Having a flat Tyre was hectic, came in the Tubeless as a solution but even that wasn’t good enough, the future is now the Airless
Tyre manufacturers around the globe have long been trying to come up with some kind of brilliant solution for flat tyres. It all started with tubed tyres, then came the “Tubeless Tyres,” providing much needed solution for flats.But over the time, it was proved that they too aren’t good enough. The world needed something else, something that should take care of this problem once and for all.
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| Tubeless Tyre |
So what will be the solution?
The solution came in the form of airless tyres, a very few of the manufacturers have even moved to production stage but in a very small number. Most of them have been used in commercial applications.
Korean based company, Hankook, has recently showed off their own conceptual version of airless tyres. Hankook is calling it “iFlex” and it is using similar technology as we already have seen on “Tweel,” a concept showed off by Michelin almost a decade ago.
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| HAN KOOK |
Will the iFlex really be that good?
To make sure that iFlex serves all purposes, South Korean R&D headquarters’ conducting extensive tests of all sorts on this latest version of Hankook’s airless tyre. The iFlex will undergo for hardness, durability, stability, performance at speed and performance during slalom.
The iFlex is not only a prospective airless product for Hankook, but it also is saving company a great deal of time and money in production. It is made out of eco-friendly materials, and takes half as many steps to produce iFlex as usual tyres.
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| Airless Tyre |
When we are going to see it in action?
We cannot say at this point that how long it will take as iFlex is still at the prototype stage, but looking at the extensive testing going on and the kind of commitment to reduce the build cycle, shows that Hankook is going to bring it to production as soon as possible.
And perhaps, we’re not far away from seeing the first power sports or non-commercial application of airless tyre.
