Should You? Tire Insert Pros and Cons Words Reading time The pneumatic tire is one of the most elegant and successful systems ever devised. In 1888, John Dunlop, a Scottish veterinarian living in Ireland, was told by a doctor that cycling would improve his son’s health. Unfortunately, the hard wheels on the boy's bicycle (or tricycle according to some sources) gave him a headache. In his veterinary practice, Dunlop used plastic sheets to cover the operating table, which likely got pretty gruesome at times. Using his surgical skills, he fashioned tubes made from those sheets (hopefully not used ones) and successfully affixed them to the rear wheel (or wheels) of his son’s two or three-wheel conveyance, covering them with canvas for protection. Word soon spread and Willie Hume, the first racer to use his rubber, air-filled tires, won all four bicycle races he entered at his first event in 1889.