Someone 3D-Printed a Usable Airless Mountain Bike Tire

Airless Tires Are a Thing Now

Airless tires have been the next big thing in automotive and cycling for decades. Michelin has shown concept after concept, but a truly usable version for real riding has stayed just out of reach. A mountain biker known as Berm Peak decided to cut through the hype by building his own with a shop 3D printer.

The result is a TPU-based airless tire that mostly works on rough trails. It uses a compliant S-shaped structure between the tread and the rim, printed in sections that bolt together on the wheel. The design eliminates punctures and flats entirely, which is the whole point. But the project also makes clear why airless tires have not taken over yet.

How It Rides

Berm Peak tested the tire on extreme off-road terrain. The 3D-printed construction held up surprisingly well. The S-shaped spacing provides enough compliance to absorb bumps, and the TPU filament offers decent grip. The tire is noticeably heavier than a standard pneumatic mountain bike tire, and the rolling resistance is higher.

The bigger issue is the market around it. Mountain bikers have largely solved the puncture problem already. Tubeless setups with sealant are cheap, reliable, and light. Foam inserts offer similar puncture protection without the weight penalty of a fully solid structure. So while the neon-green airless tire is a fun engineering project and a head-turner on the trail, it does not replace existing tech for most riders.

What 3D Printing Adds

What this project does show is that 3D printing can turn airless tire concepts into tangible prototypes fast. Traditional manufacturing for custom tire geometries requires molds, which are expensive and slow to iterate. A printer lets you tweak the S-shape, change the tread pattern, or adjust section width in hours instead of weeks.

For now, the sweet spot for 3D-printed airless tires is niche applications: experimental vehicles, displays, or custom rigs where pneumatic tires are impractical. If a major tire company wanted to scale something like this, they would probably use injection molding for volume. But for proving that the geometry works, the 3D printer is perfect.