Using the rhythmic compression of a tire rolling over the ground, this new product from PumpTire provides a tube that can be swapped into any tire and keep itself inflated, providing efficiency, flexibility and reliability (since pressure can be a factor in busting tubes).

A mechanism regulating tube pressure sense the need and turns on or off as required, keeping your tube at optimal levels while you ride, which means: nothing for you to worry about before or getting onto the road. Expert users can even set their own custom target pressures as desired.

The original version of the PumpTire was an integrated system, meaning: you had to use their entire tires to make it work, and when they wore down, the whole combination had to be replaced. This new version will work with different types of tires, meaning you only have to replace the tube. And, of course, it means you don’t have to buy a separate pump to inflate your tires.

From the makers: “What could be better than maintenance free bicycle tires? PumpTire inner tubes and tires do the pumping so you don’t have to. No dirty hands, no looking for a bicycle pump. PumpTire inner tubes and tires are compatible with existing tires and rims. No modifcations are necessary to add PumpTire inner tubes and tires to your current bike. PumpTire inner tubes are designed to exceed the puncture resistance of standard inner tubes and tires. Our design includes a proprietary design which resists puncture and wear more than standard inner tubes and tires.”

The post Self-Inflating Bike Tire Tube Pumps Itself Up as You Ride first appeared on Gajitz.

Combining the speed of a hot glue gun, the flexibility of Play-Doh, the fun of custom furniture creation and aesthetics of organic materials, this custom technique turns trashed plastic into complex works of furniture.

As the above set of inspirations suggests, James Shaw is attempting to deal with a lot of problems at once, including our personal associations with plastic as a material, the incredible amount of wasted plastics in the world, and the typically boring look of most mass-produced plastic furniture.

The key to these creations: a custom-built gun that heats up and ‘shoots’ plastic like one might deploy hot glue, except at 1 inch diameters and with more solid materials it becomes not just an adhesive but a structural foundation.

“If you think about wood, you can think about some beautiful hardwood desk that your grandfather owned or something, and you can connect with that object. People have a warm feeling towards materials like wood,” he says. Plastic, on the other hand? Not so much. “People don’t have that warm feeling towards plastic, people generally have a quite negative feeling towards it as a material. My belief is that it’s simply how we’re approaching it.”

While it is hard not to notice the similarity to toothpastes, Shaw hopes people will appreciate other references in the work as well, particularly to 18th-Century life and design: “these suites, generally comprising a bureau, a mirror, and two candle stands were the height of luxurious furnishing. These pieces reference this trope, reinterpreting these forms in a distorted and blobby manner, in the color scheme of a palace belonging to Catherine the Great.”

The post Plastic Baroque: Fast-Built Furniture Squeezed from Tube first appeared on Gajitz.