Quick question on tyres

Mrtennis
Mrtennis Posts: 153
edited November 2013 in MTB general
About a month ago I bought some panaracer fire xc pro tyres off ebay. I'm not 100% certain if theyre the folding kevlar type (best ones?) or the steel bead(?) but they are from Japan, so I thought they were the better quality ones.

Now I don't know much about tyres but I know the better quality tyres are known as folding tyres, although I'm not completely sure what this means. Anyway, the panaracer fire xc pros I bought were the red ones, and I was never 100% keen on them and never actually fitted. After I kept looking I have just managed to get some black ones instead. Now, these were advertised as the folding type. And when the guy sent them to me they were literally folded up (as you see in many photos), and they are really flexible. The original pair (red ones) that I bought though, just don't seem possible to fold up in the same way. Is this what the description of 'folding' is referring to? Either way, the red pair are much, much stiffer, nowehere near as flexible. I'm pretty certain the new black pair I have bought are the high quality ones, but I'm a bit confused by the original red ones. At the time I bought them I looked into it and I thought that all the Japanese made ones were the good quality ones, but they certainly seem different to the black japanese ones that came today.

Comments

  • RandG
    RandG Posts: 779
    Strange, cause I had the red xc pro's and they were the business, brilliant tyre in the dry, may be not so good at this time of year.
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    Folding tyres have a Kevlar bead rather than a steel wire bead. And so they can be lighter and more flexible.

    But that is only half (or less) of a tyre and it's quality. TPI (thread per inch) in the fabric of the body has a lot to do with things as does the rubber compound or compounds used in the tread and then finally there is the block shapes.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Panaracer state that the wired and folding bead have the same compounds and TPI, (all on their webby), the only difference is the bead material and therefor the weight, their are no 'better' nes.
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • Cqc
    Cqc Posts: 951
    +1 on that, it's the compound and the teeth that make a good tire, either both wiil be bad or both will be great, just one a bit heavier than the other