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Amerityre Airless Flat-Free Bicycle Tire Review

I love to bike to work in the morning. The fresh air, the exercise, and the feeling of freedom as I zoom by gridlocked traffic in the empty bike lane as frustrated drivers pound the steering wheel in frustration all combine to get my day off to a great start. However, all that positive energy quickly dissipates when I hear the telltale hiss of one of my bike tires swiftly going flat.

Now, changing a flat tire on a bike isn’t exactly a huge inconvenience. However, when you are on a tight schedule (eg on your way to work) you don’t want to have to stop and go through the hassle of replacing or patching the tube and pumping up the tire. Maybe your boss is more understanding than mine, but the flat tire excuse just doesn’t cut it as a reason for being late.

Once upon a time I made my daily commute on a road bike, but with all the broken glass, nails and other debris that litters our local bike paths I found I was getting 3 to 4 flat tires a month. Not exactly a reliable mode of transportation. The number of tubes, and in some cases, tires I was going through also started to add up, and even started to rival what it would have cost me in gas to drive to work.

So, after enduring several months of this, I decided to make a change, opting to sacrifice speed for reliability. My road bike went up for sale, and I pulled out my mountain bike, previously used exclusively for trail riding, and started using it for the daily ride to work and back. The thick, knobby tires added much more rolling resistance to my ride, and the daily commute took much longer, and required more effort to reach my destination. Still, after a month of riding I managed to make it through the dangerous gauntlet of broken glass and debris with nary a flat tire, so the trade-off was worth it.

Unfortunately my run of flat free reliability came to an end. I wound up getting three flat tires in one week! Annoyed, but thinking this occurrence, and not the month of flat free riding, was the anomaly, I soldiered on. Two weeks later, while watching a car that was about to turn right in front of me I rode through a minefield of nails that someone had dumped (accidentally or maliciously?) all over the bike path. Twin pops and I was stranded with two flat and utterly ruined tires. I was forced to walk my bike the final two kilometers to work, arriving late yet again.

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Now, I have to admit, five flat mountain bike tires in the course of three weeks is extraordinarily bad luck. Still, it happened, and could happen again. Fed up, but unwilling to give up my daily bike ride, I turned to the internet to do some research.

I had heard about airless, flat-free bicycle tires in the past, yet I had never seen them at a local bike shop, and they seemed to get snubbed by serious cyclists. Still, I wasn’t planning to compete in the Tour-de-France, I just wanted a reliable set of tires to get me to work and back, so I dug a little deeper, trying to find more information on airless bike tires.

Though one would think flat-free tires would be the ultimate solution for bike commuters such as myself there seemed to be surprisingly little anecdotal information regarding these tires. There were a few companies offering such a product, but trying to find reviews or information from people who had actually ridden on them proved to be difficult. However, my search for airless bike tires did yield up one interesting company, and ultimately it was their product I decided to buy.

Amerityre is a small Nevada based company that is currently in the process of developing a run-flat car tire. However, they have been producing other types of airless tires for small applications, such as bicycles, lawnmowers and hand trucks for more than a decade. Their airless tires are made of a blend of polyurethane and foam in an attempt to duplicate the natural cushioning of a pneumatic tire.

Though reviews of their tires were mixed, again the testers were of the serious cyclist variety, and the fact that they found such a product even middle of the road for their needs gave me hope that Amerityre’s flat-free tires might be more than adequate for my needs. After watching an installation video on the internet, and the seeming ease of installing the tires I decided to take the plunge and order a set.

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The tires were surprisingly cheap, around $80 for a pair, and arrived swiftly from Amerityre’s Canadian dealer. I unpacked them, and checked them out. They felt fairly light, despite their solid construction, and the polyurethane foam blend seemed to have a decent amount of give when I squished it. I watched the airless tire installation video one more time, just to make sure I had the method down, removed my old tires and tubes from my rims and went to work.

What a nightmare! The guy in the installation video makes it look so easy when he slides the tires onto the rim, but in reality it is like wrestling an alligator trying to get those tires onto the rim. After fifteen minutes of sweating, grunting, and cursing I finally managed to get the last inch of tire rolled onto the rim. I would have felt a moment of great triumph had I been outfitting a unicycle, but alas, I was only halfway done. Back to work I went, and after another fifteen minutes of hair-pulling frustration I finally had my new set of airless tires ready to ride.

I whipped out of my garage and into the street. The first thing I noticed as I hopped up on a curb was that the polyurethane/foam blend of the Amerityre tires was definitely not as cushiony as pneumatic tires. Even bump jolted the frame, and by extension, my body, particularly my wrists. Still, I have an aluminum hard-tail, so someone with a chromoly frame and/or full suspension would likely find the ride much less jarring. I geared up and tried a full sprint down the street. The response was adequate, though there seemed to be slightly more rolling resistance with the airless tires compared to my old pneumatic tires. Still, the slight drag, though noticeable, wasn’t a huge difference, and I found myself quickly adjusting to the difference in efficiency.

The other concern I had was cornering. Since you literally have to roll these airless bike tires onto the rim during installation it didn’t seem impossible that they could roll off when taking a sharp corner. With some trepidation I attempted the manoeuvre, and am relieved to report the Amerityre tires stayed firmly seated on the rim.

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So, the preliminary tests out of the way I parked the bike until the following morning, when I would try it on my daily commute. The commute was incident-free, and, of course, flat-free. It took perhaps one or two minutes longer than usual due to the slightly slower riding speed, but was nothing to be overly concerned about. All in all a good experience.

Now, more than 50 commutes later I am absolutely delighted I bought these tires. I can ride to work and back with absolute confidence I will make my destination on time, and without incident. Oftentimes I find myself deliberately running over broken glass and debris (just because I can!). I’ve grown used to the slight speed loss, and the extra work required has probably marginally strengthened my leg muscles. I need to get on a bike with pneumatic tires now and see if I can go faster than I used to be able to.

All in all I give Amerityre’s flat-free airless bike tires my highest recommendation…if you are using your bike strictly for commuting. If you are racing, or are participating in any other sort of time sensitive activity then you will want to stick with the faster pneumatics. Also, if you are touring or are otherwise going for rides of a length that will have you in the saddle for hours at a time, these are not the tires for you. The rough ride will wear your body down quickly. I find that an hour of solid riding leaves my wrists aching. Overall, Amerityre still needs to improve upon their tires if they want to one day supplant the pneumatic tire, but for the commuter who desires reliability over performance these airless tires fit the bill nicely.