Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Outdoors

This company is making airless bicycle tires with materials originally designed for NASA’s Mars Rover

If they can handle Mars, they can probably handle your neighborhood

By

A close up of The Smart Tire Company's new METL airless tire
The Smart Tire Company / The Smart Tire Company

It’s the weekend, and you are finally precisely where you want to be—loading up your bicycle and heading to meet up for a group ride with the boys. Whether riding on a road, mountain biking, or something in between, you are cycling, and that is all that matters.

Recommended Videos

Then, it happens a major mechanical issue. You have a flat tire. Your friends now stand around as you fumble with tubes, pumps, and patch kits. You try to get your tire rolling again, all the while knowing you’ll never be able to get your bicycle tires back to proper inflation without a floor pump.

Or, perhaps worst of all, flat tire repair is nowhere to be found. Your group carries on as you push your bicycle back to your vehicle. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could head out cycling without worrying about getting a flat tire? What if flat tires were a thing of the past? It would at least be one less thing to fuss about regarding your bicycle. 

Well, this reality might be closer than you think. And if you feel like indestructible bike tires could only be the work of someplace like NASA, you’d be right.

The Smart Tire Company's METL airless tire mounted to a wheel branded METL
The Smart Tire Company / The Smart Tire Company

Instructables bicycle tires 

Now, we have yet to see NASA sending a bicycle into space, but we certainly look forward to tire tracks on the moon. What NASA has been doing for a rather long time is putting vehicles—manned and robotic—on places like the Moon and Mars.

As you can imagine, Mars is the last place you want flat tires. So, NASA set out to eliminate that potential. 

Fast forward to 2020, and The Smart Tire Company (STC) was founded in hopes of finding commercial uses for NASA’s tire technology. Among these uses is the company’s new METL bicycle tire.

STC gets its name from the process used to make its METL tires or Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology. This “SMART” tire is made of a superplastic material known as NiTinol+. NiTinol+ doesn’t stretch to absorb impacts rather it temporarily rearranges its molecular structure before instantly returning to its original shape.

METL bicycle tires are airless; therefore no flat tires ever. STC boasts that they are the “first-ever pneumatic bike tire alternative to achieve a lightweight, smooth ride, with superior handling and durability.” 

Although not fully released yet, the final product will have a special integrated poly-rubber tread pattern meant to last a rider the life of the bicycle. No punctures, no tears, no flats, no problems.

And while STC’s website only teases at what looks like a road bike tire, the site lists quite a few specialty tires, including gravel, mountain biking, and commuting.

As of now, the price of STC‘s METL bike tire is unknown. But they told consumers to expect a premium bicycle tire rolling on a high-end wheel. We’ll know more as far as price, weight, warranty, etc. as the release date gets closer.

For now, if you are interested in your own indestructible NASA bike tires, plug your information into STC’s 2024 waitlist. You can find all their information on their website.

Learn More

Editors’ Recommendations

Travis Reill
Travis Reill
Contributor
Hi! I'm Travis, a teacher turned stay-at-home dad turned freelance writer. Mountain biking is my passion. Fortunately, I've…
Coleman looks to overthrow Yeti as the go-to cooler brand for campers
They promise to be Yeti-tough, but lighter and more affordable than the ultra-premium rotomolded competition.
Couple carrying a Coleman Pro hard-sided cooler in the outdoors.

Rotomolded coolers have long been the standard for campers, car campers, and overlanders. Yeti has been the go-to brand for such coolers for more than a decade, with an almost cult-like following. But, Coleman (yes, that Coleman) is setting its sights on dethroning the king with its all-new Coleman Pro line-up.

The Chicago-based brand has been a camper staple for more than a century, with some of the most lightweight and, most importantly, affordable coolers on the market. But it's seriously stepping up its game with the Coleman Pro line. It's "the most durable cooler we've ever engineered. We pushed it to the limit with repeated drop tests and over 1,000 hours of rugged road testing and it exceeded every expectation," said Luke Eck, Coleman's Director of Outdoor Research & Development.

Read more
What is a draw in golf? How to hit it, when to use it, and more
Unlocking the power if the draw in your golf swing
People riding a golf cart around the gofl course.

In many other sports, a draw means to end a game in a tie, so naturally, I was in for a surprise when I learned it’s something completely different in golf. In fact, a draw refers to a type of shot where the ball curves gently from right to left in the air for a right-handed golfer. Alongside the fade, hook, and slice, the draw is one of the core shot shapes every golfer encounters. In a word, it’s a supercontrolled shot that is as beautiful as it is powerful. Here’s how to hit a draw, when to use it to support your strategy, as well as some famous draws during the Masters and PGA Tour.
How to hit a draw in golf

To hit a draw, a golfer usually aligns their stance slightly to the right of the target. The face of your club needs to be closed relative to your swing path on impact but still slightly open to the target line. Too closed, and you’ll hook it wildly, but too open, and you’ll actually be hitting a push or a fade. When hit correctly, the ball flies with a topspin and a sidespin, and this is what creates that right-to-left trajectory. If you need a visual explanation, Me And My Golf has a great video where they explain two ways to draw the golf ball.

Read more
The Epic Day Pass is the ultimate insurance policy for backcountry skiers
The Epic Day Pass is flexible and affordable
Stowe Mountain Resort

Eastern backcountry skiing and riding brings snow-globe-like experiences among the Greens, Adirondacks, and more. After a storm, a frosting covers the trees as the sun breaks over the mountains, and on the skin up, you can dream up lines on the untouched surface. When I get to the top, it’s a sweet relief to transition, point it, and savor those turns.

But backcountry adventures are weather-dependent, and getting out there isn’t always the best option. Mid-winter ice storms, tired legs, and even avalanche danger can put a dent in even the best plans. What do you do when you still want to get in those turns?

Read more