You Can't Buy Airless MTB Tires—So I Made Them!
2 months ago by snoons to c/3dprinting
I'd love to print these out on biodegradable filament!
*Alas, I cannot find the stl... :(
Yeah, but he concluded that they kinda suck. At least version one. Fun project, but pointless?
I bet if you asked, Seth would make the stl available.
He'd like em a lot better, if he took the tread off and stuffed them inside a tire. Still wonder to this day how mountain biking hasn't picked up on Mousses. They came pretty close with those cush cores, but they still weren't really meant to be run flat. I run mousses in my dirtbike, and they generally kick ass. A big miserable to install the first couple times until you get the hang of it, but awesome.
You kinda run into the same issue as runflat inserts on cars. They make the wheel a lot heavier, bad for something human powered. Rotational mass costs more power to move than mass on the frame.
Even without a tire over them, they weigh more than the heaviest tire on the market. So, yeah. Exactly.
It lighter than a tube on a dirtbike. It makes the rotating mass less.
On a mountain bike the amount of material you'd need would definitely be a little bit of added weight vs tubeless. But it probably wouldn't be a whole lot more substantial than tires full of sealant. Certainly wouldn't be any more than these doubledown sidewall tires, which would be substantially heavier. The only way they fail is if the tire fully comes off the bead. We use rim locks on dirtbikes to prevent that, but dirtbikes also weight 250 pounds, and they produce a lot of power under throttle. You wouldn't need that with a mountain bike tire.
It would beat flat tires trailside, having to constantly reinflate a tire that's been sitting, and it would eliminate the mess of sealant.
Tyre insert fad has been and gone over the last few years. There are a shitload of options, not just cushcore.
Decent tyres are better than an inadequate tyre with something stuffed inside.
Dirt bikes are so much faster, heavier and powerful that comparisons with mountain bikes are mostly unhelpful.
So faster, heavier, more powerful, but the comparison isnt useful?
Just so we are clear, I don't have any air in my tire. No tubes, no messy sealant, no tubeless. It's a foam core. It can't go flat, and you get traction for days. It's not cush core, or any of the alternatives, which is where I think they went wrong, because those all still require air. Air is one of the biggest, if not the biggest failure on a mountain bike. They don't weight all that much either, I'd take an extra few ounces of rotating weight vs futzing with air trailside.
Yep. I use inserts on my on road car rc racing car too.
I generally like traction.
first thought without opening the link:
what if you drive through dirt? will it all clog up and feel extra shit?
The sides are open, why would it clog up?
It'll get squeezed and/or flung out the next revolution of the wheel though
Afaik you could buy airless. It has been a commercial product for decades.
That sounds very bad for many reasons
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@lemmy.world
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
Do not create links to reddit
If you see an issue please flag it
No guns
No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is 
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Awesome project, but I’m really bummed out he’s openly supporting that piece of shit company
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