Tricks to make tyre changing easier....?

skip75surf

Hi there,

Are there any tricks to make putting a road tyre on a road wheel easier....... e.g. a lube that won't affect the tyre or tube, or a certain technique I'm missing? I've watched Youtube videos, changed a few recently, and do have tyre levers.....

However it's always a massive struggle. It genuinely can take up to half an hour at worst to fight with the tyre and get it on. The thought of it happening in a triathlon would finish me off......!!!! :-) Just spent an age making a new rear wheel up in the living room (Xmas pressies), have the front to go now. I'm literally, bloody knackered after the first one, have a big blister on my right thumb and my hands are wrecked......

Any advice and I'll send you a ton of mince pies and chocolate..... :-) I'm desperate!

sungod

assuming it's a foldable tyre (not steel beaded) then they usually ease a bit after the first couple of times, shouldn't need levers

if you have a new tyre, hold it vertcal, stand on the bottom (to avoid damage: no shoes, on carpet) and pull up on the top, you can stretch it a tiny bit to ease things, rotate a bit and repeat a few times

having the tyre warm can help: dunk in hot water, wipe dry before fitting

simplest lube to use is saliva, or you can use a bit of soap or dilute washing up liquid

once you reach the last bit, where it gets harder, just try to push a few mm at a time over the rim, alternate sides

if you're hurting your fingers, wear gloves

skip75surf

How bizarre.... just put the second one on and it was the easiest thing....?!?! A couple of minutes start to finish. Even so, any tricks to make it super quick every time? :-)

sungod

might be due to manufacturing tolerances

within the tolerances, if you got a big rim/small tyre combination, it probably would be harder to fit than the other way round

darren H

Sometimes you can get slight differences in rims.

Campag are well known for this.


I have zondas and eurus and the eurus ones are a doodle.

When I put new tyres on, I use Michelin pro 3s I just put them in the airing cupboard for half hour.
You should be able to put a tyre on very quickly. A few mins no more.

Put the tyre on one side then put the tube in , valve through the hole then I sit down and have the wheel laying flat into my stomach. Just keep working round until normally your left with about 8 inches that takes a bit of getting over the rim lip. Work it with your thumbs and it should go over.
Practice is the key.

Good luck.

nicklouse

watching this will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4

mrushton

get a VAR lever.

arthur_scrimshaw

mrushton wrote:

get a VAR lever.

+1

skip75surf

Thanks for the advice, they were Vittoria Diamante Pro Tech tyres, onto Campag Racing 7 wheels, the easier tyre was done with one side on first, then partially inflated tube popped in. Wheel dug into my stomach while on floor, working the 2nd side of the tyre on with both left and right hands as I went round.

Such a huge difference in time and effort from 1st tyre, tube laid in to start, not inflated, with similar technique to get the tyre on. Now for the roads to get nicer before I try them out :-)

Monty Dog

Apply talc to the inside of new tyres, it means they slide easier over the edge of the rim - also prevents the inners from sticking too. FWIW putting a deflated tube into a tyre is asking for trouble - tube gets pinched by tyre bead when fitted and inflating the tube will tear it - put enough air in the tube to hold its shape.

navrig

Don't try to do it at the side of the road in 6" of snow as I discovered last week. My hands were so numb I pinched the new tube in two places and had to encourage SWMBO to get out pf bed and come and rescue me. Merry Christmas darling

Canny Jock

nicklouse wrote:

watching this will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4

+1. I always had trouble before watching this, managed to fit a pair of Vittoria Randonneur which are just about as bad as MP's, with no levers.

onbike 1939

Navrig wrote:

Don't try to do it at the side of the road in 6" of snow as I discovered last week. My hands were so numb I pinched the new tube in two places and had to encourage SWMBO to get out pf bed and come and rescue me. Merry Christmas darling

+1
This is worth repeating as it's a whole different ball game in this situation. I came across a racing man clad in Lycra and close to hypothermia, who had failed to change his tyre one very cold winter morning. He had been there for a considerable time and was a good thirty miles from home. The VAR tyre levers were invaluable in this case.

navrig

Thanks for the links to the Youtube video. Just repaired 3 punctured tubes and refitted one in my rear tyre.

I left the tyre on the kitchen radiator overnight and followed the tips in the video. No levers, no chapped hands and a fully inflated tyre.

Just need to work out which tyres to buy now as both are getting thin.

navrig

onbike 1939 wrote:

Navrig wrote:

Don't try to do it at the side of the road in 6" of snow as I discovered last week. My hands were so numb I pinched the new tube in two places and had to encourage SWMBO to get out pf bed and come and rescue me. Merry Christmas darling

+1
This is worth repeating as it's a whole different ball game in this situation. I came across a racing man clad in Lycra and close to hypothermia, who had failed to change his tyre one very cold winter morning. He had been there for a considerable time and was a good thirty miles from home. The VAR tyre levers were invaluable in this case.

You are right but thankfully the air temp was +3 degrees, there was no wind and I was only 4 miles from home so could have walked home but SWMBO needed to get up anyway ;-)

Must investigate the VAR levers.

ADIHEAD

I normally manage to fit and remove tyres without levers, but I must admit Rubino Pro Techs have me reaching for the levers when new. No problems once they've been fitted once though. To be honest though, I probably could have done it by hand if I'd heated them first or used talc, just couldn't be bothered :roll:

mattsccm

What no 0ne has ementioned is making sure that the bead already fitted is in the well of the rim. Easy then. You can fit bloody great motorcycle tyres with 1 6" lever if you do that

surreyxc

consider getting rid of the tyres, some tyre rim combos are a real struggle. I had to ditch a set of ritchy tyres as they were to hard to fit on a mavic rim. In the end I had to cut one off.

Decent tyre levers: Topeak Shuttle

Go tubeless, one day it will all be tubeless

SNACK-HEAD

I have found that campag neutrons don`t really have a rim well or shelf and are all one level across the inner section of the rim. This makes tyre fitting hard work especially at the road side. Mavic seem to have this well, and therefore tyres fly on without toe straps. I need to feel comfortable i can change a tube quickly at the road side especially on long sportives so mavic for me.