Folding tyres

johnbaxter

Hi folks First post for a noobie........ Probably a daft one but here goes... I want to buy a new set of tyres for my mountain bike. The ones i want are folding tyres. Is this important or can you fit either kind to the rims?

John

artillerydave

they will fit any rims, folding simply means that rather than a wire bead or ring around the innermost point of the tyre it is made of kevlar so can fold and tends to bit a little bit lighter also. no other real benefits to it though so don't get too hung up on it.

Anonymous

If you're doing really epic rides somewhere where your tyres are likely of being destroyed (slate quarry, anyone?) then a folding tyre can be handy, as you can fit it in your backback.

Rockhopper

They also tend to be eaisier to get on the rims (in my experience that is although i know tyres do vary in this respect)

supersonic

I think they are the most cost effective weight loss upgrade you can make - can't see the point in buying wire bead unless you are really skint.

allthegearnoidea

supersonic wrote:

I think they are the most cost effective weight loss upgrade you can make - can't see the point in buying wire bead unless you are really skint.

not everyone can afford £35-40 a pair of tyres though!
if your not obbsessed by weight then you may as well go for wire beads!

supersonic

Lol, they are not THAT much more overall. I just think its the area on a bike where maximum gains to be had - especially as the kevlar beaded tyres often have better rubber compunds too. Much better than spending an extra 20 quid on a stem with a fancy name for instance.

allthegearnoidea

Very true! they are the area where it makes prolly the most difference to overall riding, but on recent searching for pana. cinders i found a few places with them on steal beads for a tenner a tyre! makes then half the price of the kevlars! (i got some foldings of ebay in the end)
trouble is though, if you have the lightest tyres you can get on old heavy wheels its not goign to make that much differnce over the 100g heavier steel beadies!

Rockhopper

If you have suspension then reducing unsprung weight is one of the best upgrades you can make. Even if you don't have suspension then its still rotating mass you are reducing which will help all sorts of things.