In my review of the Tannus Airless Tire I mentioned that it took super human strength to get the tire on my bike rim.
Yesterday, while I was rolling out of the driveway, I hit a bump in the gutter and my rear tire magically transformed from a functional form into a piece of abstract art.
The bump, pictured below, was not exceptionally pronounced. I rolled from left to right diagonally across the gutter. The bump is asphalt ledge in the bottom right of the image. It is about an inch rise. It is the type of thing that mountain bikes hit on a regular basis.
I was thinking of hanging the rim in an art gallery as it has an intriguing artistic form:
I tied the tire to a chair trying to show the figure eight form of the tire:
I happen to live on a hillside. There is a steep drop to the valley floor and the mountains to the East are brutal
All of my rides involved steep hill climbs. The odometer on the bike changed from 94.8 to 201.0. I believe the units are kilometers. So, I made it 106.2 km.
I started making maps with my fancy Garmin Watch.
| Date | Distance | Elevation Gain |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-10 | 4.09 miles | na |
| 2022-07-11 | 4.56 miles | na |
| 2022-07-12 | 5.31 miles | na |
| 2022-07-13 | 4.05 miles | 522 ft |
| 2022-07-14 | 4.99 miles | 705 ft |
| 2022-07-15 | 6.05 miles | 938 ft |
| 2022-07-16 | 6.23 miles | 712 ft |
| 2022-07-17 | 6.29 miles | 909 ft |
| Total | 41.57 miles | 3,786 ft |
As you can see my rides involve massive elevation gains. My rides usually involve me making death grips on the handle bars as I descend steep hills followed by gruel treks back up the hill.
Hills, hills, hills, everywhere steep hills!
Here are some of the maps I drew:
I did a large number of rides without recording a map. Several of the rides involved going in a circle with a hill and descent. I probably topped 5,000 ft gain in the short lifetime of my ill fated tires.
In the first map I cycled up to "Mile High Drive." I wanted to go to the end of the circle, but there was a sign saying Private Property.
In the second and third maps I decided to cycle into Millcreek, Utah. I went to my local post office. I designed the route so that I could go on some flat roads so that I could practice spinning.
During each ride I planned writing a HIVE post. I didn't post them as I think that daily fitness posts are a bit too ego-centric. I was making a little progress. I wanted to work up to 10 miles a day with 2,000 feet gains.
I would actually go further but every ride involves a steep ascent.
The tires cost me my entire HBD savings for the year. I now need to figure out how to get the funds to buy a new wheel, and I need to figure out how to install it.
I said in my review of Tannus tires that I like the tubeless tire concept. I've had several bike pumps stolen from my bike through the years. The tubeless tires means that one can do rides without carrying a pump and spare tube.
The problem comes with trying to put the tires on old rims. The tires were way too tight. It required super human strength to get the tires on the rim. The tires distorted the rim when I hit a bump in the road.
It is best to buy the tire and rim combination (which is extremely expensive). If you want to add a Tannus tire to an existing rim, I would recommend using a local installer as they might figure out the problem that caused my tire to implode.
