Each year at trade shows like Interbike and Outdoor Retailer, new products are released with great fanfare. Some of them are brilliant, others, not so much. All too often, I am reminded of the greatest inside joke of the movie Drillbit Taylor – Adam Baldwin’s line “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”. I can hear that in my head as I am looking at or reading about a product that someone has invested countless hours and dollars into, oftentimes without considering that they are creating a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. I’m happy to state that PumpTire is not one of these products.
We have seen the NuVinci hub, Shimano Coasting, and step through frames all get a few more people onto bikes, with mixed success. Other than shifting, (and pedaling, for some folks) one of the biggest perceived barriers to getting on a bike is flats. I’ve actually stopped to help cyclists with a flat, and they are shocked to learn that they can get a patch kit and frame pump for just such occassions. Do they return to their LBS every time they flat? Anyway, while the PumpTire website is a bit thin on how resistant the tire is to punctures, this video explains how the tire self-inflates by simply riding around the block. In theory, that rarely-used bike sitting on flat tires would only have to be ridden a bit, and the tires will inflate themselves to a preset and adjustable pressure. Cool stuff. Check it out.
– Brian