Ride on: Zip-On Bike Tires
THE WORD ...
“We have built our own factory and ensured international patents to be able to disrupt the tyre industry and improve the riding experience for all the fantastic year-round bikers out there. What we hope to do is make biking easier and better, reduce the unsustainable rubber consumption of the tyre industry, and challenge what a tyre can (and should) do.”
– reTyre founders
Biking on snow? Zip on extra studs. Going from suburbs to singletrack? Attach more tread.
The reTyre product presents one of the craziest bike tire designs I’ve seen: A tiny zipper along the sidewall allows users to zip on different molds over a smooth road tire base.
The system starts with that basic road tire, called the reTyre ONE. It mounts on standard rims and is available in 26-, 27.5-, 28-, and 29-inch sizes.
Three “skins” are offered to accommodate changing conditions. An urban winter tire sports 156 carbide studs. An all-terrain skin works for gravel with a light tread pattern. And the Trail X skin is made for mountain riding.
Swapping the tires, the brand advertises, is as easy as “zipping up your jacket.” Along the sidewalls, a self-locking zipper secures a tire in under 60 seconds.
For more on this product, visit https://gearjunkie.com/. Stephen Regenold is the founder and writes about outdoors gear for Gear Junkie.
