Thanks. I’m in no rush to be a beta tester and go hookless but when the world changes in the future I want to be assured that when I get a flat I don’t want to worry about my tire flying off.
I’m also betting that this change to hookless will not be any cheaper than wheels and tires we have now.
you’re hookless right now. every pneumatic tire you rely upon is hookless. except your bike tires. and even they may be hookless, if we’re talking gravel and fatter.
air isn’t pushing up on the underside of the bead, in a hookless tire. it’s pushing out. the bead of the tire is snugly nestled on the shelf of the rim. the only problem you’d have with hookless is if you put so much air in the tire that there is just nowhere for that volume of air to go. what you’d need is to make sure the tire fits well onto this style of rim, and that the bead is sufficiently inflexible. you’re absolutely fine if you use a tire that’s made for this tech, and you’re less likely to damage your rim, because the rim walls can be made so much stronger.
as to the price, the only thing i can tell you is that the manufacturing process is cheaper. this should, in theory, make it easier to make a rim, which means the barrier to entry to wheelmaking just got lower. which means competition. but i can’t guarantee you what will happen with prices.