In the News Airless Tyres

[Cougar377]

There's been some stories in the press in the last day or two about Michelins "new" airless car tyre concept.
Which begs the question, what happened to their bike tyre equivalent...? That was being bandied around 14 or 15 years ago....

https://thekneeslider.com/michelin-airless-motorcycle-tires/

 

[Jaws]

There's been some stories in the press in the last day or two about Michelins "new" airless car tyre concept.
Which begs the question, what happened to their bike tyre equivalent...? That was being bandied around 14 or 15 years ago....

https://thekneeslider.com/michelin-airless-motorcycle-tires/

Interesting...
The first ones I saw were god awful things that had a sort of diamond matrix in them
As far as I can see the only problem is they are made by Michelin, and I think most folk know by now the compound is made with an eye to French roads.. which are different to brit ones.. In the same way yank tyres are made for yank roads
If they develop a compound that works on brit roads ( same as Bridgestone, Avon and lately Dunlop have done ) AND they not too heavy the could be on to a winner

 

[Cougar377]

Interesting...
The first ones I saw were god awful things that had a sort of diamond matrix in them
As far as I can see the only problem is they are made by Michelin, and I think most folk know by now the compound is made with an eye to French roads.. which are different to brit ones.. In the same way yank tyres are made for yank roads
If they develop a compound that works on brit roads ( same as Bridgestone, Avon and lately Dunlop have done ) AND they not too heavy the could be on to a winner

I think the big issue would be the flexible tyre contact patch deformation under load when the bike is leant over. Multi compound rubber tyres backed by air pressure are probably almost infinitely flexible in comparison with a "mechanical" equivalent.
I'd be curious to know how heat build up would affect the flexibility of the structural element of a bike tyre equivalent and in turn it's grip characteristics, especially leant over.