I’m curious why a few commenters think tires need to be pumped up every 1 or 3 days. I have both racing and commuting bikes, and top off the tires one every two weeks usually, and they do just fine. Only the “ultralight” or latex tubes need to be pumped up multiple times a week.

For me these would just be another thing on my bike that can bust. I imagine that the peristaltic pieces wear out and then it stops inflating itself. Then I have an expensive tire that I can’t fix and have to blow up “the old fashioned way” anyway. Tires are a consumable, which means for me they need to be as simple and robust as possible.

If this idea was something that bike commuters needed then why not come up with a design that stays with the bike and will inflate any tire you put on it. Many automobiles (semi’s and military vehicles) have self inflating tires that will inflate any thing you put on the rim. For the cost of 2 or 3 years worth of self inflating tires I am sure you could (if someone designed it) have a self inflating kit that was intrinsic to your bike (something that connected from the axle of the bike to the valve on the rim and was powered by the rotation of the tire). This way its not a consumable but accomplishes the same thing.

Man, if our ancestors who invented the wheel could only see us now.

I’d be thrilled to have have a tyre that didn’t need my attention.

Maybe this is more of a interpersonal problem. My neighbors used to walk their bikes over once in a while and I’d gladly fill up their tires for them or do light tune ups as best as I knew how back then. These days it’s more likely that someone will throw the bike in a car, drive 20 miles to a shop, pay $30 for a shop to do 5 minutes of work, all because we’ve lost the neighborhood feel in the last few decades. It makes me sad to think that people might actually spend $150 on these tires because they are afraid to ask their neighbor for help a few times in the year.

Also the extra rolling resistance of compressing the tube and the extra rotating weight of the larger valve is a problem.

Apart from that, it’s a great idea. It is pointless though. Pumps cost £2.99 so why not use one?

Perhaps your idea of a typical rider is someone who knows how to pump their own tires. There are a lot of people who ride bikes, and they don’t know how to do this–and there are potential cyclists who would rather not ever learn top off a tire. This is the J.O.Y.B.A.G.™ market. I wonder if the PumpTire people are targeting J.O.Y.B.A.G’ers, or experienced, tire-pump-competent cyclists.

Imagine a purchase where you would feel totally inadequate to make an informed choice. You’re a geek and a cyclist, Andy, and I don’t know you personally. So I’ll resort to stereotypes and say, imagine you have to buy a nice suit for a fancy occasion. You don’t know what to buy, and you don’t know how you’ll ever take care of it. The salesperson at the fancy suit shop says, “For an extra $40, I can give you a suit with self-folding trousers, and you’ll never have to worry if you’re doing it wrong.”

Now imagine someone at a bike store, feeling just as inadequate as (my stereotyped version of) you at the fancy suit store. Let’s call him/her Shannon. Shannon is a bit overwhelmed by all this bike stuff, and intimidated by how it all is going to complicate Shannon’s life. The salesperson says, “For an extra $40, I can give you a set of tires that will always keep themselves properly inflated.”

See what I mean?