Wheel changes in races: has no development gone into punchure protection?

[Stephen2014]

There's a lot of talk about disc brakes and the wheel change factor but I hear nothing about making tyres more punchure proof? (Obviously still the crash damage factor though)

[Mark McM]

There's a lot of talk about disc brakes and the wheel change factor but I hear nothing about making tyres more punchure proof? (Obviously still the crash damage factor though)

Tire manufacturers have tried using various puncture protection layers in their tire, including Kevlar, vectran, and even steel belting, with varying degrees of success. But the problem remains that features which increase puncture resistance also increase rolling resistance and weight, and also often decrease shock absorption and traction. There are, in fact, puncture proof non-pneumatic tires on the market. But their other properties are so poor (shock absorption, traction, rolling resistance, weight) that they are not widely used.

[Stephen2014]

Yes, all common stuff on commuter tyres.

[gaucho753]

Unless the flat happens near the finish, what's the incentive to increasing rolling resistance? If a pro rider needs a wheel change during a race, he just blatantly drafts race vehicles, holds on to the team car while the mechanic tinkers, and then gets one last "sticky bottle" to bridge back up to the peleton. If race officials put a stop to all those things, flat protection might be more of a concern. (Just my personal axe to grind.)

[FlashUNC]

Problem is the more protection, the more the tire rides like garbage.

Pros are more concerned with how it holds in a corner at 45kph than getting 4,000 miles out of a pair.

[MattTuck]

I seem to remember a thread a while back that discussed the merits of a special foam that would fill the tire and never go flat or need to be pumped up.

The bicycle pump lobby was against it and probably had some regulations written to stop its adoption.

[Mark McM]

I seem to remember a thread a while back that discussed the merits of a special foam that would fill the tire and never go flat or need to be pumped up.

Unless it was a fluid (compressible or otherwise), you'd lose most of the advantages of a pneumatic tire. Fluid filled tires conform easily to the surface they are one. Solid elastic materials (like foam) don't conform as uniformly, and have less traction and shock absorption, plus more rolling resistance relative to their stiffness.

The bicycle pump lobby was against it and probably had some regulations written to stop its adoption.

I doubt that there is a bicycle pump lobby, and there wouldn't need to be one to stop the adoption of the foam filled tires anyway, since they would perform so poorly compared to pneumatic tires.

[zennmotion]

There's a lot of talk about disc brakes and the wheel change factor but I hear nothing about making tyres more punchure proof? (Obviously still the crash damage factor though)

Anybody asking this question was not riding bikes 20 years ago.

[palincss]

There's a lot of talk about disc brakes and the wheel change factor but I hear nothing about making tyres more punchure proof? (Obviously still the crash damage factor though)

Trouble is, everything that enhances puncture resistance detracts from speed.