All About Bikes & Bicycles – Tyres http://bikecycles.org/ All About Bikes & Bicycles – Tyres There are essentially two types of tyre for bicycles, known as ‘clincher’ and ‘tubular’. We’ll get the tubular ones out of the way first because essentially you won’t come across them very often. Tubular tyres don’t have beads around the edge but are instead sewn together around an inner tube. You can’t use a tubular tyre on just any old rim, you must use a special one and the tyre is held onto the rim using glue. Some riders consider tubulars to have some advantage over clinchers, such as lighter weight, more comfort and better grip but modern technology has seen the clincher tyre catch up. The main drawbacks of tubular tyres are the fact that if you get a puncture you need to replace the whole tyre meaning you need to carry a spare. The biggest drawback though is the need to glue the tyre to the rim. The glue needs to dry for several hours before you should consider putting it through its paces otherwise the tyre and the rim may part company which almost always results in a crash. The above also means that if you are racing and get a puncture using tubulars then you are effectively out of the race as you will not be able to corner at speed etc until the glue is dry. That is unless you have a support crew following you with a spare rim and tyre ready to go. You will find clincher type tyres on almost all rims now days and they will be the most familiar to you. Instead of wrapping completely around the inner tube, the clincher is U-shaped when you cut it in half. The edges of the tyre are held in place against the edge of the rim by the pressure of air inside it. This makes it easier to repair as you don’t need any glue to hold it in place. The clincher tyre is made up of essentially three components, the bead, the fabric and the rubber. The bead is usually a strong steel wire which makes up the tyre’s edge and holds it to the rim. Some beads use more modern lightweight materials such as Kevlar which wipes out one of the advantages some riders think that the tubular has.The fabric is what gives a tyre its shape and makes up the tyre’s profile, joining the two beads together. It is usually made of nylon cord and is put down in layers with each subsequent layer being placed perpendicular to the next rather than using a consistent interweaving process. These different layers are known as plies. Tyres come with different performance capabilities some of which are determined by the tyre’s TPI. This denotes the number of Threads Per Inch. A higher number indicates a tyre with a thinner and more flexible fabric. Thin walled tyres tend to perform better by offering less rolling resistance and a lighter weight but they are more easily damaged. The rubber is the part of the tyre that everyone sees but it is merely a coating on top of the constructed fabric. The rubber provides no structural advantage to the tyre and is only there to protect the fabric from damage. As with any road tyre there will normally be a tread pattern built into the rubber. This provides more advantage in wet weather than under normal conditions. Also as with any other tyre, different compounds of rubber give different performance. A soft
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compound will give you more grip but it will wear out quicker. A harder compound will last longer but it will slide around more when pushed to the limit. When you put all the above together you can see that there are many different combinations that can be achieved and so it is important, especially if you are a serious rider to choose a tyre which is suited to the job. So, if you are a road racer then you need to look for specific road racing tyres that suit the rims you have chosen to ride on. However, the same type of tyre will be useless to you downhill mountain bike racers! Wayne Armstrong is the owner of BikeWheelShop.co.uk, which is a website which specialises in top quality but affordable bike tyres and wheels for every different situation.
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