Bridgestone Shows Off Small Airless Tires

Some other tire manufacturer tried this several years ago. Neat idea, but a few things come to mind. Flexure [or lack of it], heat transfer and plugging.

I admit I love the idea of airless tires.

Why would heat transfer be an issue? cw the air filled variety. And what do you mean by 'plugging'. (clearly I am not a tire expert).

I believe it was Michelin's version, the Tweel, that I remember reading about. It was flexing of this nature that caused concern for heating issues, so "dissipation" might have been a better word to use. The plugging some critics envisioned could be caused by debris, rocks getting trapped in the spokes, hindering the flexing. All this from what I read, no real experience.

Holy cow! This model would be studded with boulders after a week on our roads.

Those spokes are not radial, but bias, in tire terminology. Yes, the CAN be said to radiate, but there's a clear distinction.

And look to have more flex than the Tweel et al.

All are going to suffer from high speed noise given the open construction tho