Coming soon: titanium tires for your bicycle?

[MillCreek]

https://gizmodo.com/nasas-nearly-indestructible-airless-titanium-tires-migh-1846488605

I can only imagine the cost, but this is an interesting concept. I would be especially interested in this for the mountain and cargo bikes.

[griz]

Curious that they picked bicycles for the tire to take to market.  Seems that would be a hard sell since bike people spend thousands of dollars to reduce the weight of the bike and these are heavier.  But still an interesting technology.

[T.O.M.]

I'm curious about the alloy being able to spring in and out of shape forever.  Sounds like something that would make a lot of firearms springs (thinking mag springs) as perfect as we could get.

[HankB]

Wonder about cumulative scratching of the metal against hard surfaces.

Hmmm . . . for some reason I'm reminded about an old (and I do mean OLD) comedian's routine which involved concrete tires and rubber roads . . .

[lee n. field]

Wonder about cumulative scratching of the metal against hard surfaces.

Hmmm . . . for some reason I'm reminded about an old (and I do mean OLD) comedian's routine which involved concrete tires and rubber roads . . .

Oh, yeah, that.  Why they don't make studded snow tires any more.

[mgdavis]

Wonder about cumulative scratching of the metal against hard surfaces.

Hmmm . . . for some reason I'm reminded about an old (and I do mean OLD) comedian's routine which involved concrete tires and rubber roads . . .

In the link the author explains that the metal structure will be covered with a replaceable tread component made of a pliable rubber or plastic.

[MillCreek]

Another article: https://interestingengineering.com/nasa-rover-tech-used-for-eco-friendly-rubber-tire-alternative?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=Mar17&fbclid=IwAR2-Bwe3dY51XCtA_42Sp2KuYXAO7IKyu1PKqz8ylBctoJ3gVNfgz2TYxn8