W.A.C.K.E.D.-Tired of Tires

One of the greatest weaknesses in a bicycles design is the wheel.  One sharp bite from a stray shard of glass, thorn, or metal, and it can ruin your ride.  Even the more prepared that carry extra tubes or flat repair patches and such still lose the time spent.  Fragile spokes, complicated wheel building, and rims that even with a good tire can get wrecked at the edge of a water filled pothole, curb or tree root.  It is not uncommon to see a bike accident due to a tire, or wheel failure.  Hopefully those days soon will be over...

For the past few weeks, while getting some gear planning done for the upcoming spring hiking season, I have been bouncing across sites that I otherwise do not usually see.  While hunting down some items, the dead ends that come up in searches for some great new camp stove, or pedometer phone charger sometimes ends at sites with things working through the design and concept phases.  Along with what I was hoping to find there is a slew of other stuff.  That is how I came across some new wheel designs being prototyped and tested.

A few of the bigger tire brands that spread from automotive to bicycle tires, such as Michelin, and Bridgestone, are working on wheels that are airless.  Rather than the solid rubber rigid and unforgiving ones we have seen before, these are really interesting.  So far they have been focused on making them for the military, and soon after commercial use on cars, trucks and SUV applications.  As such is the food chain, cycling will eventually receive versions of their own.  In some descriptions of the wheels they have actually been compared to large futuristic bicycle wheels, so the leap is hardly very far.  

Folding Airless Wheel from Urban Bicycle Concept Design
by Victor M. Aleman

We have seen the designs already in some concept models.  Mostly only computer generated or mock-ups, but the idea is not new, only not yet achievable for production.  With the bigger tire producers developing the designs now, those concepts can in part become a reality.  Imagine a bike where the spokes are replaced with a synthetic honeycomb.  A strip of tread would be bonded to the outer surface, similar to a large rim, low profile tire for a car.  The wheel would remain rigid, depending on the amount of weight, and force applied to the wheel, or until a change in the riding surface warrants more force to overcome than the weight of the bike and rider can allow smoothly.  With a normal bike tire that means a solid jolt, such as hitting a root on a bike path.  With the new designs, the wheel's honeycomb design would compress with the impact and absorb the force without passing it farther up the frame to the rider. 

I can certainly see these designs being pursued by the mountain biking crowd.  For everyday riders, city commuters, and even kids, this design means more than just shock absorption, but a new level of dependability.  No more flats.  Those curbs, seams in the road, or bumpy paths will be much less threatening as well.

As you can tell by the nature of the pictures, they are being developed for virtually every application.  The examples may not be bicycles, but they do illustrate how obstacles are absorbed in the body of the "spokes" in the wheel and reduces the energy and shock transferred to the vehicle.  When applied to the bicycle design, this can be a huge difference in ride comfort and completely change the nature of many parts of the sport/recreation.  A typical commuter bike with these wheels would be easily run off road with much the same ride feel as some of the dual shock mountain bikes.  

Bridgestone Tire design

It will also simplify some aspects of bike maintenance.  Without the contemporary spoked wheel, wheel building, balancing, tire and tube changes, will cut a huge chunk out of the worry and cost of keeping a bike on the road.  It will also eliminate the need to carry an air pump.  The amount of weight difference is yet to be seen, but for a bicycle, replacing the metal from spokes and rim with a possibly lighter synthetic can be a big difference.  The tire rubber is also reduced to a tread strip rather than a tires body.  

It will be interesting to see the timeline for wheels like this to become a reality for cycling, and to see the impact it has on future design, and the competition sport side of it.  Hopefully it does not take long, because it has me really wanting some.