I’ve sort of accidentally ordered a set of wire tyres by mistake, having always gone for folding before (tempted by the low costs and didnt check out the description….).

These are super tacky 2.3″ High Rollers, I reckon the wire adds about 120g to the weight. Not loads, but a significant increase.

Are there any benefits of the wire tyres before I send them back?

cheers

They don’t twist when you go to fit them!

super tacky

you’re not going to notice 120g!

Exactly, always amuses me when somebody bangs on about weight when we’re talking about such tiny amounts….if you added 120g to my bike i wouldnt notice it!….even funnier when somebody harps on about how light their bike is then packs a rucksack full of crap to take on the ride….brilliant.

You’d notice 120g on each tyre more then you’d notice it anywhere else on the bike. Rotating mass and all that jazz…. 🙂

I’ve had wire and steel bead versions of identical tyres and I can notice a fair differnce. But I do like lightish wheels…..

Calm down! 😉

I’m really not a weight weenie, seriously! I dont race, never will. And you’ve never seen inside my rucksack! But why add 1/2 lb of rolling weight to my bike for the sake of saving a tenner?

Original question still stands, is wire just a cheaper way to manufacture a tyre at the expense of a little weight?

Or, if it’s easier to understand, forget the weight issue and the question becomes “what’s the advantage of a wire over folding tyre – discuss”.

Gotta love STW forums sometimes…..

i love the total lack of knowledge about cycling on this forum…

Original question still stands, is wire just a cheaper way to manufacture a tyre at the expense of a little weight?

Yes.

“what’s the advantage of a wire over folding tyre

It’s cheaper

Will that do?
🙂

Wire beads are easier to get seated & inflated if you’re running tubeless, in my experience.

120g is about the difference between a Crest and a Flow rim and there’s plenty of talk on here about being able to manage with a Crest or an Arch rather than the heavier Flows

The outside of the wheel is about as bad as it gets for adding weight

Wire beaded tyres can also come in cheaper rubber compounds as well. My super tacky Hi Roller wire bead is a bit hefty if im honest.

ilovemygears – Member
i love the total lack of knowledge about cycling on this forum…

….please give us the benefit of your wisdom.

Sorry about the total lack of knowledge, but I guess I wouldnt be asking questions if I had yours.

i love the total lack of knowledge about cycling on this forum…

I love how it’s full of knobs

i love the total lack of knowledge about cycling on this forum…

I love it when knobs type meaningless shit

im the only person in the world that prefers wire beads, ive rolled kevlar beads off before cornering, never a wire bead.. put that in your pipe of knowledge and smoke it

ive rolled kevlar beads off before cornering

Try putting some bloody air in your tyres!! 😉

ive rolled kevlar beads off before cornering, never a wire bead

on a similar note, I’ve rolled off a bed with Rebecca Burton before but never her fat sister

The things you learn eh?

Lord, what have I done. No more T**E threads from me, this was my first….

It ain’t just TYRE threads

usually wire bead, means cheaper rubber and cheaper carcass.

Ie heavy, less grippy and less comfortable.

But the tyres are cheaper. Pays your money takes your choice

To be fair, I’ve never posted about “what is the BEST trail centre?” , “what bike for Afan vs Cwmcarn” , “what’s you most gnar drop ever” , ” 26″ vs 29″ ” – so I thought I was on fairly safe ground…

I’ll stick to fascinating questions about disc brake adaptors and mp3 battery life from now on (…and return those ty*res to CRC!)

If you are putting two super tacky highrollers on at once it won’t be the bead weight that slows you down. If spiderman had a bike it would have two super tacky highrollers on it.

I sometimes use(d) wire Conti Verts. Seem perfectly fine.

MR Plow – yep, it’s great….

….riding off Helvellyn in the dry or around Grenada in October. Arguably not so good over the Cotswolds in November, but I cant be @rsed swapping tyres and prefer the ones that keep me safe when it matters.

i would not use a kevlar beaded tyre on the front on my bikes because if the inner deflats quickly the tyre will roll off the rim very quickly too.
oh – and because i’m usually too tight to buy expensive tyres. 😉

I know people who prefer wire beads on commuting bikes because they reckon that it’s easier to put them on (although I don’t notice any difference).
I’ve never had a kevlar roll off when the tyre has rapidly deflated, although I’m not sure I snake bite the front that often really. Only just started using tubeless though.

I would certainly notice nearly a quarter of a kilo to my bike wheels, even with Super tacky highrollers. I’ve only had a super tacky highroller on the front but didn’t find it as terrible as everyone made out.

I was getting rear pinch puncture with the ADv folding on my HT. Since I replaced it with the wire equivalent run at the same pressure, no more pinch punctures.

I used to find that wire beaded tyres didn’t blow out as easily on my rimmed braked touring tandem, when I overheated them on a 20km mountain pass.

This may seem rather over specific to you, but it was important to me at the time.

It’s back to Cheap, Light, Strong – pick any two!

Wire beads are typically tighter to fit which is a minor pain for tubed setup but can be an advantage for tubeless onced fitted.

The issue is that wire is typically used on the cheaper tyres so in all likelihood you will have heavier lower quality tyre (not just because of the bead!).

Will you notice the differnce.

IME – Yes. Partly the weight partly less grip.

Is the diifernce big – so many factors from ride to ride it is hard to say really! Depends how big you make the placebo effect for you 🙂

Are you saying he will only notice a difference because he knows they are wire bead? Shocking.

I use wire bead tyres because I am tight/broke, and rely more on looking at the tread pattern to assess how good the tyre is rather that the durometer rating. To be honest, every folding tyre I have used seem to be more fragile than wire beads so don’t really think about buying them any more.

To be honest, 2 x Super Tackys isnt so bad, good excuse for not keeping up with mates sometimes, but they dont seem to roll too badly.

Maybe people think they are an issue because that’s what they are told – touché

The problem I’ve had with them, and it’s to be expected, is rapid wear and the lugs breaking off. Maybe I will try a 60 on the rear.

The wire bead 2.1 ADvs are a cheaper, harder 70a compound rather than the 62a used in the folders. But that’s ideal for rear tyre use.

BTW. I ran with F&R dual-ply super tacky 2.35 HRs one winter just see what they were like – incredibly confidence inspiring going downhill but like dragging two anchors when pedalling. I think I sold them to davidtailforth on here.

I swapped from a set of folding to wired recently and honestly cant tell the difference…but then i’m a very average rider.

I tend to buy whatever is cheap or on offer at the time….hence my last two sets of tyres were Panaracer Cinder (folding) and Specialized Captain (wire bead) as they were £20 a pop.

I’m feeling better all the time, I can now put down a fair amount of my rubbish climbing ability to my tyres and will be letting my mates know this weekend. I like the excuse, so will stick with the soft stuff (which is good on wet limestone too Buzz!)

Do people really worry about the differing compound in tyres? Christ I have been doing it wrong for years ,just bung some cheapish lightish tyres on and ride the bloody thing its a bicycle not an F1 car for god sake

“stick with the soft stuff (which is good on wet limestone too Buzz!)”

Yeah very true those super tackys made our soapy wet trails feel as grippy as summertime. But they were just so tiring for my feeble body. I have been wanting to try trail wreckers over winter because they are a soft compound xc tyre. Why don’t maxis make a super tacky medusa?

Anyway we’ve wandered of the topic somewhat

Edric – as I said, I dont change tyres through the year, but reckon that if you find yourself riding wet rocks alot (and roots to some degree) then the super tacky compound is pretty good. I dont have them on my hardtail though.

I would bet that you make something of an informed choice before just “bunging on some cheapish lightish tyres” ?

I agree that this is a deadly boring subject though, esp when it wanders into the realms of “What Tyres For Coed Y Brenin Beast Trail” type questions – you know you are spending too much time thinking and not enough riding if you’re asking that.

Anyway – I’m going to keep the wire bead tyres for next year’s Alps trip when weight doesnt really matter, and buy a harder compound rear for the UK. Thanks to most above for the advice.

ilovemygears – Member
i love the total lack of knowledge about cycling on this forum…

Didn’t know Jesus was on the forum. I’m having a little trouble with my Trigonometry and Calculus. Could you touch me and boost my cycling knowledge please.

Got a mixture of wire and kevlar beaded HR 2.35 on all my bikes and can’t tell the weight difference cos I can’t remember which is which until I get a puncture! Beaded ones are slightly easier to get on the rim but also come off quicker if you get a big flat.Only use the super tacky on the front as they wear way too quickly on the rear.Got one for wet Scottish winter riding as they do seem to grip well and just left it on.Keep them and use then for the front.If you were bothered about weight you wouldn’t be buying HR supertackys anyway plus heavier grippier tyres wil get you fitter.

Often wirebead models aren’t just heavier, they tend to be cheaper variants of the same tyre. Check out Kenda for some great examples of tyres that look like they should be the same other than the bead- their OEM-spec wire beads are horrible tyres.

Maxxis are obviously an exception to this though.

As for noticing weight- it’s a seperate thing from rolling resistance. I notice 120g of difference if it’s in the tyres. I can believe that not everyone does, though, but to me it’s night and day, the bike handles and responds so differently.