Why So Hard To Get A Clincher Tyre On

deejaysee

Thanks for all the tips in this thread.
Total sanity-saver

cookeeemonster

Alex99 wrote:

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.

Don't make me buy another one!! (though I'm assuming its different to what I have now)

cookeeemonster

this the same one as on ebay? for £7.50? https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/var-tyre-levers/ (edit actually found these even cheaper elsewhere, cyclebasket and cycleclinic)

Alex99

CookeeeMonster wrote:

this the same one as on ebay? for £7.50? https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/var-tyre-levers/ (edit actually found these even cheaper elsewhere, cyclebasket and cycleclinic)

That's it. Also probably good for getting stones out of horses hooves.

VeloHunter

Changing punctures is a skill that you have to go through a great deal of frustration to learn. I've spent two to three hours trying to change one only to end up with a pinch flat and be back to square one with snapped tyre levers, bloody knuckles and bruised hands.

The bottom line is you need to learn how to do it, once you do you it doesn't hurt, it doesn't take long and you'll get it right first time. YouTube and practise in the comfort of your own home is the way to learn, not out on the road in the rain with your mates staring at you adding to the pressure.

As many have said, some combination of tyres and wheels are easier than others. I can change a puncture in my Shimano wheels with just my hands yet my Pacenti wheels are much tighter and I need to use a lever.

Talking of levers, these are better than anything else on the market ... http://www.harryhallcycles.co.uk/m11b0s ... rs-Long-(2)

Good luck.

ben@31

paul2718 wrote:

Consult YouTube to see if perhaps you're missing something.

In general make sure that where the tyre is already on the rim, the beads are touching in the deepest part of the rim, and then pull from each side right around the wheel until you reach the part of the tyre still to fit. Hard to explain clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88MVtTIH4us

Paul

That video is amazing. Thank you.

By a combination of placing the first side of the tyre into the middle of the wheel (into the well) away from the rim and then exactly what the guy did in that video. I have gone from taking an hour fighting with tyre levers and really sore hands fitting a bastard tyre, only to have multiple pinch flats.
To just 4 minutes just by pain free hand, first attempt, no tyre levers, no pinch flat.