re-fitting tyre

jmeadows

after 5 weeks on the road i had my 1st puncture on sunday, got a tube today, levered tyre off(vredestein handmade), bit of air in new tube, fitted one side of tire onto wheel, fitted tube in, then worked otherside of tube on.
trouble was the last 6-12" of tire was hell to get back on and i didnt want to lever it incase i nicked the tube.
should it be that tough to get back on? is the trick to it? i used to ride mtb and obviously the tire was easy to get back because there is a lot to grip.
i was trying to imagine myself doing it roadside, it took about 30 min!
i am a plumber too so my grip is pretty strong, any ideas please?? :?

Smokin Joe

I use a tyre lever if nescessary, but take care. Make sure you use the blunt end to push the tube away from the tyre bead before you lever it on.

crankycrank

This works great for tight fitting tyres. http://www.bikeplus.co.uk/cgi-bin/quiks ... YS42&and=1

Shezzer

Don't worry about it ... I very much doubt you're doing anything wrong. I've found that some wheel / tyre combinations make it pretty difficult (nigh on impossible) to refit the tyre without using a tyre lever yet others are a piece of cake.

On my training bike I use Easton EA50SL wheels with Schwalbe tyres and the fit is so tight I have to use metal tyre levers to prise the tyre back on. The same tyres on my Mavic Kysrium ES wheels go on with thumb power alone, no problem.

It's fine to use levers if you need to but just be a bit careful not to pinch the tube.

Jay dubbleU

Semi inflating the tube before you put the second side of the tyre back on reduces the chances of it being pinched by the tyre lever

jmeadows

great, cheers guys, glad i have done it right, so use a lever if necessary but take care, thanks again

alfablue

You need to get the bead properly into the well of the rim (i.e. not around the higher edge), squeeze the tyre beads together and get the tube well up into the tyre carcass, then you will have more space to insert the last bit of the tyre. A small amount of air in the tube is helpful, but not so much that it stops you getting the bead into the rim well. When you get to the last (tricky) bit, pushing the tyre away from you so it flattens often pops the last bit of the bead over the rim. Some tyre/rim combo's can be a bu**er, but most can be achieved with thumbs only using this technique, though I wouldn't rule out a carefully applied lever if necessary. The Var tyre lever (above) and the Crank Brothers lever work well and pose minimal risk to the tube.

Headhuunter

I just use a plastic tyre lever (metal ones are more likely to nick the tube) and haven't damager the tube yet... Having said that my current Hutchinson Fusion 2s are in fact too loose on the rims. As soon as you let the air out of the tube they literally drop off the rim...

bompington

I use plastic tyre levers - 3 of them usually does the job. Mind you here's a cautionary tale...

My old bike needed new wheels in February, I was chuffed that I found a pair of Shimano R560s real cheap, I had been very happy with the Conti Attack/Force combi that had done a pretty good job through rain, sleet, hail, ice & snow (literally not a single dry road day since I bought them in September, this is Scotland) so I took them off the old wheels and, with a lot of huffing and puffing (and 3 levers), got them on the new ones.
The next morning I headed off to work and had gone about a mile, marvelling at how smooth and silent everything was, when the silence was rudely interrupted by a loud bang as the sidewall blew out on the back tyre. I jogged home with the bike & put on a spare tyre (again hard work) and that was fine.
Until the next day, coming home downhill at 50mph, the front one did the same thing. Amazingly the bike stayed straight & I stayed on, managed to patch the tube & limp home with the tube hanging out the side of the tyre at about 25psi. (Credit to LBS Nicholson cycles, Dundee for straightening out my bent, dented and scratched wheel - for free)
Surely no coincidence that 2 tyres blew within 30miles of riding after that wrestling match.