Bead rings of pneumatic tires

A pneumatic tire having (a) a bead reinforcement which comprises at least one composite bead ring formed of three unitary bead rings at least two of which are of the stranded type and are formed of a plurality of steel wires, the radial cross sections of the three unitary bead rings being arranged along the three apices of a triangle which is fixed with respect to the rotational axis of the tire, and (b) a sidewall reinforcement folded around the composite bead ring, characterized by the fact that an annular trifurcated element is arranged between the unitary bead rings so that each of the three branches of the annular trifurcated element is tangent to the radial cross sections of two and of only two of the unitary bead rings, the ends of said branches being located on the inside of the apparent surface defined by the outer contour of the composite bead ring;

• the annular trifurcated element having the terminal portion of at least one of its branches shaped so as to form a groove which partially surrounds a unitary bead ring.