# Solid tyres



## potsy (16 Mar 2009)

Has anyone used solid tyres from greentyre.com?
A colleague of mine has just bought some for his I-Zip electric bike  as he is scared to death of getting a p******e, I'm sure there must be some reason why they are not mentioned on here at all.
Apologies if this has been covered before.


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## TheDoctor (16 Mar 2009)

Firstly, hello and welcome!
Every review I've ever read of solid tyres has been less-than-positive. I remember the phrase "I'd rather fix a pun**ure every day for ever" being used too...
There are some very pun**ure resistant tyres out there. But, ultimately it's thier choice. I'd be interested to hear how they find them.


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## skwerl (16 Mar 2009)

I'm sure jimboalee (sp.) bought some recently


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## tyred (16 Mar 2009)

I don't fancy them at all. It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling and became universal in quite a short space of time. There was a reason why that happened. Solid tyres are heavy and give a bumpy ride. Even a wheelbarrow has a pneumatic tyre FFS.


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## 4F (16 Mar 2009)

I note that they mention a psi rating against each tyre  How does that work for a solid tyre ? Also check out the postage and packing costs


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## skwerl (16 Mar 2009)

tyred said:


> I don't fancy them at all. It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling and became universal in quite a short space of time. There was a reason why that happened. Solid tyres are heavy and give a bumpy ride. Even a wheelbarrow has a pneumatic tyre FFS.



hang on though. technology advances. these aren't made of the same stuff that Dunlop aimed to replace, ie a solid lump of rubber. these are micro-cell blah-di-blah.
postage costs aside the price is reasonable, as is the weight (cf Schwalde Ultremo tyre plus tube ie about the lightest combo on the market = ca 250g). I'd like to know if they're any good or complete cack. I'm erring towards cack as logic suggests that if they're as good as their website says then we'd all be using them


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## Hilldodger (16 Mar 2009)

_It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling_

No he didn't. You need to read my blog.


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## tyred (16 Mar 2009)

Hilldodger said:


> _It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling_
> 
> No he didn't. You need to read my blog.



I stand corrected


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## andrew_s (16 Mar 2009)

skwerl said:


> hang on though. technology advances. these aren't made of the same stuff that Dunlop aimed to replace, ie a solid lump of rubber. these are micro-cell blah-di-blah.
> postage costs aside the price is reasonable, as is the weight (cf Schwalde Ultremo tyre plus tube ie about the lightest combo on the market = ca 250g). I'd like to know if they're any good or complete cack. I'm erring towards cack as logic suggests that if they're as good as their website says then we'd all be using them


When you compress a cellular foam tyre, all the air stays put in the cells between the rim and the road. It you compress the tyre to half the thickness, the pressure has doubled. In contrast, the pressure in a normal pneumatic tyre is more or less unaffected by the compression from hitting a bump.
The cellular tyre has to have a reasonably high initial pressure in its cells so that it will maintain its shape and give reasonable handling, with the end result that is has nothing like a normal capacity to absorb road shocks. You get a very harsh ride which as well as being uncomfortable leads to mechanical failures in the bike.
If you are completely incapable of mending a puncture, and only ride short distances on smooth roads, there's some point, but not for the rest of us.



Sheldon said:


> Airless tires have been obsolete for over a century, but crackpot "inventors" keep trying to bring them back.



There's also the possibly apocryphal story about the chap riding down the hill with his wheels not revolving (rainy day, tyres slipping round rim).


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## HJ (16 Mar 2009)

Hilldodger said:


> _It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling_
> 
> No he didn't. You need to read my blog.



Brilliant


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## jimboalee (17 Mar 2009)

skwerl said:


> I'm sure jimboalee (sp.) bought some recently



No I did'nt.

I heeded the ridicule.

I also weighed up the situation ( pun ) and found Pnumatics are half the weight.

I eventually opted for BikeDoctorX ( or Slime ), which worked splendidly. You still have to fix the P*, but it gets you home.

However, I did have a colleague who used Greentyre. They were 'racing' grade hardness and shook him senseless - or more sensless than when he bought the Greentyres.


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## ASC1951 (17 Mar 2009)

Hilldodger said:


> _It is over 100 years since Mr Dunlop gave the world the pneumatic tyre and they revolutionised cycling_
> 
> No he didn't. You need to read my blog.



?? Your blog suggests he did:

"After initial experiments, Dunlop took his crude pneumatic tyre to the local bicycle engineers Edlin and Sinclair"

i.e. Dunlop's idea and prototype, their development. That's why Tim Berners Lee is credited as the founder of the internet.


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## byegad (17 Mar 2009)

Solid tyres shake bikes so much they can fall to pieces. They roll badly and don't grip as well as pneumatics.

We did away with them over 100 yrs ago for good reason.


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## country joe (17 Mar 2009)

Why dont you just buy Wooden wheels, then you will not need to purchase any Tyres,
And the Wooden Wheels will give you the same effect as solid tyres.


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## swee'pea99 (17 Mar 2009)

I bought a second hand bike once that had been run on solid tyres. After about 6 months one of the rear dropouts snapped. My guess is that it had been fractured long before I bought it, and that the solid tyres had a lot to do with why.


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## skwerl (17 Mar 2009)

country joe said:


> Why dont you just buy Wooden wheels, then you will not need to purchase any Tyres,
> And the Wooden Wheels will give you the same effect as solid tyres.



ok, dude. you do get wooden wheels. very nice and expensive they are too (http://wheelfanatyk.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-wood-rims-are-made.html) . granted they do require tyres though


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## HJ (17 Mar 2009)

ASC1951 said:


> ?? Your blog suggests he did:
> 
> "After initial experiments, Dunlop took his crude pneumatic tyre to the local bicycle engineers Edlin and Sinclair"
> 
> i.e. Dunlop's idea and prototype, their development. That's why Tim Berners Lee is credited as the founder of the internet.



Tim Berners Lee is the founder of the World Wide Web, the internet having been around for about 20 year before that...


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## potsy (26 Mar 2009)

*update*

Just to let you all know the 2 lads at work who tried these tyres have now taken them off due to horrendous ride quality and lack of grip.
Think i'll stick to the Marathon +


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## Goffins (27 Mar 2009)

jimboalee said:


> No I did'nt.
> 
> I heeded the ridicule.
> 
> ...



Out of curiosity does the Slime have an adapter for Road bike tube valves?
My Amrosio Rims + Continental tyres are so horrendous that it can take upto an hour to fix a puncture in the comfort of my own home, let alone out on the open road.


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## jimboalee (27 Mar 2009)

You can't put slime through a Presta valve.

Better to go Kevlar tyres.


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