https://hackaday.com/2023/04/03/tennis-balls-serve-as-decent-bicycle-tires-that-dont-easily-puncture/ Skip to content Logo Hackaday Primary Menu * Home * Blog * Hackaday.io * Tindie * Hackaday Prize * Submit * About * Search for: [ ] [Search] April 3, 2023 Tennis Balls Serve As Decent Bicycle Tires That Don't Easily Puncture 28 Comments * by: Lewin Day April 3, 2023 * * * * * Title: [Tennis Balls Serve A] Copy Short Link: [https://hackaday.com] Copy [60-Tennis-] Pneumatic tires provide a great ride, great grip, and yet have one fatal flaw -- they're always getting punctured and leaving you stranded. [The Q] decided to solve this problem with a unique design: tires that use tennis balls as the cushioning medium instead. The build begins with small cut sections of plastic water pipe. These are used as housings to hold tennis balls, which are pressed in with a unique tool of [The Q]'s own construction. The individual ball assemblies are then bolted into a standard bicycle wheel, and a tread from a regular bike tire is stretched around the outside for grip. It goes without saying that these tires won't offer the same quality of ride as regular pneumatic bike tires. Nor will the performance be as good, due to the significant extra unsprung weight. They are eye-catching and fun, however. Plus, if you live in an area with tons of nails or prickles, you might find these are just the ticket. Maybe. We've seen some other great bike hacks before, too. * [share_face] * [share_twit] * [share_in] * [share_mail] Posted in Transportation HacksTagged bicycle, bike Post navigation - Spy On Your Cat To Make Sure It Gets Its Paws In Minecraft Finally Gets Multi-Threaded Servers - 28 thoughts on "Tennis Balls Serve As Decent Bicycle Tires That Don't Easily Puncture" 1. Artenz says: April 3, 2023 at 3:24 am With the new reinforced bike tires, I rarely get a puncture. I recently replaced both front and bike tires because they were worn out, and I don't think I got a single puncture in them. Report comment Reply 2. Olivier says: April 3, 2023 at 4:00 am Nice idea, but i do wonder what happens when you ride your bicycle up a sidewalk curb, wont that just move the 'outter rim' up and cause the tennisballs at the top to no longer be held in place? or are they glued in place or something? Report comment Reply 1. lthemick says: April 3, 2023 at 5:39 am Each ball is press-fit into a PVC(?) ring and bolted onto the rim: they aren't unconstrained like they would be in a ball race. Report comment Reply 3. Winston says: April 3, 2023 at 4:19 am Brought to you by Wilson (the tennis ball division, not the remote island companion division). Report comment Reply 1. Anonymous says: April 3, 2023 at 11:14 am Sorry, Wilson (the remote companion division) went bankrupt while trying to developing Wilma and Wilson v2, the more complete remote island companions. Seems like speech-capable versions were not well received regardless of the extra "features." Report comment Reply 4. Troy says: April 3, 2023 at 5:35 am I like the concept. Squash balls could make this a little less massive; also, the fat tires now available might allow for installing the balls similar to how full compliment bearings are assembled. Report comment Reply 5. Nilanjan says: April 3, 2023 at 5:52 am Interesting but thay may run away Report comment Reply 6. a_do_z says: April 3, 2023 at 6:04 am Don't ride near dogs. Report comment Reply 1. Phil says: April 3, 2023 at 1:23 pm Knew this comment would already be here :) Report comment Reply 7. Doug Leppard says: April 3, 2023 at 6:27 am Very creative, very talented but very impractical. But I understand once you get an idea go after it. I do wish I had some of his mechanical abilities. Report comment Reply 8. one says: April 3, 2023 at 8:01 am HaD, you are the best! LOL Report comment Reply 9. SanctimoniousApe says: April 3, 2023 at 8:33 am Cleaning those balls after they inevitably get dirty seems like it might be a losing battle. I'd rather fully enclosed them in a tire/tyre that's easily washed off. Of course, that'd lose the spectacle of the wheel as currently displayed. Maybe some fabric stain guard would work? Report comment Reply 1. Andrew says: April 3, 2023 at 10:56 am Sir, if you loose the spectacle it's just a shitty tire. No, fabric guards won't work on the muck in an average road. Report comment Reply 10. Kasimir says: April 3, 2023 at 9:30 am Is there any advantage compared to existing solutions (Schwalbe airless)? Report comment Reply 1. DKE says: April 3, 2023 at 10:54 am This version gets clicks on the internet. Report comment Reply 2. Andrew says: April 3, 2023 at 10:58 am No. This is a for fun project. Anything professionally put out by a tire manufacturer will exceed this in every way, reliability, ease of use, and repairs. It got your attention and thats all it's worth. Report comment Reply 11. Thomas Anderson says: April 3, 2023 at 9:40 am I love this idea because it's so ridiculous. But if you want a serious version of these, you can buy solid, non-pneumatic tires for most sizes of bike wheel, they kind of do the same thing by having very thick walls. Report comment Reply 12. Sonic says: April 3, 2023 at 12:17 pm So about 1.8kg of balls per wheel, compared to about a kilo per wheel for a decent tubeless MTB set up that self heals, and you can adjust the pressure of... Report comment Reply 13. Nate Ocean says: April 3, 2023 at 12:54 pm A 4:30 video that includes a 1:30 ad for a vacuum robot? Thanks, YouTube, you suck! The tennis ball tire looks cool, but once I saw the implementation, it's not so neat. Report comment Reply 14. HackJack says: April 3, 2023 at 1:28 pm Seems like the outer tire is only holding in place via tension. What prevents it from getting loose while riding and come off? 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