Broken Rim

I can now offer a comprehensive review of my new airfree tires. I think the title of this post says most of it...they broke my rim!

Performance....
I went for a 12 mile ride over lunch Monday. The first thing I noticed was that they felt soft. I wasn't feeling every little bump in the road like I normally do. Since these tires were "120PSI" I would expect them to ride even stiffer than the 105PSI that I normally ride at. So that was the one good thing about the tires--they were a little easier on my arms and rear. Of course, I could just deflate my tires to 50 PSI and get the same effect. That would probably explain why when I looked at my speedometer I was going at least 3mph slower than I felt. I was working hard but only going 14mph. Granted, there was a pretty good head wind...but over the course of the ride, going both into and with the wind, up and down hill, my average speed was 2.5 mph lower than what I've been riding at...and I was working much harder than usual.

And then there's the broken rim. My old conventional tires have given me about 4000 miles with no problems besides a couple flats. Now I hit a bump that shouldn't have been a problem (a typical railroad track I believe) and end up with a cracked rim. Yes, conventional tires probably would have done the same thing if I rode them at 50 PSI. But I have an air pump and can increase the pressure on conventional tires.

Customer Service...
Airfree tires has the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. That's a strong statement, but sadly true. I wish they would place me on hold so I could eventually talk to a person, but no, I have to leave a voice mail only to never get called back. They don't return emails or respond to messages left using their web site. I doubt I will ever be able to get my money back despite their 90 day guarantee...but I will bug them incessantly until they want to give me my money back.

Conclusion...
Do NOT buy tires from airfree. If you really want to get airless tires, go straight to the manufacturer Nu-Teck. And don't get the standard pressures, bump the pressure way up. I'm guessing that the 170 PSI version might start to ride more like a regular road tire...but I wouldn't give them money to try it out.