We Bought PUNCTURE PROOF Tires, Are They Any Good?

Could solid tires be the future of cycling? At £15 each, physically impossible to puncture, we're going to find out if PUNCTURE-proof tires are a total waste of time or not as bad as some people think? It's time for Alex to check them out!

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[gcntech]

What do you think about these tyres? Would you buy them?? Let us know! 👇

[normskilight]

I switched to solids for commuting as i was always getting punctures. They are heavy and less forgiving, and so slower and more more hard work. But when i switch back to pneumatics at the weekend, it's like ive been training in extra gravity 😄. That same hills suddenly feel so easy.

[amagumba]

I put Tannus Portal 700x28c on my 20-mile-per-day commuter a few months ago and won't look back. One problem with this test is that you didn't break the tires in, they take about 50 miles to really settle. I wanted to buy them for a long time but didn't because of takes like this. After 3 months of 20 mile per day rides, I would say that as far as pedaling effort, they are better than the 700x28c Gatorskins I had before this but worse than the 700x25c Schwalbe Marathon Pros I had. With the Schwalbes I was usually riding at 22mph, with the Gatorskins and Tannus I'm around 18mph. That's roughly a 20% difference, though I also ride for fitness so it's not a problem and stoplights are the majority of the variance in my door to door time.

As far as grip, they're roughly equivalent to Gatorskins, so they slide more easily than I'd like. Again not a problem in dry conditions, and I don't ride wet.

But the main thing is, once you have them for a few months, a couple of things are really nice. One is that you stop thinking about your tires as a risk and something that can fail at any time, and start to think of them more like shoes. This is a big deal for me. The other thing is you never have to wonder, am I feeling slow because I have a slow leak? The experience on the bike is exactly the same every time.

[benlangleben]

Sick of getting punctures, I did a web search on whether you can put the anti puncture gel usually used with tubeless into inner tubes. Not only was the answer yes, but muckoff make a version of the product with a nozzle designed to insert into inner tubes. This has definitely kept me going. I found my tyre was slightly soft one morning and found a huge gouge in the tyre from the previous evening, which would otherwise have meant a long walk home.

[FaithsFallen]

Solid tyres are a great option for solo female commuters who may be commuting at night or early morning, would not want to end up in a sketch part of town with a puncture at midnight!

[CHJohnson-vgoj]

Alex. I'm on my second pair of solid tires. The first set did over 14500km. They cost £100 the pair. A good investment. I'm 61. Can't do speed anymore - I do loads of long rides and the piece of mind is what I like and I can off road if I need to. Also and you didn't mention this, I have to work harder as the rolling rrsistanceyis greater. Uses more calories.

[kmetz]

Interesting concept. As a bike commuter, I can definitively say that waking up to a flat tire on your bike when you're already running late is extremely frustrating and has a tendency to make you want to buy the most puncture-resistant tires possible - it's not just how fast you can change a tire, but the worst timing possible of needing to do so. My husband and I have been riding on Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires the last couple years, and have had no punctures on them - I even found a large (several mm) gouge in one of mine while doing my bi-weekly session, which I take as proof enough that they've stopped at least one serious puncture. 😅 They are an absolute pain to fit onto a rim though (especially my bike with 700x25 tires), and I can't imagine fitting a full solid tire on.

[MrLM]

Y'all should test Tannus' Airless Tires.

[ktube]

I rode Tannus tires for a couple months. They were slower, roughly 7 percent in either speed or power numbers. However, not carrying a pump, tube(s), patches, levers, was really nice. If you truly train off power and TSS, and your ego can deal with being slower than usual, and a rougher than normal ride, they work as intended.

[benbrennan]

I used the Tannus solids for commuting a couple of years ago and although the speed was affected and the initial ride was boneshaking, after a new saddle and inner tubes underneath the bar wrap there were no complaints. Solids are perfect for commuting but they do make riding in wet interesting.

[karlproctor]

I used Tannus on my commute bike for two years Pre-Covid. I put them on for one reason, puncture prevention. I even did some 50 mile rides on them. Bit sketchy in heavy rain.

[jahen]

Interesting test… besides the tyres you also had quite different wheels that might had some saying in the test as well 😊

[StornofuerKasse]

nice test. Next time it would be interesting to get a third contender on board, the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. The next best in protection behind solid tires but still the compliance of having inner tubes.

[AutoCAD]

Thanks Alex, this is what GCN need some more down to earth normal riding questions. But it would be nice to test this against puncture resistance tyres, like gatorskin or marathon plus

[AGENDA_]

ATTENTION!!!
It's about safety - and therefor another reason for an urgent WARNING concerning these types of tires that actually has nothing to do with speed:
Over time - actually a very short time, the cross section of these tires wears down from circular to a circle with a flat top.
To lay the wheel into a corner the bike first has to get lifted over the edges of that flat part against the entire system weight.
Out of the corner it's the other way round.
That results in a completely unaware feeling/handling experience - which is nothing else than troubling and likely very unsafe.
Control over the bike is simply impeded.
I fortunately yet didn't have to make the experience of an emergency situation with that effect.
Furthermore:
The fit of these tires runs loose on the rims over time.
That first can get detected in a strange quirking sound resulting from the tire lifting up and down in the rim.
It literally sounds like having ducks in the wheels.
I expect, that not much later there will get a kind of bubble pushed around the rim impeding the round rolling - and potentially leading to a dangerous failure.
I didn't get the brand referred to in that video.
I refer to Tannus Aither 1.0 and 2.0, 700c/28mm, which are in an entirely different price level.
I did go for them on a bike with which I want to be as safely as possible IN TIME.
It doesn't help if you are quicker at a train station on bike if you have to calculate safety time for a possible puncture into your ride.
Therefor these tires make some sense.
But they are simply scary!
Tannus improved two main issues. 
They removed the tire threats that had a "self-cornering" effect (meaning that the tire literally pulled itself into the corner).
They improved the compound to be more comfortable, having more grip and a more predictable cut-off of the grip (the 1.0 didn't slide first in a corner, they just dropped of...).
So everybody - be aware of these dangers!

[levbobrov]

I haven't used solid tires myself (and probably never will), but one of the interesting things I've read in the review somewhere is that they also can wear out unevenly, thus making your wheel non-round and the ride feel like ... that one time when your inner tube got pinched between the rim and the tire and you didn't notice at first.

[mynameismaomao]

solid tyres are usually found on city shared bikes.. those are slow & heavy, slow down even on downslopes... but just about zero maintenance needed

[lordraiden]

I ride on Michelin Lithion 2 tires and thick thorn resistant tubes. At one point I was commuting to work during the warm months 18.5 miles one way about three times a week. I have only had a flat twice. The nice surprise is the thorn resistant tubes are thick enough that when they go flat you are not riding on the rim. Still enough cushion to be able to slow then stop without losing control.

[krishnansrinivasan]

I just did replace my rear wheel with Tannus Slick Solid Tyre 700 23C to avoid the puncture problem for my cross training process :) It felt and rides like a pneumatic tyre :) But it's definitely not for racing ( at the least for now) :) I personally think if the demand for solid tyres in the market grows, there will be adequate amount of R & D going in the development of efficient solid tyres Imagining, say from Aither 1.1 to Rubber ones :) Thanks for the video GCN :) I just had the assurance from my bicycle retailer about the Amazon / Ebay Sold Solid tyres, after watching your video guess it could be the most affordable trustworthy option :)

[shellypalumbo]

There is a huge difference between flat resistant and solid tires. Alex, I believe that you’ve taken this to an unfair extreme. I have previously ridden 37 mm Continental clincher puncture resistant tires for many, many thousands of miles. I never had a puncture however, rolling resistance, comfort and high speed cornering suffered.
I recently purchase Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires 35mm which are advertised to be highly flat resistant. The rolling resistance and cornering are greatly improved and I’ve yet to have a flat.
The nicest thing about the schwalbe ciinchers are that due to some special side wall, I’m able to run them at 15-20psi lower pressure than any equivalent tire I’ve used in the past. This yields more comfort and way better handling. Pneumatics can not be replaced for more reasons than I could think of. YOU know that Alex!! 🤔
I’m a road endurance rider so speed it not as important to me as distance, compliance and comfort, so the Schwalbe offer a huge improvement for me.

I’m surprised those cheap, plastic tires didn’t slide out from under you when cornering. Thank goodness they didn’t You don’t need another crash. 😂