Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Easily Puncture

Re:Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Eas... by ninkendo on Monday April 03, 2023 @04:50PM (#35431081)

How’s the braking performance? Wouldn’t the tennis balls function as a kind of high-friction ball bearing, and allow the outer tire to slip when stopping?

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Re:Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Eas... by klyrs on Monday April 03, 2023 @04:56PM (#35431166)

I'm concerned about the tire slipping off on a corner, too.

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Re:Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Eas... by MDWolinski on Monday April 03, 2023 @05:03PM (#35431246)

Yep, that was my thought has well, certainly the in video they didn't show any type of turning with any amount of lean into it where this would have been an issue.

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Re:Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Eas... by hanspragt on Monday April 03, 2023 @05:06PM (#35431292)

The balls are inserted into PVC rings, which are screwed to the hub, so they can't move. (In my mind this also means that the tire is made of PVC rings and that the balls serve more as decoration, but hey)

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Re:Tennis Balls Serve as Decent Bicycle Tires That Don’t Eas... by latchkey on Monday April 03, 2023 @05:44PM (#35431728)

Exactly! Surprised I had to read this far down for anyone to realize that little detail. To be fair, the balls kind of spread the covering tire out beyond the rings...

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