Solid rubber would be nice, but it would also be more expensive (strike 1) and heavier (strike 2), not to mention non-standard (strike 3, you're out).

Maybe I'm lucky and the tire just has a leak that can be plugged. The paranoid in me says that it shouldn't be *that* difficult to just replace the tire on the existing rim. That's the $140 I got qouted. I can't even imagine the cost of a whole new wheel (and, so far as I can tell, the current wheel has nothing particularly wrong with it).

Also, I inquired about those foam filler things and got a host of negative responses. Apparently, they ruin the tire that you've sprayed them inside, and tire shops don't want to work on them as they have a habit of going boom when you're trying to dismount the tire from the rim.

Maybe we just need to move to tweels and get it over with.