PumpTire – A Self-pressuring Bicycle Tire!

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
 

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