[Closed] Pro's and Con's Wire bead v Folding bead

Wire bead have less price, more weight and a lack of foldage.

Folding bead are foldable, come with less weight and more price.

I usually find price to be decisive. The cost of tyres hurts my soul.

wire are shit, folders aren't

I often find the foldables are easier to get on and off the rim. Some people claim the opposite. I'm not one of them.

agree with cofeeking

teeny bit of weight loss, other than that no discernible difference. apart from the questionable advantage of being able to fold them up. Never really understood why that might be desirable

BD has a point on the cost of tyres but I shop around for good deals and usually always go for folding. Lack of weight is the main thing and easier to fit (if you do the turn tyre inside out for a while to get rid of the creases) but also the wired version tend to be a cheaper compound aswell.
Actually re: cost, considering that tiny patch of tyres is all that keeps you the right way up it's probably worth getting the best you can afford.

EDIT nicks, I'm not a rubberholic but I do have 5or6 tyres not currently in use, being foldeable does make them easier to store in kitchen cupboards 🙂 not a prob if you have huge shed/garage i guess.

apart from the questionable advantage of being able to fold them up. Never really understood why that might be desirable

Less annoying to store?

Low mass at the tyre rim = lower energy required to get the wheels spun up to speed hence you get a secondary advantage above and beyond the initial weight saving.

Not convincing really, folding tyres seem like the biggest triumph of the marketing machine..."look, they fold up, so when they're not on the bike, where you'll not notice at all, you can impress your friends by...er...rolling them up..."

Woo Hoo

Not convincing really, folding tyres seem like the biggest triumph of the marketing machine..."look, they fold up, so when they're not on the bike, where you'll not notice at all, you can impress your friends by...er...rolling them up..."

Woo Hoo

The rotating weight difference is pretty noticable. And when you have 8 tyres in the cupboard, the ability to fold them into a box is wonderful!

I don't think anyone's being suckered into thinking that having foldable tires is worth their extra dosh- they just read 'folding' as 'lighter', although why the manufacturers don't just say that to begin with is a bit of a mystery.

as soemone said above, folding ones tend to be higher up the range and have better casings and compounds.

For example -

specialized tires (i forget the names)

cheep= steel, 60tpi, hard rubber
middling = kevlar, 60tpi, hard
pro = kevlar, 120tpi dual compound.
s-works?

One positive for Wire, . . is that you can throw them up and over over the top of lampposts!

Try doing it with a folder, . . er no way baby!!