Clincher wheels - please clarify

ashleymp777

Afternon all,

I'm looking at buying a new pair of wheels and the terminology 'clincher' is used on a partcular pair.

Now being new to road riding can someone clear up what this means? Is it that they can be run tubeless?

I apologise now for my ignorance.

Ashley

danowat

Clincer = "normal" wheel, i.e. normal tyre with inner tube.

merak

Not necessarily. Clincher rims use tyres that have a bead that hook under the rim (ie the normal sort of tyre). Some can be run tubeless but most can't. Almost all amateurs use clincher rims.

As opposed to sprint rims that take tubulars (or "tubs") where the tube is sewn into the tyre and the tyre is glued on to the rim.

flasher

Sheldon Brown wrote:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cl.html#clincher

Clincher Tire

This is the normal type of tire, with a separate inner tube. The tire consists of two hoops called "beads", made of steel or Kevlar cable, which are held together by cloth, usually nylon. The whole assembly is dipped in rubber, with thicker rubber applied in the tread area.
The clincher tire's separate inner tube is basically a rubber balloon. This fits inside the tire, and the tire is mounted on the rim by lifting the beads over the edge of the rim. The middle of the rim makes a sort of valley (the "well"), and while the tire is being installed, most of the bead can fit into this valley. This gives enough slack to allow the bead to be pushed or pulled over the edge of the rim, even though the outside diameter of the rim is larger than the inside diameter of the bead.

Strictly speaking, the term "clincher" is slightly incorrect, as it applied to an obsolete style of tire which had ribs in the edges of the tire which fitted into grooves on the rim, where the tire was folded under the tube. The air pressure in the tube pressed the rib into the groove, and "clinched" the tire in place. People who are fussy about this prefer the term "wired-on."

Other types of tires include airless tires, single-tubes (both obsolete) and tubulars.

McBain_v1

The mighty Sheldon Brown - his absence is keenly felt

gilesjuk

Tubless tyres tend to have a few differences.

1. They fit tighter onto the wheel. This is so it seals better.

2. They don't have small holes in the tyre. Some non-tubeless have very small holes in them as they're not normally required to be airtight.

3. The rubber compound is designed to be resistant to any chemicals (usually ammonia) in the the sealant.

On MTB you get get away with non-tubeless tyres sometimes. Often you'll need to fit a rubber rimstrip in addition to any spoke tape.

With road bikes you have no choice, it has to be a tubeless tyre (non tubeless won't seal or will blow off the rim).