Well, I guess I should put my two cts. worth in.
The word clincher is tricky.
They had "clincher" type tires in the 1890's.
The wood rims were routed out and the tires had a sort of circumferential
notch/groove that held the tire in place as the tire had a matching profile
to size that was a male female type "hook" or groove.
I don't know if all the tires at that time were wire bead or only rubber and
fabrick.
For almost a hundred years the Euros had "clincher"tires that had no wire
bead but clinched the rim notch to hold the pressure and position.
Many of these old type tires had about a 1/2" flap on each side that lay
across the rim bed and protected the tube from nipple heads.It was a finger
pinching job as the tire was pulled and stretched over the rim into position
one side at a time with the tube inside.
Later these tires would in our time be called hook edge bead tires and had a
wire bead.
This was prewar and is today.
Before the war the wired on I think were named because of the bead
construction but were straight side rims without hookedge rims or tires.
It has now being used as a generic term for non sew-ups.
The cruiser bikes still are straight side rims as are the 26x1-3/8th and
1-1/4 sizes for our use, and many of the Fench stock metric sizes, et., etc.
Cauition must be used when straight size rims are fit with hook edge bead
tires as most will creep off the rim and "Thar she Blows!".
Many straight side tires can be fit into hookedge bead rims but it takes
general experience knowledge or experimentation to know this, and I don't
think the johnny come latelys 20 years ago in Bicycling mag had that depth
of research.
If I'm wrong, not having the article, I 'll eat crow now. If I'm not wrong,
then i'll crow about it now, too.
OK you pundits, time to chime in.
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates
CA USA
> At 03:04 PM 22/07/2007 -0400, dima wrote:
>
>>like to clarify something about the wheels/rims though: both ebay
>>auctions for rims that you mentioned specify that the rims are "wired
>>on". Excuse my ignorance, but what does that mean? Is it different from
>>regular modern "clincher" wheels, and if so (as I'm afraid it is) what
>>tires are available currently?
>
> "Wired on" is actually the correct term. A "clincher" is a certain type of
> antique car tire. More than 20 years ago I remember Bicycling magazine
> making a big deal of this. Alas, over the years with the Internet helping
> illiterate people, "clincher" appears to have become accepted usage.
>
> John Betmanis
> Woodstock, Ontario
> Canada