Originally Posted by
Koa C.
I have this problem right now and my tire actually had a tear in it where the tube pushed through. Last night this happened and i tried to fix it by putting a piece of old tube over the tear and then putting the new tube in but after ten feet the tube pushed through again. I was wondering if this problem happens more with the tires that you buy that are folded up in the box v. the ones that are rigid and not folded up. What is the difference between these? Is it just the widths, where the tires under 28cc are sold folded up and the bigger ones are rigid?
I don't know much about how Specialized packages and markets their tires, but generally the difference between folding tires vs. non-folding tires is weight. Folding tires have a bead made of Kevlar (or something like it). It's very strong, but light and flexible. Rigid tires have a steel bead (heavy and not so flexible). Neither of these should be more susceptible than the other for production issues, but it's possible that a production run of one or the other had some issues. I would contact Specialized and see if they are encountering this in any sort of numbers, and heck, they may even warranty the tires.