A 'real' flat-resistant tire?

Jack Tyler

Jack Tyler

Active Member
An article on ebike use in Washington DC yesterday led me to the specs on this new company's in-house ebike, the Riide. Altho' the specs offered are minimal (you will find them at the bottom of the linked home page), they mention:
"BOMBPROOF TIRES
Make flat tires a thing of the past. Riide is equipped with Schwalbe Energizer Plus tires designed specifically for electric bikes."

What's the general sentiment about these tires from those of you who have tried them? Better? And why?

Thanks, everyone!

Jack
 
Hmmm... Not unlike the concept behind run flat tires on some of the premium car brands - the tire doesn't need air to function - tho' executed differently. They claim a lighter weight when compared with conventional 'tube + tire + rim tape'. Alas, their 'full specs' don't appear to offer weight data.

Back to Schwalbe tires: It looks like their Marathon Plus might be the tire chosen by the Riide folks. Schwalbe claims it is the "The only true flat-less tire...." They do give it their highest rating re: "protection". However, it still depends on a pressurized tube, so perhaps a little hyperbole? Has anyone here used these?

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
Jack
 
Guess George and I posted at the same time. What weight penalty do you 'feel', George? Meaningful? The concept - just layering in another protection barrier - seems simple and practical.

Jack
 
Jack,

They demo the Marathons with a slice of tire and some thumb tacks. You can't get the tacks through the tire. On the paths I used to ride, I would get little thorns that got through the basic Kenda tires. They caused leaks, slow or fast, on almost every ride. If a tire was down 5 pounds I would always find a little thorn. The little thorns are broken off tips of bigger thorns. You can't see them, riding along. When I pulled the thorn, the leak would get much faster. Patches on tubes aren't always reliable. Tubes are not cheap. Sometimes I would miss the thorn and ruin another tube, or there would be 2 or 3 thorns. The Marathons fixed this. Plus it's an East and West thing. The thorns are more of a western thing.

Weight is tough because you don't feel it on an ebike, like if you had to pedal. If you have to change a rear tire on most ebikes, you'll decide you never want another flat. That's for ebikes with rear hub motors. Flats are a real problem. If these solid tires were really in the mix with a lot of user reports, I'd be more interested. It's just hard to know how well they work.

The ebike shop around me rents ebikes. They went with the Marathons because it was a problem if a customer had a flat. If anyone was using the solid tires for something where long life and low maintenance would help the bottom line, it would be easier to understand solid tires.
 
I saw a Marathon Plus tire at my ebike shop, and have to say it was the finest looking bike tire I've ever seen.
 
I had a bad experience with the Marathon
Plus. I took my Neo Jumper on a rocky trail and got a flat. I have banged over lots of rocks and rarely gotten flats from it. After removing the tire I found broken metal bands protruding in one spot towards the tube. In fairness, the tire received some run-flat abuse but I have never seen belt wires break the inner our outer surface of a tire. Going back to the stock Continental tire with a after market Kevlar strip installed.
 
Which Kevlar strip are you using?

Also, I agree that it might not be fair to fault the Marathon tire if you rode it any distance while it was flat.
 
Here are some reviews of the Tannus tires:
http://veloballs.com/tannus-solid-tyres-review/
http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/books/tannus-puncture-proof-tyres.html
http://www.wheelsuckers.co.uk/profiles/blogs/ride-review-tannus-aither-1-1-solid-tyres
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/reviews/bike-accessories/tannus-nymph-solid-tyres
http://timwiggins.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-tannus-aither-11-solid-tyres.html
https://www.bicycles.net.au/2013/03/tannus-musai-puncture-proof-airless-tyres-alternative/

A few take away conclusions:
-They are hard to put on, best to let a shop do it.
-Ride is fairly close to a high pressure regular tire, but overall a little firmer ride and a little slower.
-Weight is pretty close to a regular pneumatic tire, and of course you do not need to carry spares, patch kit, pump, etc. Also, this is comparing the solid tire to just a tire and tube. If you are running with kevlar strips, Slime in your tires, or even heavier puncture resistant tires, the Tannus tires may actually weigh less for the same size tire. One commenter on a review said that their Tannus tires weighed half as much as the Marathon Plus tires they used previously.
-Most say the grip and handling are fine.
-A few reviewers pointed out that it would be a major pain to break a spoke with these on your wheels, and some comments mentioned that the harsher ride had led to broken spokes.
-These reviews are mostly for skinny tires on road bikes. I did not find a review of the Tannus tires on a bike with fatter tires (Tannus does have a 26 x 1.75 tire which seems to be the fattest tire they sell).

Might be a good option especially for an ebike with a rear wheel hub motor that makes it a bit difficult to fix a flat on the side of the road, especially if you live in an area of littered roads or nasty thorns, but it better be a sturdy rear wheel.
 
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Stan's NoTubes. I started out with tubes with Schwalbe tires. During one of my commutes, I got a nail in the tire. I had to call home and have the wife pick me up. Since then I switched to Stan's NoTubes. I haven't had a flat tire. All I have to do is check tire pressure and every 6 months or so, check/add some Stan's. A lot of mountain bikers use Stan's NoTubes.
 
Ive got the Schwalbe Crazy Bobs on the Stealth Bomber and the Schwalbe Big Bens on the Stromer St2 and could not be happier. No flats thus far on either. While I don't have many miles on the b-52 test the Stromer is around 1500 miles and we have the "thorn problem" out here on the west coast.
 
I have 5 bikes and ride them all.. I can say without a doubt the most bombproof tires I own are the Maxxis Excel on my Stromer Elite. In 3000 miles the only flat I had was self induced... I cut the valve stem while inflating it. Those tires look like they are good for another 2000 miles.

My other tires are all high end german and italian tires.. and have gotten flats on them..
 
I used to use Stans no tubes but found it pretty poor. It would ball up after just a few months of use, which would then make it useless. Many mtb riders that I know of over here in the UK won't touch the product any more.

These days I use Caffelatex, a sealant that I have found to be superior in every respect, and have yet to have it fail me. The Hutchinson DZO tyres that I run, remain at a constant pressure with no loss, and swapping tyres from back to front has confirmed that it doesn't ball and deteriorate.

But on the subject of tyres or rather changing them. This just happens to be the best tyre lever on the market.

The Proform single tyre lever. It'll remove and refit the toughest of tyres with ease.

p1.jpg
 
Very slick looking tool, @EddieJ, got to get one of those! I've had issues with some wire beaded tires that weren't very cooperative brand new :D. Do you know if any of the UK shops ship them to the US?
 
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