The honeycomb airless tyre

Just two years ago, Polaris Industries unveiled ATVs with a honeycomb interior – aka a non-pneumatic tyre – at a United States army expo, which closely resembled the hoop produced by Wisconsin-based start-up company Resilient Technologies. And there was a reason for that: Polaris acquired Resilient Technologies in the second quarter of 2012 as part of its ‘growth through adjacencies’ strategy.

In next to no time, Resilient had adapted its honeycomb tyre for ATV use, and the army began testing the design in late 2012 – and it was full-on simulation, with .50 calibre bullets shot at the tyres, thousands of miles completed, and one mock-up where an ATV was ridden for 1600km with a metal spike in a tyre. The results were impressive – the ATVs didn’t stop, which is always a positive in war-torn situations. They just refused to go flat, even when the web was damaged.

With the obvious indefatigable character of the tyres – they seemingly last as long as the vehicle – a broad civilian application was always going to come next, and that’s what we have now got with the Sportsman WV850, which was recently unveiled in Australia.

Polaris has dubbed the non-pneumatic tyres on the WV850 as “Terrain Armour”.  As well as the indestructibility factor, the non-pneumatic tyre also offers a lower centre of gravity and enhanced cornering ability, according to Polaris. The company is yet to announce a local price.

Unfortunately, limited time on the WV850 at the Aussie launch – a function of Polaris having so much new tackle to sample! – can’t shed further light on the handling capabilities of the ATV, but we have plans to take one away for a weekend to produce a more wide-ranging  critique.

And does it really matter whether it corners on rails, as the WV850 is not a sports ATV per se and will definitely appeal to primary producers with its mobility advantages.

And what of price? Polaris hasn’t thrown any figures at us yet, but it’s fair to say, based on economies of scale and design and manufacturing costs of a new technology, they will be appreciably more than standard pneumatic tyres.

As for the more standard features, the Sportsman WV850 H.O. is powered by the same fuel-injected twin found in the XP 850 H.O, and it has a single-gear automatic transmission rather than the ‘high’ or ‘low’ options on most vehicles.

Polaris has sacrificed some top end with the single gear set-up, but the WV850 is not about blinding speed – rather toughness with features like the shift-lever lock, push bumper, an upgraded shock package (as much to handle the different demands of the NPTs), wider footwells, a 3500-pound winch and 680kg towing capacity. The steel racks also have a 272kg capacity, and there’s a beefed-up cooling system to handle extended rides and high temperatures.