"Modular" tire.

[Bike from the Dead]

I would just swap the wheels out for a pair with the right tires for the terrain before going out. Plus, like so many others said, there's a serious opportunity for dirt and debris to get into the zipper, and the tread might not stay on securely. Novel idea, but not entirely practical.

 

[bunnyman666]

example: you have really good breaks on your bike, stopping with so much force would break the zipper, also getting crud in it would be a pain

I would just swap the wheels out for a pair with the right tires for the terrain before going out. Plus, like so many others said, there's a serious opportunity for dirt and debris to get into the zipper, and the thread might not stay on securely. Novel idea, but not entirely practical.

Neither of you are wrong. So many of these concepts are great on paper, but once they are real-world prototypes, the project is abandoned mid-stream. It took me five different tries to make a practical version of a triathlon-specific front end system that eventually went away to never be seen again. The first two tries looked quite sophomoric, the third was the best aesthetically, but mark V was the best performing and easiest to work on in the field (that was my goal for all tri stuff).

In the end, this modular tyre system will spawn something else in that vein. I admire ANYONE who goes outside of the box.