mor Flats comes in only one density (dead), a person who weighed 35lbs might enjoy it, but a person who weighs over 200lbs would feel like they were riding in sand with the air in the tires half let out.
Inserts are a good idea and some are made for the wheelchair industry that have a bit more spring in them but again, there aren't many sizes available. Manufacturers should make inserts in all sizes and several different urethane densities so that people with different needs and weights can choose one appropriate for their needs. The molds needed to make inserts are inexpensive to make.
Manufacturers who do make inserts are aware of the limitations and have been traditionally reluctant to get in to cycling where the demand is greater but so the need for performance. I don't think that inserts could perform better than high quality race tires, but inserts could perform better than they do now with minimal investment and resources. Just simply going to another urethane could improve the ones made now.
A good insert and rubber tire combo in my mind would be where the insert has been made for a specific rim and tire so that the whole system works together. Rubber tires are everywhere, so design an insert to fit them. Then once the insert is designed, use a real springy urethane so the tire has life. I need to emphasis that inserts do work and they last forever and are very safe but..... that damn urethane they use is dead and even they know (the manufacturers) that.
People have reported using inserts in hunting carts and having great success in bringing home Bear and Elk, and people have been using them for years on wheelchairs with out problem, but typically when used on a bicycle, they don't roll very well because of the fit sometimes, but also because the urethane isn't bouncy
07/22/2010
24,000 Mile Airless Tires
24,000 Miles on a Pair of Elastomer Tires
This Air Free customer got a pair of high rebound elastomer tires in 2001. Only 2,000 high rebound tires were made before Kik Technology (now closed) stopped production. Incredibly durable, with very low rolling resistance, these tires were part of a promising new look for airless technology. Now that Kik has gone out of business, only two other companies use the material now and none are in bicycle tires. Read more and see video of these amazing tires.
Open Road Bicycle Tires - Still To Come
Family of Airless Road Tires
Designed for recumbents and street bikes, this line of tires may yet be made one day. The concept put forth by Air Free almost ten years ago, is still valid. Like many cyclists around the world, we too at Air Free are waiting for manufacturers to step up to the plate and engineer a new generation of elastomer bicycle tires. For those wishing to speed up this process, please contact the author.
Screaming Red Tires - Carefree of Course
Tire So Loud It Hurts
Carefree makes a great wheelbarrow tire in several brilliant colors. One of the hard parts of photographing the tires, is to convey to the reader just how bright and deeply colored these tires are. Carefree is the number one seller of airless tires in the United States. They have their own facilities and can custom formulate urethanes as well. In the case of this wheelbarrow, it has been engineered to take around 400 pounds and will stay bright red for at least four years. Find them exclusively on the Air Free website or ask your retailer to get them for you today.
Souria Wooden Run Bike
Amerityre Airless Bicycle Tires on a Wooden Run Bike, Made in Canada.
Martin Desserault, came to us and asked what to use on his invention. Martin and his partner wanted to make a young childs' toy bike and get it made to heirloom quality. After listening to him, I suggested that he use the Amerityre product because the urethane is so tough and it has a fair degree of stickiness to it as well. Martin got his wheels made to fit the Amerityre 12 1/2 x 2 1/2" tire exactly so that the wheel and the tire look as if they were molded together. Now the bike is in production and is a great example of an airless tire being used on a product designed for retail.
Recent Comments