2011-08-31

PumpTire: Self Inflating Bicycle Tire

PumpTire: Tire Inflates Itself As You Ride - Technabob
http://technabob.com/blog/2011/08/29/pumptire-self-inflating-bike-tire

  • The PumpTire is a revolutionary design by Benjamin Krempel that’s currently up for funding on Kickstarter. The tire actually employs a mechanism that pumps your bike tires as you pedal and move along, ensuring that you will never have a flat tire or ever have to manually pump some air into your tires – if all goes well, that is.
  • The PumpTire is fitted with a valve and a special inner tube that work hand-in-hand to determine if your tires are full or if they could still use a pump or two of air. As you can see from the video clip, Krempel already has a working prototype of the PumpTire, and just needs funds to ramp up production.
Self Inflating Bicycle Tire by PumpTire Team .mp4 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipRvld-kPH4
PumpTires: Bike tires self-inflate as you ride | Crave - CNET
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20097569-1/pumptires-bike-tires-self-inflate-as-you-ride
  • The PumpTire features a special valve which, like a conventional valve, can attach to a bicycle pump for manual inflation but also takes in air as the tire spins. The air is channeled into a small tube, or "lumen," that runs around the outside of the tire, where it makes contact with the ground. The weight of the bike squeezes the air out of the lumen and into the inner tube. The specially designed valve automatically shuts off and stops its air intake when the desired tire pressure is reached.
Kickstarter project PumpTire promises self-inflating cycle tires (Wired UK)
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-08/30/pumptire-on-kickstarter
  • To make his two types of tires -- the City Cruiser for the casual,  urban cyclist and the City Pro High Performance Tire for professional riders -- Krempel needs a hefty cash injection. He's asking for $250,000 on Kickstarter, and has raised $12,000 so far, with a month or so to go.
    If his funding drive is successful, Krempel and his company will sell the Cruiser wheel set for $64.95 (£50 with international shipping) and the Pro kit for $129.90 (about £100 with postage to Britain).

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