Bridgestone airless bicycle tyres to debut in 2019?

Bridgestone airless bicycle tyres to debut in 2019?

Airless tyres have been mooted and brought to life as concepts before, but few have made it into actual production. Bridgestone says it’s aiming to bring a new non-pneumatic tyre for bicycles into the market sometime in 2019.

The tyre borrows its design from that seen in the tyre maker’s Air Free Concept from 2013. It uses a unique structure of spokes – made from resin – to handle internal movement in a way similar to pneumatically inflated tyres.

The resin used in the construction of the airless tyre “helps realise more efficient use of resources,” the tyre maker said. This could possibly be translated as a potential elimination of debilitating tyre punctures, while also providing the basis for new bicycle wheel designs.

In the case of the 2013 Air Free Concept, Bridgestone said that the airless tyre concept is able to achieve even higher levels of environmental friendliness with extremely low rolling resistance, which contributes to reductions in CO2 emissions, which the current Air Free Concept builds upon.

Other tyre manufacturers have come up with their own airless tyre concepts, too. Hankook had the iFlex which was said to be eco-friendly and easily recycled, while Michelin unveiled its Tweel concept a decade before that, which was said to be able to accommodate different levels of stiffness vertically and laterally.

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Mick Chan

Open roads and closed circuits hold great allure for Mick Chan. Driving heaven to him is exercising a playful chassis on twisty paths; prizes ergonomics and involvement over gadgetry. Spent three years at a motoring newspaper and short stint with a magazine prior to joining this website.

 

Comments

  • John Alex Temple on Apr 28, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    These look great! Hopefully, something like this will come to fruition soon, there’s a huge market to be exploited…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Come on, this should be made into 4 wheels application already! At least for small compact car.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Mummy Yummy on Apr 30, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    faster faster make it to production…..Hopefully the low resistance can save petrol in cars

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Mikey on May 01, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    LOL. Looks more like turbine fins.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • centurion on May 01, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    hello friends, kids bicycle centuries ago airless tyre already

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • Nenek kau on May 02, 2017 at 1:02 am

    This gonna be hit and trending for a while

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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