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Tire Balls?

PDS RX

Monkey
Sep 11, 2007
145
0
Richmond VA
Does anyone know when you will be able to buy tireballs? I know they have been in testing for almost a year now but they should be done by now. Just wondering if anyone got some insider sea otter info.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I thought they were available....don't some MX guys use em?
 

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
What are tire balls?
http://www.tireballs.com/

The Tire Ball® High Performance Inflation System Is composed of multiple cells that inflate the tire versus the inner tube or tube-less design tire which has one vulnerable single cell. A puncture of a single cell inner tube or tube-less tire results in a flat tire. The puncture of a Tire Ball® inflated tire results in a single flat cell out of many, not a flat tire, allowing many puncture situations to be ignored. Chances are, a rider will not even recognize the loss of air in a deflated Tire Ball®.
 

jvnixon

Turbo Monkey
May 14, 2006
2,325
0
SickLines.com
Changing tires with those balls would be hard no? That'd be like changing tires without deflating the tube in additon to adding more weight to the one of the worst places.
 

racer661

Chimp
Oct 31, 2007
84
0
i actually ride for tire balls as an rnd rider they work amazing!i still havent flated one. There still doing reserch on them. the add a lil wieght but its a lil price to pay between finishing the race and winning the cheddar and flating and not finsihing and going home with nothing so its a great idea, at this point im not real sure when there comming out to the public but when they do there a great buy saves money in the long run. They also add a crap load of traction and breaking power from which ive noticed!
 

PDS RX

Monkey
Sep 11, 2007
145
0
Richmond VA
i actually ride for tire balls as an rnd rider they work amazing!i still havent flated one. There still doing reserch on them. the add a lil wieght but its a lil price to pay between finishing the race and winning the cheddar and flating and not finsihing and going home with nothing so its a great idea, at this point im not real sure when there comming out to the public but when they do there a great buy saves money in the long run. They also add a crap load of traction and breaking power from which ive noticed!
thanks man can't wait to get some, and to the guy above me,think of it this way say you flat and your on a race run, do you bash your rear wheel to crap or drop out loseing your race fee, ethier way you lose money you could have saved.
 

ulockjustice

Monkey
Oct 17, 2006
179
0
sounds all well and good, but what about tire pressure? from the looks of their website they come prefilled with air? or can you adjust the pressure in the individual balls?
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,573
24,193
media blackout
i actually ride for tire balls as an rnd rider they work amazing!i still havent flated one. There still doing reserch on them. the add a lil wieght but its a lil price to pay between finishing the race and winning the cheddar and flating and not finsihing and going home with nothing so its a great idea, at this point im not real sure when there comming out to the public but when they do there a great buy saves money in the long run. They also add a crap load of traction and breaking power from which ive noticed!
I still use plain ol' inner tubes and haven't gotten a flat during a race run, well, ever (only been racing 2 years).

The only flats I've gotten in the last 12 months were on my xc bike and my bmx bike - both times because the tires were just plain worn out.

I'm sure its a great product, but to me its a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
 

Velocity Girl

whack-a-mole
Sep 12, 2001
1,279
0
Atlanta
I use the ATV tire balls and yes, they can be time consuming to change...but you prevents a DNF so it worth it. Also once you get the hang of getting the balls in there and inflating them it's really not that bad (just a bit messy :) )

I know at least in the ATV tires you can be flat a few balls before noticing a difference....not sure for mtn bikes or mx.

They are a good group of folks to work with. Very interested to see how they work in the mtn bike arena once they get out there.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
I think the problem for mountain bikers is the effort to install tires. I watched the motorcycle installation vid, and they were using massively long tire irons and special clamps to hold the tire.

I believe that kind of effort is normal for motorcycle tire installation but it seems very difficult to me (and I was hoping to see him install a tire on the Interbike vid).

But even though some dh tires can be hard to install, I am worried that the extra effort to install an already "inflated" tire will damage the rim.
 

Velocity Girl

whack-a-mole
Sep 12, 2001
1,279
0
Atlanta
Yea, that's where the beauty of beadlocks help us :)

And yea, I remember watching Jason try to get some DH tires one....eek! I can't imagine they haven't taken some of that stuff into consideration figured out some installation tricks. (Either that or they have a huge pile of busted rims laying around their shop somewhere...lol!)
 

PDS RX

Monkey
Sep 11, 2007
145
0
Richmond VA
I believe they made it easy to get the mtb ones one, the last version I saw was not round but square. They look a bit smaller so hopefully this means it will be.
 

racer661

Chimp
Oct 31, 2007
84
0
Saving money? How many people spend $300 in tubes and/or tubeless sealant a year?
well u also have to factor in on ur race run you could flat and u could loos the money. itll also add confeidence trought the really rocky gnarly stuff to which ull be able to go fast which could lead to a better finish and more money so yes its a money saver and also could be a money gainer!
 

racer661

Chimp
Oct 31, 2007
84
0
I still use plain ol' inner tubes and haven't gotten a flat during a race run, well, ever (only been racing 2 years).

The only flats I've gotten in the last 12 months were on my xc bike and my bmx bike - both times because the tires were just plain worn out.

I'm sure its a great product, but to me its a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
its a dif product for dif people i guess ;)
 

racer661

Chimp
Oct 31, 2007
84
0
sounds all well and good, but what about tire pressure? from the looks of their website they come prefilled with air? or can you adjust the pressure in the individual balls?
ya they come pre filled u tell them what pressure u want and to change them u have to do it individualy which is kinda of a pain yet i havent changed mine since ive put them in and havent had a prob with them you can run em as low as u want u just gotta think about the tire rolling off and stuff ive got mine set at 18 in the rear and 20 in the front works great for me yet i weigh 130 lbs so ya haha could make a defrence. its a great product thogh!
 

racer661

Chimp
Oct 31, 2007
84
0
Are you supposed to adjust pressure by adding/removing balls? That sounds incredibly convenient.

no actually there is a special pump that u buy and u adjust it in each ball. kinda like pumping up lil foot balls
 

demo8razor

Monkey
Mar 31, 2008
250
0
i run 4 ply tires and dh tubes, with 15-20 psi, and no flats ever so i assume the weight would be about that maybe a little less, but i know what my tires deflated are like to get on, these have to be terrible to work with
 

davep

Turbo Monkey
Jan 7, 2005
3,276
0
seattle
Cut open the sidewall and check the balls with a guage. When done, sew it back up.

even better....

Tirezipperz(tm), the newest addition to the tireballz family of product. Just install tirezippers(tm) in your tire sidewall, and zzzzziiiippppp. Easy pressure check/change, and makes a simple process of the ballz installz.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Cut open the sidewall and check the balls with a guage. When done, sew it back up.

even better....

Tirezipperz(tm), the newest addition to the tireballz family of product. Just install tirezippers(tm) in your tire sidewall, and zzzzziiiippppp. Easy pressure check/change, and makes a simple process of the ballz installz.
Is there a lightweight velcro version?
 

davep

Turbo Monkey
Jan 7, 2005
3,276
0
seattle
Only for dusty environments (mud sticks to the velcro), and I have to warn you, the velcro may stick to, and destroy your Lycra.

I have heard of a few cases as well where the velcro has been abrasive to the ballz. We are working on a solution to seperate the ballz from the velcro...Undiezz(tm)
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i would really like to try tire balls.

they wont be the same as tubes at all. because each 'ball' has a much smaller volume then a tube, they would 'ramp up' much more then a tube. and make flatting much harder.
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,648
3,089
How do you check your tire pressure? Do you have to take the tire off and measure each tire ball and add them up?
If you live on sea level and race in the resorts on elevation you have to adjust your tire pressure at the race venue. Tire balls :crazy: Thanks, I'll stick with tubeless!