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i would love to see this or a similar technology for electric scooters. the tubes seem to reliably pop every dozen or so rides, and the current alternative soli
by clairity 5y ago
i would love to see this or a similar technology for electric scooters. the tubes seem to reliably pop every dozen or so rides, and the current alternative solid/no-flat tires really compromise on ride quality and handling. larger wheels (they're usually in the 7-9" range) would help too, but there's probably a practical limit to how big the wheels can be, perhaps 12-15" without too much compromise (motor power and ergonomics being two limiting factors).
- miketery 5y agoThe unagi scooter has them[1]. In all honesty, they're garbage for NYC. They are somewhat of a hard plastic, and do not provide the kind of give that your want for roads which have imperfections. It saddens me that peoples first impression of micro mobility is this piece of junk that makes riding scarier and more dangerous than it would be with air tires. It's likely possible to make a good airless tire, but I bet the materials would be expensive and I'm not sure what it's lifetime would be. Air tube tires remain the best option for micro mobility options. 1 - https://unagiscooters.com/products/the-scooter/ https://unagiscooters.com/products/the-scooter/ (ctrl+F "tires")
- clairity 5y agoyah, i'm skeptical that a solid (rubber/plastic) tire can provide good suspension and handling performance cheaply across a wide variety of road hazards, in comparison to an air tire. that's why i think bigger tires (and thicker tubes) is probably the way to go, but perhaps advances in materials/manufacturing will make all kinds of tires incrementally better.
- chromaton 5y agoI was impressed by the Slime brand bike tire tubes. They're thicker rubber than the stock tubes and pre-filled with Slime self-sealing compound.