Bicycle Tires Folding Vs Wire Bead

Within these two styles there are types the two most common being folding and regular or wire bead tires.

Bicycle tires folding vs wire bead. A folding tire is a special version of the clincher tire. The bead is the part of the tire that comes into contact with the rim. Marathon mondial as a folding tire. There are mountain bike tires and road bike tires.

Its a cord found inside the tires circumference and holds it onto the rim when inflated. The wire bundle is replaced by a bundle of kevlar strands. Foldable bead tires use kevlar in most cases i think and tires with each type are entirely compatible with the rim size that the tire is designed for in the absence of a manufacturing defect. Some tire companies make their wire beads to a lower spec than the folding ones but some make exactly the same tire with.

Wire bead tires are usually heavier but theyre also usually cheaper than folding beads. Folding versus wire refers to the material within the bead or edge of each side of the tire. A lot of people think wire bead tires are lower quality than folding but from what ive seen thats not necessarily the case. As mentioned above the main difference between folding bead tires and wire bead tires is the material used to make the beads.

With regular bicycle tires the manufacturer constructs the bead using steel wire which forms a stiff durable. The bead is the stiff fabric covered cord that forms the inner circumference of the tire and helps hold the tire onto the rim.