https://cyclingtips.com/2021/03/smart-metl-airless-metal-tires-are-designed-for-mars-and-your-bike/

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Tech,Tech news

Smart's airless metal tires are designed for Mars and your bike

The Smart METL uses a "shape memory alloy" to allow deformation like
a pneumatic tire

[png]
[FB-Profil]

by Caley Fretz

photography by Courtesy Smart

March 17, 2021
2 minute read

It will take something special to unseat rubber and air from their
perch atop the tire hierarchy.

A company founded by a "Survivor:Fiji" winner and built on technology
originally developed for NASA's various space rovers is the latest to
give it a go. The Smart METL tires are, as the name suggests, made of
metal, specifically, a nickel-titanium alloy called NiTinol+ arranged
in a series of interconnected loops or springs that looks a bit like
medieval chainmail.

The material itself is the key innovation. It's a "shape memory
alloy" created by NASA engineers Dr. Santo Padula and Colin Creager
and is capable of deforming and returning to shape without losing
structural integrity. The material and design were developed for to
NASA's Mars rovers, which need to function on a planet too cold for
rubber tires.

The material and chainlink design allow the tire to deform over
obstacles like a pneumatic tire, then return to its original shape.
It's immune to punctures, of course, and the company also claims the
design is more environmentally friendly relative to the "50 billion
pounds [25 million tonnes] of toxic waste" that the Smart says the
traditional tire industry generates annually.

Smart licensed the tech via the Space Act Agreement, which is
intended to help NASA technology trickle out into the commercial
world. The company shifted focus to bike tires and already has a
partnership with Spin, a micromobility company owned by Ford. Testing
is currently being conducted on a fleet of bikes provided by Felt.

So will it work for bikes? Well, performance details are scarce. The
company didn't release weights. Smart claims rolling resistance is
comparable to a pneumatic tire at 100psi, but as all good tire nerds
know, that's quite a range. Are we talking about a fast race tire at
100psi, or a commuter tire at 100psi?

Other major questions remain unanswered. Would the METL be tuneable
for different rider weights?

[9k]

Anybody who has had the misfortune of riding any distance on a
tire-less rim knows that metal and pavement aren't a particularly
grippy combination. To combat this, Smart says they'll wrap the METL
in a rubber-like substance called Polyurethanium. We have no idea
what this is and Smart provided no detail.

Historically, airless tires have been nasty, bumpy, gripless things
best avoided unless you commute on piles of glass. But the flatless
bike tire, particularly given the rise of ebikes as car replacements,
remains an exciting prospect. Smart may have taken their PR photos on
a triathlon bike, but that's not where this solution is truly needed.

Those of us deep in the cycling space probably know how to fix a
flat, but it can be a daunting problem for many, one more thing
keeping them off bikes. Perhaps Smart has the answer.

Tags

#Smart METL
#tires

[FB-Profil]

by Caley Fretz

photography by Courtesy Smart

March 17, 2021
2 minute read

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