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Space-Age Bicycle Wheels Using NASA Technology by The SMART Tire Company — Kickstarter
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If their claims pan out then it sounds interesting, and possibly worth the money.
But they are quite heavy and the claims are very outlandish.
If they are as good as they claim, we'll see them on a pros bike at some point. After that ill believe their claims...
Maybe, but the goals of pros are not entirely aligned with the functional/recreational bike market. If these tires offer even slightly lower speed than the best traditional tires, we're not going to see them in races, but we might still see them on the street.
For example, pros won't care as much about longevity and maintenance, because they will gladly replace components frequently to achieve maximum performance. I, on the other hand, would much prefer something that runs "well enough" with minimal maintenance for as long as possible. And I'd be willing to pay a reasonable premium for it. I mean, if I cared about eking out every bit of performance on my bike, I'd quit drinking beer first. I just don't care about marginal performance gains in my gear, with the exception of brakes (to a point) since that's a safety issue.
I look forward to maybe seeing these on the market in the future, but I'm skeptical too. The "re-treading" part sounds like a possible deal-breaker. I don't want tires that need their own tires, and certainly not if that's something that can only be done by professional service.
Counterpoint, even if they are "better" pros and more importantly the UCI might not adopt them in any way quickly.
Pro tour roadies only adopted disc brakes a couple of years ago. The peloton is very conservative deviating from what is known to work
Thats definitely true. Never having a puncture ever again might be worth it for a pro though?
The longevity sounds interesting, but i havent replaced any of my bikes, so im pretty happy with current tires.