Replace a tube without wheel removal: Cobra Tube

Stumbled upon this (quite literally actually through stumbleupon.com) and thought it was interesting enough to share. FlyBikes BMX has a new tube out they’re calling a “Cobra Tube” that facilitates tube replacement without actually removing the wheel; pretty fascinating. “How do they do this?” you ask, well, here’s the pictures:

Seems simple enough for those with tires on the looser fitting side (which tend to be mountain and BMX, the primary sporters of Scrhaeder valves anyway).

Its a neat idea but I have two objections: I never really found removing the wheel that big of a deal (especially with how few flats I get [watch I’ll jinx it now]) and second, most flats will be caused by a puncture through the tire; just replacing the tube without removing the offending bugger that caused the puncture will just have you back on the side of the road in no time. Pinch flats on the other hand wouldn’t necessitate tire inspection but if pinch flats are your problem, properly inflating your tires to higher pressure is a whole lot easier and cost effective than special tubes

But like I said, at least its a neat idea