#HTE

A Bike Invention from Norway: Zip-On, Zip-Off Tire Treads

“What happens when a bunch of creative (and somewhat lazy) engineers get together to solve the pain of tire changes?” writes Norway-based bike accessories outfit reTyre. “They add zippers, file for a patent and remove the need for tire changes completely.”

We’ll place this in the category of Design Ideas Cooked Up at a Bar, but it looks like they’ve got this kooky concept working:

“We have rigorously tested and improved the reTyre System all around the world,” the company writes. “Over the past year, more than 4,500 units of the alpha version have been sold and tested.”

I had wondered about how the ends attach to each other, as it’s not shown in the video. Interestingly, it appears that they’re joined by a sort of “tongue,” the way Hot Wheels tracks go together (or at least used to when I was a kid):

Judging by their retailer map, there’s no place in Norway where you can’t buy reTyres, though neighboring Denmark and Sweden appear to have gotten the retail shaft.

Much of northern Europe appears to have at least one retailer per country.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign based out of Delaware, reTyres will be coming to America in 2019. Now if only they could pull this off for car tires….