Gedrick
Very Active Member
I drove through a lot of water the other day with my Capra and forgot to drain them. The foams were fine (albeit a bit damp) but I realized what a pain in the ass it is to clean these things out! Plus, after driving through some river water, the whole car stinks.
I stumbled upon these "no foams" as some guy on Youtube was reviewing them, and found a few cool designs that would fit my Capra tires. Specifically these "Free Foams" (linked below). Having just bought 1kg of 95A TPU I gave them a shot - easy prints and took about 24 hours total for all four to print out.
Just to be plenty clear - these are inserts that go in the tires, replacing the foams. These do not replace the tires entirely!
Here is the link on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5380473
They are super squishy (I printed the soft ones) were easy to install, and allow the tires to squish and grip nicely on climbs while returning them to their shape afterwards. They also hold their shape with minimal compression while at rest.
I haven't been able to take it on a proper rocky hike yet but around the rocks in the yard they've been gripping very well.
I'm not totally concerned with performance (I just want the convenience of not having to clean the foams and being able to vent the tires) as much as them performing as well as or better than the stock foams, and I think these may be the ticket!
It's a cool concept and I'll update as I have some more time out in the field. Here's some shots of the print to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
Cheers!
Note: the reason there are only three pictured is because I tested the first one out, and it's already installed
I stumbled upon these "no foams" as some guy on Youtube was reviewing them, and found a few cool designs that would fit my Capra tires. Specifically these "Free Foams" (linked below). Having just bought 1kg of 95A TPU I gave them a shot - easy prints and took about 24 hours total for all four to print out.
Just to be plenty clear - these are inserts that go in the tires, replacing the foams. These do not replace the tires entirely!
Here is the link on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5380473
They are super squishy (I printed the soft ones) were easy to install, and allow the tires to squish and grip nicely on climbs while returning them to their shape afterwards. They also hold their shape with minimal compression while at rest.
I haven't been able to take it on a proper rocky hike yet but around the rocks in the yard they've been gripping very well.
I'm not totally concerned with performance (I just want the convenience of not having to clean the foams and being able to vent the tires) as much as them performing as well as or better than the stock foams, and I think these may be the ticket!
It's a cool concept and I'll update as I have some more time out in the field. Here's some shots of the print to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
Cheers!
Note: the reason there are only three pictured is because I tested the first one out, and it's already installed
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