A few years back we took a look at Gecko Rubber’s solid bike tyre and our first impressions were pretty positive. The firm is now launching a lightweight version via Kickstarter.
As we pointed out after our test ride, there are some pretty big and obvious advantages of solid tyres – chiefly that you don't ever need to pump them up and you can't puncture them.
Unlike most standard pneumatic tyres, Gecko’s tyres are also made of a single material which can be ground down and completely recycled to make a brand new tyre.
Pretty good, eh? Gecko say the latest incarnation of the tyre is half the weight of the first-generation version and still 100 per cent puncture-proof.
The Kickstarter campaign has an initial £10,000 goal. If this is reached, the tyres will be produced in the three most common tyres sizes:
- 700 diameter x 28mm width (400g)
- 26″ x 1.5″ (500g)
- 700 diameter x 43 mm width (850g)
If the funding goal is exceeded, the firm plans to purchase more tyre moulds to produce more sizes.
The firm says the tyres can be installed in under five minutes with a rubber mallet or tyre lever.
A £110 pledge will get you a set of tyres (30% off the full retail price), including tax and UK shipping.
Estimated delivery is January 2023.