Let's see if this sounds like BDF-
Helium would work as the gas in motorcycle tires.... but not very well. It would actually work fine to pressurize the tires but it would leak out far more rapidly than air or nitrogen does and would make maintaining a tire's pressure a real chore. Helium is typically used to test the seals on things like brake components because it is so thin and leaks so much more readily than heavier gasses. Besides all of that, helium would make your tires sound funny, all high- pitched and whiny. A better gas would be argon, which is heavier and denser than most other gasses including both 'air' and nitrogen. The downside to argon is that if it leaks into any vessel sealed on the bottom and sides, it will collect and can (and has) caused asphyxiation for any mammals inside the vessel; it has been a problem with those T.I.G. welding in seagoing vessels when the hose feeding the T.I.G. torch gets cut and a chamber of said vessel fills with argon. There is no sensation of asphyxiation either because it is an abundance of CO2 that causes our reaction (rapid breathing, general feeling of panic) to impending asphyxiation, not the lack of oxygen itself. In an environment saturated with argon one simply goes to sleep.... with disastrous results.
And speaking of helium, did you ever wonder why the Germans used Hydrogen in the Hindenburg (and all their Zeppelins) when helium is non- flammable and nearly as light? The reason is because the US has a monopoly on helium and would not sell it to Germany at that time. Strangely enough, one drills into the ground to get helium as opposed to hydrogen which is readily available from water. And for those wondering, argon is obtained from the atmosphere: air is cooled and compressed until it liquefies and then the various components it is comprised of are boiled off, one at a time. Exactly the way distillation works.
Brian (really)
I wonder if helium would work?
Wow, I had a flashback to Brian (BDF) in reading that.