Air Fom is an entirely new innovation that uses new materials. Any time something is invented that is an entirely new class of product with no reference in the market, no benchmarks in testing protocols, no base of established manufacturing resources, and no ability to gauge consumer reactions, the road to a successful launch is a minefield. Design, manufacture, testing and quality control presented many hurdles in the process of producing a market-ready product.
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AIRFŌM
Air Fōm is green, Bicycle Inner Tubes are not.
Air Fōm airless cycling inserts are 100% recyclable.
With Air Fōm you no longer waste tubes over just one puncture. Save over 1 kg of butyl rubber waste per year.
AIRFŌM
100% Maintenance Free – Our airless tire inserts aren’t affected by temperature, impact, or any type of puncture.
Never use a pump again with Air Fōm airless cycling Technology you just set it and forget it.
AIRFŌM
Weather proof and extremely safe.
Air Fōm proprietary technology allows for safe and secure bead lock between bike tire and rim.
Your tire won’t come off !
AIRFŌM
Air Fōm has the highest rebound energy of any bike tire foam insert on the market.
This gives the rider the best energy return possible for a faster more dynamic feel.
AIRFŌM
Our precision engineered, lightweight, multi-layer insert delivers exceptional dynamic ride performance again and again…
*Above illustration represents the MTB insert
AIRFŌM
Same lively feel as an air system, best rebound performance, and lightest weight of any foam system on the market.
Flat Proof – Puncture Proof – Safe Cornering – Low Rolling Resistance – Forever Flat-Free Cycling.
Check out our test ride videos
Coming soon
The Air Fom insert is the result of extensive testing and benchmarking in the lab.
It’s performance was measured against traditional air-based systems.
Air Fom inserts accurately mimic pressurized tire performance.
Air Fom is engineered to provide consistent performance across a wide range of temperatures
Air Fom maintains its structure under high impact.
Solutions for
Air Fom is the ultimate solution for airless tire cycling with its patented technology.
Make life better
Air Fōm is designed to eliminate the worry of flat tires.
Air Fōm airless tire systems are engineered to give you at least 5000km of flat free cycling.
5000km
Once Air Fōm is installed by your local bike shop, you can ride your bike anytime in any weather on any surface and never be concerned about getting a flat tire.
Flat-Free
Air Fōm’s airless bicycle tire system is the only affordable, durable, light weight airless technology for your bike.
Air Fom is a patented, multiple layer foam insert that is designed to give you the same feeling as air.
By using high tech materials in a precision engineered structure, Air Fom simulates the pressure of an air-filled tire with the same dynamic ride that air gives.
By using multiple layers of materials Air Fom can be lightweight, durable and affordable. This is the key to the Air Fom airless tyre concept.
Energy
The Energy layer is what gives the Air Fōm insert its incredible dynamic feel. Made from a super high tech material that is fully recyclable, the energy layer can return up to 60% of the energy it receives in order to give you a fast ride experience with comfort and safety. The Energy layer also works exactly the same in temperatures from -30c to over 50c in order to give you all weather performance And last but not least the material in the energy has almost no compression set. So when you leave you bike parked for a month (what ?) and roll it out for a ride the energy layer rebounds instantly to give you a perfect ride every time
Backbone
The Backbone (found only in MTB sizes, for smaller sizes the foundation and backbone are one component) is what gives the Air Fōm insert the strength to take the big hits and come back for more. With its precision engineered shape and super lightweight, ultra-high density material the Backbone is key to a durable reliable ride experience.
The Foundation
The Foundation (found only in MTB sizes, for smaller sizes the foundation and backbone are one component) is critical to allow the Air Fōm insert to fit precisely (correct size selection required for your rim and tire) and to cushion the rider from impacts. Super lightweight materials that are also super durable make the foundation key to the performance of the backbone and the energy layer.
Above animation represents the MTB Insert
Ride Performance
Air Fōm has the highest rebound energy of any foam insert on the market. This gives the rider the best energy return possible for a faster more dynamic feel.
Air Fōm proprietary technology allows for safe and secure Bead lock between tire and rim, Your tire won’t come off!
Multiple foam construction achieves the lightest weight of any airless tire system on the market.
Installation
Air Fom engineers have produced an insert that can be mounted safely and quickly by any professional bicycle mechanic.
The size of the airless tire insert combined with the precision molded construction ensures that there is a safe secure lock of the bead of the tire onto the rim.
Bring your bike to any local Air Fom dealer and they will install the inserts for you in less than 30min.
Contents:
Inserts x4 – Adj.kit (MTB Only) – Bead Butter
Watch the video
Step 1Apply Bead Butter
Completely Coat Bead Area, Wipe away Excess.
Step 1Install Air Fom Inserts
Ensure inserts are properly mated, do not force.
Step 1Align Inserts in Rim
Using normal shop tire levers.
Step 1Install Tire Bead
Use tire levers to snap bead into place.
When buying a bicycle for themselves, many do not even think about the fact that the convenience and comfort when riding it is achieved by properly selected tire pressure.
The service life of the bicycle, the speed of riding, the degree of tire wear, safety, control of the two-wheeled friend depends on how the wheels are inflated.
Many cyclists believe that inflating the tires is only necessary for a good bike ride. However, flat tires have a wider area of contact with the road, which means that grip will be better, but it will be very difficult to accelerate to a speed of 30-35 km / h on such tires.
When inflating your tires, you should always consider the type of terrain or surface you will be driving on. If the walk is supposed to be on an asphalt road, the tire pressure of the bicycle should be close to the maximum allowable value. Elastic wheels on a flat surface will provide a smooth rolling and high speed of movement.
For cross-country riding with unpaved paths, it is better to set the tire pressure to medium tolerable, so that you can ride long distances in comfort and convenience.
At high pressure, the grip of the wheel with the road will be minimal, respectively, all holes, pebbles, and bumps on the road will be sensitive. And with flat tires, the likelihood of damage to the wheel or puncture of the chamber increases.
In order to protect yourself on the road, as well as to keep the bike or its individual parts intact, you need to know exactly the lower and upper limits of permissible values, to what pressure the bicycle wheels can be pumped.
Information about tire pressure gives you an advantage when cycling:
Forget the old "grandfather" way to check the wheel with finger pressure. No need to rely on tactile sensations, trying to feel with your hand the degree of rubber penetration on the tire. The air leaves the wheel gradually, through the pores in the rubber. Within 2-3 weeks, the pressure decreases by 0.1-0.2 atmospheres, but you cannot determine this with your fingers. The exact value at any time will help determine the pressure gauge that every cyclist should have in his arsenal. With its help, it is simple, with a minimum error, the level of pressure in bicycle tires is measured. A pump with a pressure gauge (floor or manual) will become an indispensable tool for cyclists.
There are three standard values in which bicycle tire pressure is measured.
kPa = 14.504 PSI
All these units are used to some extent - in different countries, by different manufacturers.
For residents of Russia and the post-Soviet space, the change in bars is more familiar, since this unit is clearly associated with the pressure of the 1st Earth's atmosphere at ocean level. In America and Western Europe, a popular unit is PSI, as they actively use pounds and inches in measurements. Pascals are the least used unit of measurement, but the most modern. Some bicycle manufacturers write data on the wheels about the allowable pressures in all three systems.
Manufacturers indicate on the sidewall of the tire how many atmospheres to pump the bicycle wheels. Specifies the range within which the owner of the "iron horse" determines the desired values, depending on the specific factors of riding his bike. Values in the range are labeled from min to max, in two or all three dimensions. Numbers up to 10 are atmospheres (or BAR), tens-hundreds are PSI, and six-digit values \u200b\u200band with the prefix “k” / kilo are Pascals.
When inflating a tire, you must strictly follow the manufacturer's recommendations and try not to go beyond both the minimum and maximum pressure levels indicated on the tire.
Moreover, it is better to leave a small margin of 0.2-0.5 BAR, both in one direction and in the other, so that the tire does not burst.
The pressure in the wheel is kept by the tire, not the tube, so there is no single standard for its value. There are several significant factors that determine how much you need to pump the wheels on a bicycle.
Tire type is determined by the surface of the track that the cyclist will predominantly ride on. Accordingly, the level of inflation of the bicycle wheel will be different. There is a direct dependence on the roughness of the tread and the width of the wheel - the more lugs and the wider the wheel, the lower the pressure should be. Empirically, cyclists quickly determine how many atmospheres should be in the tires of their bicycle
Many cyclists do not think about the fact that air temperature affects the pressure level in bicycle tires.
From the course of school physics, we recall that when heated, bodies expand. This means that in hot sunny weather, the pressure inside the air chamber will increase without additional pumping. Conversely, on cold winter days, a decrease in tire pressure is quickly felt due to low temperatures. So, when going for a bike ride in the cold season, the pressure indicators need to be adjusted a little higher than usual, and in the summer heat, let the air out a little. It is worth noting that when going on a bike ride, you should always take into account the weather conditions.
It is important to consider the load on the bike created by the weight of the rider, especially the fact that most of it is on the rear wheel. Therefore, the degree of its pumping should be slightly higher than the front, the optimal difference is 10%.
To calculate the optimal tire pressure for a bicycle, given the weight of its rider, you can use the table:
Rider weight (kg) Pressure (atmosphere) Pressure (PSI)
The nature, riding style and type of bicycle also affect tire pressure.
Buyers who prefer an active pastime often opt for mountain bikes with 26-inch wheels, which ride well both on city streets and in rough terrain.
To understand to what pressure to inflate the wheels of a bicycle, it is necessary to take into account the features of both the bike itself and other, at first glance, weightless factors. For example, weaving threads on a tire, rim thickness, driving style. The likelihood of a tire coming off a wide rim is much less than a narrow rim, because a wider rim will hold the tire better than a thin one. Mountain biking already by its name suggests the presence of a difficult surface on the track, with possible obstacles and bumps. The driving style is more aggressive than on a smooth, calm trajectory, it obliges you to increase the tire pressure to a level slightly less than the upper limit.
The diameter of the wheel will also affect the selection of the optimal pressure value, since the larger it is, the higher the volume of air pumped will be.
However, for mountain bikes it is not so important whether the wheel diameter is 26 or 29 inches, it is much more necessary to pay attention to the parameters of the rider's weight and the type of track.
There are no hard and fast rules about how much you need to inflate the wheels on your bike. There is common sense, experience, practice. Manufacturers can recommend certain values, but only the owner himself will determine exactly which road he will ride, in what weather conditions he will drive, take into account his weight parameters or not. The decision, what pressure in the wheels will be ideal, is sure to be found.
Tubeless tires can hardly be called the know-how of the bicycle industry, however, they still raise questions for many. The topic itself, as a rule, is surrounded by a lot of skepticism and distrust, which are more often explained by a lack of understanding of basic things and a lack of experience in riding such wheels.
To dispel all these doubts, we answer the main questions related to tubeless technologies.
These are bicycle tires that do not have a tube. At the same time, tubeless technology is not only about tires. We are talking about a whole wheel system, which also includes a special rim and a sealant that gives the wheel anti-puncture properties. The tubeless concept makes the bike more comfortable to use and improves its riding performance, which will be discussed in order.
How long ago did this technology appear and can it be trusted?
Those who hear about bicycle tubeless for the first time usually tend to be suspicious of them. You can dislike this technology for subjective reasons, but you definitely shouldn’t distrust it. Tubeless tubes have been massively used for cars and motorcycles for several decades, and during this time they have not given reason to doubt their reliability.
The first tubeless systems for bicycles appeared in 1999, when the French rim brand MAVIC collaborated with tire manufacturer Hutchinson to present their concept of a simple and efficient tubeless wheel.
In the 2000s, this technology remained the prerogative of mainly professional athletes, who quickly appreciated its main advantages: lighter weight, more air in the wheel, good "traction" and durability.
In recent years, tubeless has finally ceased to be perceived as something exotic. For example, today a significant part of the MTB and almost all touring cars come with such wheels as standard. A wide variety of sealants are also available on the market, and the number of those who are discovering the benefits of tubeless technology is steadily increasing.
The tubeless system provides a special rim and tires that are labeled tubeless ready or TR. However, the rims themselves are easy to distinguish visually - they have a low side and characteristic walls with recesses, forming a kind of lock in which the tire cord is wedged when air is injected. Due to this, in the inflated state, the rubber reliably and hermetically “sits” on the rim, without breaking off the wheel even at low pressure.
The rim itself is additionally glued with a sealing tape, after which the nipples are installed separately.
The benefits of tubeless wheels are revealed no matter how often and what kind of bike you ride: whether it's weekend trips, extreme downhill or long-distance touring. Nevertheless, for certain categories of cyclists tubeless still open up more opportunities: first of all, we are talking about those who are seriously passionate about off-road.
When actively driving off-road with tubeless tubes, you can ride on lowered wheels and at the same time not be afraid of such an unpleasant type of puncture as a snake bite. Low tire pressure, in turn, gives better handling, dampens vibrations more effectively and generally provides more comfort on difficult tracks. If we are talking about cyclists, then they appreciate tubeless for their anti-puncture qualities.
Road bikes also use tubeless wheels. Moreover, they are the pioneers of this technology.
But road tubeless tubes are a different story: they are designed for different operating pressures and have tangible design differences. Therefore, further we will talk mainly about those tires that are put on mountain, touring and city bikes.
These are the two rim formats that define the features of a tubeless wheel assembly. BST is a standard that involves the installation of a special sealing tape that prevents air from leaking through the holes in the spokes. This is the most common version of tubeless systems.
UST is a blind rim in which an additional bridge isolates the spoke holes. Thus, there is no need for laying a sealing tape. In practice, this greatly simplifies life, because when installing a tire (especially without proper experience), the tape tends to crush, which is why you have to reassemble the wheel. It is easy to guess that such rims also have a drawback - their price.
The tubeless system in the form in which we wrote it above is already a full-fledged wheel, it can be installed on a bicycle and hit the road.
But there is an important nuance. First of all, tubeless tubes are valued for their anti-puncture qualities: for this, a small amount of a special liquid, a sealant, is poured inside the tire.
Yes, you can. But you should not do this. Firstly, this is illogical: for no reason you are depriving yourself of the main advantage of tubeless - the anti-puncture effect. But more importantly, it is very difficult (or even impossible) to inflate such a tire in a completely flat state with a portable pump: to do this, you need either a strong floor pump or a booster. Naturally, no one will take such bulky things with them on the road. Filled with sealant 95% of punctures "seal" without a critical loss of pressure, and in most cases there is no need for even light pumping. Thus, the probability of being with a flat tire is very low.
So, if you put tubeless, sealant is still needed. Such fluids are easy to find in any bike shop, they are inexpensive and require replacement on average once every three to four months, so there is no need to talk about any inconvenience.
Yes, in order to cope with the fill, you need to acquire a certain skill, but this is much easier than constantly changing broken cameras. In addition, sealant can be replaced once a season in a specialized service.
Bicycle sealants are based on fine particles (rubber or polymer fibers) suspended in a liquid carrier. Inside the wheel, the sealant does not polymerize: it is in a liquid state and is distributed along the inside of the tire during movement. When a puncture occurs, the air flow begins to push the solution out. A fine suspension clogs the hole, and the sealant dries quickly. Thus, there is a reliable "sealing" of the puncture.
If we talk about typical punctures - collisions with thorns, wires, small glasses - such damage is self-healing without a noticeable loss of pressure. Usually, a puncture can only be guessed from a small spot on the surface of the tire. Naturally, the sealant works with more complex damage. You can count on it even if you pierce the wheel with a thick nail, 4-5 mm in diameter.
If you don't understand how a liquid can seal such holes, you can watch numerous crash tests on YouTube that demonstrate the miraculous properties of sealants.
The consumption per tire is from 50 to 100 ml. If we are talking about standard MTV tires, the golden mean is about 60 ml per wheel. The exact dosage will always be written on the bottle. It is difficult to get confused even for those who do not like to read instructions: most sealants have measuring containers or a dosage scale on the bottle itself.
Here, too, everything is conditional and depends on the characteristics of the specific composition and intensity of punctures. In the absence of serious damage that entails the leakage of a large volume of sealant, you can easily skate a whole season on one fill. Some cyclists prefer to do an incomplete start-up gas station and gradually add 20-30 ml of fluid every two to three months.
You can also navigate by how effectively the sealant works: if you see that small punctures are sealed with a strong deflation of the wheel, it may be that the composition is no longer enough and it needs to be added. Be that as it may, sealant is a very economical thing that lasts for a long time.
The sealant inside the tubeless tends to dry out, forming a characteristic film. Whether or not to clean the tire cavity is up to you. This is a purely aesthetic moment, which does not affect the operation of the anti-puncture fluid. The sealant can simply be added as it dries and not bother with unnecessary worries. It is more likely that the tire will completely wear out than it will have time to completely clog with dried filler.
Serious damage - large diameter punctures, small cuts, run over nails with subsequent tire rupture - are repaired using special repair worms.
These are rubber or fibrous bands that are inserted into the hole to reduce its area and allow the sealant to seal the puncture.
With long longitudinal cuts it is more difficult. Here you need to either sew up the dissection with nylon threads, or stick a patch on the inside of the tire. You don’t have to worry about the tightness of the repair site - the sealant will do this work, of course, if it does not have time to leak out. But being able to inflate a completely flat tire with only a portable pump will require skill.
In fairness, we note that such complex injuries are rare for most cyclists. But for those who are seriously passionate about off-road, it is better to play it safe with a spare camera. In this case, having caught a cut, you can always drain the sealant, unscrew the nipple from the rim and install a regular camera. And in order not to drive with a “hernia” protruding outward, we recommend placing, for example, a bill folded in half under the cut on the tire.
Tubeless allows you to forget about such an unpleasant form of damage as a "snake bite" forever. It usually happens when at full speed you catch a pothole in the pavement, unsuccessfully jump onto a curb or run into a stone on a downhill. Hitting the edge of a hard object, the tire is crushed, and the rim walls work like incisors, damaging the chamber in two places. In tubeless wheels, this scenario is excluded, because. there is nothing to break through here. Of course, it can be assumed that the rim will cut the tire itself, but this should be a blow of enormous force, which is almost never encountered in practice.
Rejection of the chamber increases the volume of air in the wheel. This changes the contact patch (it becomes flatter) and allows the wheels to better absorb off-road bumps. Add here the ability to ride at low pressure, without being afraid of a snake bite, and it becomes completely clear why tubeless lovers of hard off-road riding so idolize.
Soft tires with a large contact patch "fit" all the bumps in the road, giving excellent traction on rocks, forest primers and other off-road.
In addition to traction, tubeless tires improve shock absorption, dampen vibrations better, and generally provide more off-road comfort. At the same time, to get the most out of this rubber, you need to experiment a lot with tire pressure, trying to find the indicators that will best suit your individual riding style.
Finally, the camera is extra grams. By refusing them, you can save an average of 70-100 g of weight on each wheel. For some, this may seem like a formality, but it is worth considering the fact that extra grams on the periphery of the wheel have a stronger effect on driving performance. This difference is especially felt on road bikes: road bikes, gravel, touring.
They also exist. Moreover, it is far from formal. First, it's the price. The difference becomes especially noticeable when you buy tubeless systems separately: rims, tires + small things (tape, removable nipples, sealant).
For tubeless you will have to pay an average of one and a half times more than for ordinary wheels, plus or minus the same class. And if we are talking about more advanced UST rims, then this means another + 30-40% to the cost.
With tubeless by default, everything is more difficult in terms of installation (here we are talking about conventional BST systems). You need to learn how to properly glue the tape, accurately insert the nipples, carefully install tight rubber, making sure not to displace the tape and not fill everything with sealant. On the other hand, all this comes with experience, but what you will always have to put up with is the difficulty with pumping a completely flat tire.
A tubeless tube cannot be inflated until its landing board snaps into place on the rim. To do this, you need to sharply introduce air into the tire. The tire should straighten up and fall into the grooves with a characteristic click - then it can be safely pumped further. This all sounds simple if there is a compressor in the garage.
Putting a tubeless tube into the grooves by pumping air with an ordinary floor pump is quite difficult, and almost impossible with a portable bicycle pump.
All this makes life much more difficult. But there are solutions. In the field, a compact can of compressed air can help out. At home, installing tubeless tubes greatly simplifies the booster. This is a cylinder into which a high pressure is pumped with a pump, then it is connected to a nipple, the valve is lowered - and the air from the reservoir pumps up the wheel sharply.
As you can see, tubeless cameras also have enough disadvantages, but it is wrong to consider them in isolation from the advantages. For example, the probability of being with a completely flat tire away from home is very low, due to the anti-puncture qualities. Complicated installation is offset by the lack of punctures and roadside repairs. And by overpaying in price, you save on interchangeable cameras, and, of course, win as a roll on off-road.
