Will Supreme Dutch’s airless tires make us ride on foam, at least on asphalt?
We are all riding or driving on air. Be it with tube or tubeless, our wheels are always cushioned by an inflated tire. That may change in the next years, at least partially.
About Supreme Dutch and their airless tires
This innovative company is in the Netherlands. That is tantamount to saying that it’s located in the cradle of bicycle and ebike innovation. Per capita bicycle and ebike diffusion and usage in the Netherlands is by far the highest in the world. No wonder a Dutch company have conceived and are selling this innovative tire filling technology that replaces traditional air tubes. Not only can it fit pratically almost all existing tires, but the ebike tires leader manufaturer, Schwalbe, is already selling a tire model equipped with Supreme Dutch’s system. A harbinger for succees.
Supreme Dutch Airless System Tire
It’s pratically a tube made of thousand of small air filled foam tiny bubbles, or cushions, similar to polystyrene. Their elastic thermoplastic polyurethane should be much more comfortable than existing solid foam tubes. They are completely puncture-free, and don’t need any inflating whatsoever.
They feel and ride like a standard tire inflated to 3.5 bars. Supreme Dutch promotes its innovative system especially for cargo ebikes, and for urban bicycles in general, be they electric or organic.
We already wrote here about ebike airless tires, notably about the advantages of Michelin’s tireless polyresin wheels, already featured by the E-cargo bike from Coaster Cycles. The huge difference: since they are wheels and not tires, Michelin’s innovation enjoys a much limited scope of application, whereas the Supreme Dutch Airless System fits pratically ebike tires of any kind and brand.
Limits of air inflated tires, i.e, consequently, advantages of airless tires
The sheer fact of avoiding punctures is a huge advantage
It would be quite risky venturing on medium and long tours without a pump, a spare tube or at least a tube repairing foam. Even for commuting, a punctured tire can be a big problem. Let alone the fact that ebikes weigh an average 25 kg, pushing them back home is long and exhausting. It would be better to leave its ebike on the spot of the puncture, but then one should have a safe lock, what is hardly feasible with an e-mountain bike. For fleets and rented ebikes, punctures are even more troublesome. Just fathom puncturing the tires of a rented ebike and not having enough time to push it back to the rental or to the fleet owner before its closure. Where are you going to park the rented ebike for the night, if you don’t have a shelter for it? You would risk theft and rain induced damage. Somebody could rent the ebike for an hour, use it all day long, puncture it before bringing it back, all that for paying just a cheap one-hour rental instead of a daily one.
Their most annoying disadvantage, is that they leak air
Depending on the type of tire, of rims, the weight of your ebike, your weight, your usage, external temperature (the colder, the more they will leak air), the type of terrain you ride on, the frequency and intensity of braking and accelerating, the angle of inclination (the narrower, the more leaking) and the frequency of curves, they demand inflating at least every 100 to 300 miles. Supreme Dutch’s tires don’t leak, even if a nail pierced them.
Pressure variations
The fact of having always the same pressure, requiring no inflation, is a great advantage. Indeed, if you neglect inflating when pressure drops below your ideal level, which should be around three bars, besides suffering a quite higher rolling resistance, you accelerate your tires wear. If you let them exaggeratedly deflate, you risk damaging tires, rims, spokes and even shock absorbers. Temperature variations can over inflate them. Say you inflate them at 3.5 bars in your garage at 12°C in the morning. After riding one hour around 2 PM under the summer sun, the asphalt that had exceeded 42°C can heat up the air in your tires, which will easily reach four bars. Seemingly, if the asphalt rapidly cools off, the temperature variation will favor deflating, although not to a worrying extent. Yet, since air works as an insulation, mitigating temperature variations, excessive heat and cold, it remains to be seen whether very extreme heat can wear or even damage Supreme Dutch’s foam bubbles. Anyway, Supreme Dutch boasts that its tires last 30% longer than air inflated ones.
Inflating tires is neither that simple, nor handy
For private users, a good pump is necessary, much preferably with a manometer or air pressure gauge. A portable pump for ebike tours is necessary as well. When it comes to ebike fleets and rentals, inflating tires is a real problem. Users normally don’t have any pump whatsoever. Inflating tires at gas stations is difficult, many don’t even allow it, or even ask for a euro for the service. There are no gas stations on bike paths and trails. Therefore, fleet or rented ebikes are prone to riding with deflated tires, with consequent damage or wearing of tires, rims, and spokes. All that can be avoided with Supreme Dutch’s tires. All the more with ebikes, which weighing around 25 kg, accelerating and braking harder than organic bikes, deflate their tires quicker.
Rolling resistance is higher than with traditional tires, especially if they are not hardly inflated
Having a rolling behavior comparable to an air tire with at 3.5 bar pressure is a great plus of Supreme Dutch airless tires. Indeed, whenever air pressure of a traditional tire drops below three bars, rolling resistance becomes more and more remarkable. The problem, is that the higher the desired pressure, the more often one must inflate tires.
The advantages of air inflated tires compared to airless tires
Flexibility
The combination of rubber and air renders tires extremely malleable and ductile. They practically adapt their shape and adherence following the inclination of the bicycle on curves, the weight born by the tire, the pression exerted by braking and acceleration, and so on. Supreme Dutch tires can’t be that flexible. Consequently, Supreme Dutch never mentions mountain bikes among the possible adopters of its tires. Traditional tires are much fitter for jumping and bouncing against rocks, roots and holes.
Customization
This flexibility enables the diversification of tires, adapting them to the different ebike riding needs. There are tires for rain, for snow, ice, for hot or cold temperatures. They can prioritize adherence or lesser rolling resistance. They can fit the different types of grounds one is riding on, be it asphalt, gravel, mountain trails, tracks, etc. They can be more silent, more durable, more comfortable, or else they can enhance adherence and safety at high speeds and allow prompt braking. Although Supreme Dutch system can fit almost all different type of tires, since it is equivalent to a 3.5 bar pressure, we deem it as not flexible enough for special tires, e.g. ice and snow tires, which normally should be inflated at a lower pression. All the more for racing tires and e-mountain bike tires in general.
Choosing the pressure can be useful
If you prioritize comfort, inflating your tires at 2.5-bar will smooth out the shocks coming from bumps, holes, potholes and ground irregularities in general. Should speed and tire durability prime over comfort for you, then you should choose a tire pressure of at least three bars. The former pressure is also safer on hot or wet asphalt, whereas the latter allows energy or fuel sparing. Hard inflated tires last longer too. On the other hand, they wear shock absorbers and rubber silent blocks or joints faster, because a stiff, rigid tire lets the suspension absorb a greater portion of the shock. Supreme Dutch’s tires 3.5 bars equivalent pression limits your possibility of adapting your tires to your different and changing riding demands.
Will airless tires replace traditional ones on ebikes? Neither soon nor much
Even in the long run, we think there will be room for both technologies. As we pointed out, they both present different advantages. Air tires cannot be replaced by airless tires for e-mountain biking, whereas the latter seem better suiting e-cargo bikes, city ebikes, rental and fleet ebikes.
Pictures: Supreme Dutch
