Why So Hard To Get A Clincher Tyre On

darkhairedlord

6wheels wrote:

No one has mentioned... wipe the bead with some fairy liquid mixed with water, makes fitting easier.

Two posts up, a gob of spit, no one takes their fairy on the bike. :shock:

bbrap

darkhairedlord wrote:

6wheels wrote:

No one has mentioned... wipe the bead with some fairy liquid mixed with water, makes fitting easier.

Two posts up, a gob of spit, no one takes their fairy on the bike. :shock:

Or a nice juicy bogey

cookeeemonster

Kinesis Crosslight disc wheels and any tyre with any puncture protection...in fact any tyre to be honest. Evil. Evil. Evil.

Back wheel is worse than the front for some reason...I like the wheels but would never buy again, too hard to change tyres!!!

stueys

I have the same problem on my winter bike and conti 4s types. The reason is the winter bike runs tubeless ready rims and the conti 4s have thicker side walls to increase puncture protection, it makes it hard. Ok in a warm lounge but I once spent a painfully cold hour in winter, rewarding numb fingers every 4 minutes wrestling with the bloody things. I now run sealant in the inner tubes during the depths of winter to try to avoid the problem. Another answer would be to swap the tyre out for something with a more pliant sidewall, but then I lose the puncture resistance which I really want in a winter tyre.

CiB

Carbonator wrote:

Thanks for the back up, but why 3 o'clock?
Whats the difference between 3, 4,5 or 6?

Its probably not going to be exactly 6 anyway, its just where you end up.

I would deflate the tube fully once it was in too. Its not going to twist drastically once it is put in straight, and if its not fully deflated it will hold the tyre near the rim.

OP, if you are having one puncture a month I would try to find out why this is.
Its not normal to have that many IMO.

If I were getting that many and they were all legitimate I would either get more puncture resistant tyres or self sealing tubes.

It's not 'aim for 3 o'clock', more 'don't finish opposite the valve.' 3 is as far from the valve itself & opposite as you can get, but it's just a loose target.

I find the tube having bit of shape helps it to stay inside the beads for that last bit; with no air it's too easy to finally get the last bit of the tyre over the rim only to see a bit of the tube peeking out as it pops over, so I leave a bit of air in and it doesn't happen.

Agree re frequency of punctures. I presume op knows all the usual stuff like keeping the pressure high enough to avoid pinch flats (90psi & higher is enough usually), regular checks to remove foreign objects from the tyre's surface, and the less obvious but v effective trick of watching out for & avoiding things that can cause punctures, like gravel, remnants of a broken bottle, pot holes, hedge clippings esp newly cut hedges etc. It's easier to do on rural roads than urban areas but it's effective.

apreading

Biggest problem is with tubeless ready rims - generally they are made with the bead as stretched out as possible to minimise potential to burp. Means you have to stretch the tyre more than on many non-tubeless ready rims. Stans are the absolute worst - no technique seems to help get folding tyres on, good luck if you have a wire bead...!

gweeds

Mavic Ksyrium SLR and Vittoria Open Pave CG.

ALL THE SWEARS.

itboffin

Ive resigned myself to the fact that if my ultegra two way fit with Vittoria open paves puncture I'll be walking home or camping out for the night.

Secteur

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.

I carry one on every ride, and have another in the toolbox.

I've only ever had two punctures on the road, both before i discovered this tool, and both times i tore the new innertube struggling to lever the tyre back onto the wheel in horrible cold rainy conditions. I've torn at least two more the same way changing inner tubes in the garage too! I find all tyres *extremely* hard to get on too (Until i got this tool).

This tool is almost idiot proof.

Anonymous

itboffin wrote:

Ive resigned myself to the fact that if my ultegra two way fit with Vittoria open paves puncture I'll be walking home or camping out for the night.

Why don't you fit the Ultegra's the 'second way'

cookeeemonster

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.

I carry one on every ride, and have another in the toolbox.

I've only ever had two punctures on the road, both before i discovered this tool, and both times i tore the new innertube struggling to lever the tyre back onto the wheel in horrible cold rainy conditions. I've torn at least two more the same way changing inner tubes in the garage too! I find all tyres *extremely* hard to get on too (Until i got this tool).

This tool is almost idiot proof.

I got something extremely similar.

The most hilariously inadequate tool I've ever used. Luckily I only paid about £3 for it (thanks to the commuting bargains thread) but wow...so useless I had to laugh!!

It's basically for low pressure, big tyred Dutch bikes I think...so I'm assuming not the same as yours, though it looks the same.

Anonymous

Is it just me or is anyone else gagging to have a go at these supposedly tough wheel/tyre combinations? :twisted:

itboffin

Carbonator wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Ive resigned myself to the fact that if my ultegra two way fit with Vittoria open paves puncture I'll be walking home or camping out for the night.

Why don't you fit the Ultegra's the 'second way'

I would but I can't get the tyres off :P

grenw

deejaysee wrote:

Wheels are the standard Giant PR-2 and either the standard tyres or my Conti 4 seasons.
Both are a total nightmare to get on

It got to the point last night where i just gave up i got so fed up.

Same wheels and tyre combo here and they seem fine, no different to the GP4000s that were on before them. Always need a tyre lever to snap on the last bit (stick the end between the bead and rim and then lift up so the bead slides down the lever and onto the rim with a snap) but no more than any others and no more than the same tyres on the Aksiums on my wife's bike. I use the Park Tools ones but I can't imagine they are any different to others and don't seem to scratch the rims.

If they are coming off monthly anyway they should have eased off a bit. I found with tyres that if they stay on for months they can get a bit set in their ways.

Alex99

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.

I carry one on every ride, and have another in the toolbox.

I've only ever had two punctures on the road, both before i discovered this tool, and both times i tore the new innertube struggling to lever the tyre back onto the wheel in horrible cold rainy conditions. I've torn at least two more the same way changing inner tubes in the garage too! I find all tyres *extremely* hard to get on too (Until i got this tool).

This tool is almost idiot proof.

I second the value of the Var lever. Makes some difficult tyre/rim combos do-able without swearing.

Alex99

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.

I carry one on every ride, and have another in the toolbox.

I've only ever had two punctures on the road, both before i discovered this tool, and both times i tore the new innertube struggling to lever the tyre back onto the wheel in horrible cold rainy conditions. I've torn at least two more the same way changing inner tubes in the garage too! I find all tyres *extremely* hard to get on too (Until i got this tool).

This tool is almost idiot proof.

I got something extremely similar.

The most hilariously inadequate tool I've ever used. Luckily I only paid about £3 for it (thanks to the commuting bargains thread) but wow...so useless I had to laugh!!

It's basically for low pressure, big tyred Dutch bikes I think...so I'm assuming not the same as yours, though it looks the same.

??? you must be doing something odd with it. It's the only way I can fit and remove tyres on one set of wheels. No levers of any kind needed on my other wheels.

Alex99

deejaysee wrote:

Whenever i get a puncture (which is 6 times in 6 months) i absolutely dread having to get my tyre back on.
I can literally spend hours trying.
Its that last quarter or so, its so tight there is absolutely no way its getting on.
In the mean time i'm scratching the s**t out of my rims

Any tips because its utterly ridiculous

Like others have said, practice at home. If you're keeping the wheels, get the VAR tyre lever and practice with it. The thing about using various talc / soap methods for lubing the tyre, I'm sure they work, but you won't have any of this to hand when you're out on the road.

The other thing, you're having too many punctures. Something is going on there.

lostboysaint

I bought one of those tools and have never used it as I learned, not long after purchase, how to fit tyres properly (all of which is covered in this thread) and have never needed it as a result. Yet to find a combo that doesn't succumb to the usual tactics - although, as mentioned, some combos are much more straightforward than others.

photonic69

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.



This tool is almost idiot proof.

They look interesting...but they also look quite big!

Alex99

lostboysaint wrote:

I bought one of those tools and have never used it as I learned, not long after purchase, how to fit tyres properly (all of which is covered in this thread) and have never needed it as a result. Yet to find a combo that doesn't succumb to the usual tactics - although, as mentioned, some combos are much more straightforward than others.

I'd rather not use it... I don't need to most of the time thankfully. As you say, it's just a few combos (in my case the main factor is the rim). There is a fair bit on these 'bogey' rims in the wheelbuilding thread.

Alex99

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.



This tool is almost idiot proof.

They look interesting...but they also look quite big!

Bigger than regular levers, but I'm happy to have them with me when I'm riding certain wheels.

deejaysee

Ok, since i posted this the other day i had another go using the sitting the bead in the deepest part of the rim etc.
Got the damn tyre on without the need to any leavers.....So easy!!

The trick really is to not have the tyre seated while your putting it on

Alex99

deejaysee wrote:

Ok, since i posted this the other day i had another go using the sitting the bead in the deepest part of the rim etc.
Got the damn tyre on without the need to any leavers.....So easy!!

The trick really is to not have the tyre seated while your putting it on

Good stuff

lostboysaint

deejaysee wrote:

Ok, since i posted this the other day i had another go using the sitting the bead in the deepest part of the rim etc.
Got the damn tyre on without the need to any leavers.....So easy!!

The trick really is to not have the tyre seated while your putting it on

Hurrah!

And correct! Which often means completely deflating the inner tube and pushing it right up into the carcass of the tyre so that you can get as much of both beads as possible into the middle of the rim. It then means it's much less susceptible to being pinched as you slip the beads on.

svetty

deejaysee wrote:

Ok, since i posted this the other day i had another go using the sitting the bead in the deepest part of the rim etc.
Got the damn tyre on without the need to any leavers.....So easy!!

The trick really is to not have the tyre seated while your putting it on

Bingo! Everything else is superfluous.....

Secteur

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.



This tool is almost idiot proof.

They look interesting...but they also look quite big!

Barely bigger than normal levers? They disappear completely into my jersey pocket.

Clearly I (like the OP) am missing some special technique when it comes to changing tyres, as it is a major major major difficult task and only just doable with levers - utterly impossible without, so perhaps I am missing something... Off to YouTube to find how I should be doing it!

PS I use conti tyres (4Seasons / 4000's) on various different wheels, and always been a finger shredding, lever snapping, rim scratching nightmare!

Alex99

Secteur wrote:

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Secteur wrote:

Go to eBay, search for "VAR RP42500" and thank me later.



This tool is almost idiot proof.

They look interesting...but they also look quite big!

Barely bigger than normal levers? They disappear completely into my jersey pocket.

Clearly I (like the OP) am missing some special technique when it comes to changing tyres, as it is a major major major difficult task and only just doable with levers - utterly impossible without, so perhaps I am missing something... Off to YouTube to find how I should be doing it!

PS I use conti tyres (4Seasons / 4000's) on various different wheels, and always been a finger shredding, lever snapping, rim scratching nightmare!

I'm 99.9% certain that there are genuine 'bastard' rims, but if you're finding the same issue across various wheels, sorry to say, odds are it is your technique. 9 times out of 10 people seem to crack this issue with some practice and research.

stevie63

I must say I have only just recently figured out the easier technique for getting tyres on and off. Malcolm from the cycle clinic has often posted on here about how it's all about technique. So I had a look on youtube and found a video which shows this technique of pushing the tyre into the well of the rim when removing. What a revelation when trying. No need for levers to get on or off. Just give it a try and see the difference.

Secteur

Yep, agree it must be my technique / perception.

Have never researched how to change a tyre, despite changing dozens! Have done some research now and will see how it goes next time the puncture fairy visits!

That said, the var tool is amazing.

Secteur

stevie63 wrote:

I must say I have only just recently figured out the easier technique for getting tyres on and off. Malcolm from the cycle clinic has often posted on here about how it's all about technique. So I had a look on youtube and found a video which shows this technique of pushing the tyre into the well of the rim when removing. What a revelation when trying. No need for levers to get on or off. Just give it a try and see the difference.

Any chance of a Link? Cheers!