Can't fit my tyre

Maxticate

I am trying to fit a specialized all condition pro tyre to a Mavic MA40 rim and I just can't do it!!!

It's driving me bonkers :evil:

I thought it was hard getting a continental training tyre on way back when I had my original road bike but this takes the biscuit.

Does anyone have any ideas how to make it easier, I;ve tried soaping up the rim, I've already tried it with tyre levers and broken two of them

While I'm moaning anyway why are bike tyres so expensive. Economy tyres for a car can be had for less than £40 each and the material cost is much higher!

cjcp

Get one part of the tyre inside the rim, then feed the rest using a lever guided a couple of inches ahead by your fingers?

pastryboy

Get the rim cold and the tyre warm

AndyManc

Maxticate

Sorry, I was light on detail.

I can get one side one and in, I put in the inner tube and seat the majority. It's the last 6 or so inches.

It is straight across the side wall of the tyre and no amount of coaxing will get it to go.

I did think of the heat thing pastry boy but what if I'm out and I get a puncture? I'd be scuppered trying to repair it.

It's the same size as the previous (ancient) tyre that was fitted to the rim. I just don't thin kit should be this hard.

edit: lol @ andymanc

pastryboy

Not sure what you think I meant by heat but I was meaning stick the tyre in an airing cupboard or warm room for an hour before trying to fit it - it should expand a tiny bit and maybe become a little more pliable too. This is just a suggestion, never had this problem myself but that's what I'd try or I'd just get my wife to nag it into place.

will3

I;ve had tyres that fit like this. They're complete sods, but you just have to nibble them on as best you can. Very stiff or metal tyre levers can help.

cjcp

will3 wrote:

I;ve had tyres that fit like this. They're complete sods, but you just have to nibble them on as best you can. Very stiff or metal tyre levers can help.

+1.

Maxticate

ok, it's going into the airing cupboard over night and god help it if it doesn't go on tomorrow.

Or I may post the whole lot to pastryboy's wife!

roger_merriman

Maxticate wrote:

ok, it's going into the airing cupboard over night and god help it if it doesn't go on tomorrow.

Or I may post the whole lot to pastryboy's wife!

try swearing at it.

bunter

I had same issue with schwalbe marathon plusses - made my thumbs really hurt and bust my tyre levers. I got a hair dryer and warmed up the tyre rim (almost hot to touch) went on really easy after that

hth

White Line

roger merriman wrote:

try swearing at it.

+1!

It's not a wire bead is it? Too lazy to Google. They're harder to fit IME. I once had Gatorskins ... I lost about a pound in sweat trying to get them on. They're on my wall now because I can't be bothered fighting with them again. I really should find a better place to keep tyres - I have three sets on my wall, hanging on the screws the dart board used to be on. :oops:

Maxticate

roger merriman wrote:

try swearing at it.

The lubricating properties of liberal profanity failed me on this occasion although I like to think of the boys next door gaining kudos amongst their school peers for their ability to curse like a salty seadogs

dondare

Get someone to help you, or:
Try fitting the tyre without the inner tube; it should be easier. Then remove it, replace it, remove it, and finally replace it with the inner tube.
I like the hair-dryer idea, too.

DanielCoffey

A few years ago I took a wheelchair wheel to a bike shop to get a proper tyre fitted (the crappy grey tyres it had punctured first time out of the house. Bah!). They had the same trouble you did.

Their solution? Stand the tyre a few feet in front of an electric fan heater for ten minutes. Not close enough to be damaged, but enough to get good and warm. Some struggling after that and it went on without any rim damage.

As for the future, the tyre will stretch and the second time you need to fit it, you should be fine.

g00se

Try this - if it's not how you tried in the first place.

Get the first tyre rim on. Put the inner tube in and partially inflate, and start getting the rest on the other tyre rim on too.

When it gets really tricky. Deflate the inner tube and push the properly seated part of the partially fitted tyre rim further into the wheel rim so the tyre bead sits inside the spoke recess (be careful not to trap the inner tube. The recess has a smaller diameter than the wheel rim so it should be easier to push the final bit on.

Then pull the tyre into place and partially inflate the tube, pulling at the tyre around parts of its circumference to make sure nothing is trapped.

nwallace

Maxticate wrote:

While I'm moaning anyway why are bike tyres so expensive. Economy tyres for a car can be had for less than £40 each and the material cost is much higher!

I once had Kleiber economy tyres on my car.
They were losing grip on a roundabout at around 20 (Body roll stops me finding the grip point on the Dunlops I have on just now), and after discovering their stopping performance in the wet involved loosing grip at the slightest brake pressure they were binned in favour of decent ones at £65 a corner.

2 weeks after buying the thing for 100 I was spending 250 on tyres.

I've never spent more than £15 on a bike tyre, and they always seem to be pretty decent. Can even corner on them in the wet :shock:

The mark up on bike tyres is probably a lot higher, especially since the shops selling them are low volume sales compared to a car tyre fitting garage.

Maxticate

These things are just not going on!

I can't even get one side of the tyre seated on the wheel now!! I tried again this morning with the hair dryer. The nearest I could get to getting one side on was to have the lip of the tyre touching the bottom edge of the side of the wheel at the tightest point.

I gave up went to the gym and now have come back and put them in the oven at 60°C for 15 minutes. I tried fitting them again and still no dice. They are too stiff to get on.

What now? I can't take them back to the bike shop but I am reluctant to keep dropping ££'s on tyres if I'm going to get them home and they won't fit!

Does anyone want a specialized all condition pro tyre for £20 posted?

artaxerxes

Can't the people in your local bike shop put them on for you?

secretsam

2 possible solutions:
1) as noted above, just move it on a bit at a time, pushing up from the inside of the rim moving outside ends of the unseated bit (still with me?), maybe using tyre lever to push it - use flats of thumbs or the bit at the base of the thumb on the palm

2) go to LBS. I can recommend Condor, they once did it for me, was a total bu99er, didn't even buy the tyres there - and they didn't charge (and it was Monday morning around 9, so busy). Now that's service

If it's any consolation, once they've gone on once, future applications are easier.

Maxticate

I think I'll try taking it to the shop where I bought it. I had a word with them earlier and they said they'd try to fit it for me.

I feel like a bit of a loser not being able to do it though. I've never had this trouble before with any other tyre. :oops:

Thanks everyone.

roger_merriman

i've had to do that before, not a tyre but equally, irritating simple stuff. that I know i can do....

choirboy

Had a similar problems with Spesh tyres. Got 'em on eventually with much cussing... and then some b@stard nicked the bike. Won't bother with Spesh again....

SimonLyons

I had problems with an Ultragator tyre using an innertube which was at the "fat" end for the size of the tyre - there was just too much rubber and I couldn't get the last bit of the tyre on to the rim even though it looked as though it should go on.
I got an inner tube next size down - a better match to the width of the tyre and it went on without too much force. Have you got a similar problem?

rich_e

I find that with Specialized Armadillo 700 tyres that they are a pain to get on the rim.

I wouldn't recommend using metal tyre levers, as although they do make it easier, I've wrecked a couple of tubes using them. You can do them by hand, but it's a lot of effort, but I guess thats the trade of with having tyres that are more puncture resistant and likely to flat less.

mikee_j

aaarrrrgghhhhhhh.....

... i'm in the exact same predicament!!! my new michelin krylions just won't fit onto my rims... my hands hurt!

cjcp

My Krylions were a real bu*gger! Worse than the Contis. I drew blood on my thumbs, but just had to stick it out.

mikee_j

now i'm worried that when i finally do get them on (if ever!) will they be that stupidly difficult to replace an inner when i'm out on a ride?

cjcp

You eventually lose all sensation in your fingers, and it's all plain sailing from there.







I eventually go the hang of it. I just used the tyre lever (carefully) and fingers a couple inches ahead of the lever to feed the tyre on.

Maxticate

I couldn't find this thread to update it the other day :?

Anyway I took my tyre to the LBS and he had a good go at it. He tried and tried and tried and sweat was rolling down his head. He cut his hand and I was feeling very bad for him.

It didn't go on. He tried some continental GP4000 things.


They didn't go on either. So he gave up with folding tyres and tried a wire beaded tyre. Continental ultra gator skins or something.

This eventually did go on but it was still a major faff.

The one for the back slipped on with a whisper and no problems. I couldn't understand it. Identical wheels or the same size and one is a nightmare nd the other good as gold.

I'm dreading getting a puncture and having to get it off! But happy to be sorted now anyway!

cjcp

Did the LBS say whether the rim was a little deeper than normal?