Hey, I had a question just pop into my head that I was gonna ask a long while back and never got around to.
Soooooooooo,
I had taken my Duro off to put another tire on. I keep my spare tires in my closet, and now that I’m getting a bit of a collection of spare tires, I decided I’d try and kind of fold the Duro in half. I’ve seen how they ship wire bead tires, so I didn’t think this’d be a big deal. Anyway, I ended up kinking one of the beads at both the top and the bottom of the tire (wherever that is. They were opposite each other). I used my thumb to bend them back straight and ended up remounting the tire a couple months ago.
Anyways, can kinking bead like that cause any type of significant damage? I haven’t really been riding it this winter, but don’t want to experience a blow out this spring.
Kinking the bead “can” cause significant damage. If you mounted it with regular pressure, and have ridden it (which adds PSI) without it giving you trouble you “should” be okay.
Whether or not the kink matters has a lot to do with the way it fits the rim. The specs for ISO rim/tire sizes allow for enough range that some tire/rim combinations barely work even when everything is new and perfect. On the other hand some combinations are very difficult to mount at all. If the tire is on the inside of the spec., and the rim is on the outside of the spec. I would guess that you could have a pretty severe bend in the bead without any problems due to the super tight fit. Also, rims with a pronounced “hook” for the bead will hold onto the tire better than ones with a rounded hook, or no hook at all. It used to be that rims were called “clincher” only if they had a hook bead. In other words the hook was the “clincher.”
It’s important to twist a wire bead tire when you fold it so that the beads don’t actually fold. As far as I know there are only two ways to do it so that you don’t damage the bead: in half, or in thirds. Better is to store them round.
I should add that I’ve ridden the tire around the yard the past couple months, but haven’t done and hard Muni on it. Think I’d be better off to just cut my losses, not take the chance, and get a new tire?
If it didn’t give you problems right away I don’t think you have anything to worry about. But, your tire is the only thing between you and the ground so I would understand if you change it for peace of mind.
Still, I have seen brand new tires blow off of rims. I had one that was fine, and a week after I installed it the sidewall blew out. I contacted the manufacturer, and they replaced it sight unseen just from my description of the problem.
So, do you change the tire to a new one with its own hidden personality, or do you stick with a proven tire that has a known problem?
I think I’m gonna keep the tire then. I’ve had it on and off the rim since then, over inflated it, under inflated it, etc. If it blows out, I’ll just roll down the mountain along with it.
I’m gonna do a ghetto tubeless setup with it on Thursday, and I’ll look over the bead again.