OT: Got any tips for changing difficult bike tyres?

Had a rather impressive failure of the rear tyre on my mountain bike the other day - the rubber tore free of the bead, let the tube pop out the side of the tyre and the break calliper shredded it nicely as I was riding along. Loud bang and I squirmed to a halt - fortunately on a quite bit of road!

Anyway, getting the tyres on an off these rims seems to be a bastard of a job. I know all the theory about how you are supposed to be able to do most of the work with your thumbs etc. Now while that works on most wheels, not these. Not sure if they are slightly over sized or what, but the only way to get the tyre on or off seems to involve a vice, lots of long levers and much swearing! I eventually got the sodding thing back on the wheel on the fifth attempt - the first four having to be undone to fix the holes I made in the tube getting it on!

Any suggestions for doing this the "easy" way?

Reply to
John Rumm
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I did this sort of thing with motorbike tyres many years ago and modified the method to teach a couple of GFs how to do it with bicycle tyres. The main aspect was having sufficient air in the tube to enable the use of levers to get the tyre on but not pucture the tube. If there's too much air it makes the job much harder.

There's a video here:

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way down the page - not exactly as I do it but there might be some tips that are useful.

Reply to
PeterC

Soap and water, if still tricky loosen each spoke by two turns.

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link and many more will aid in alignment.

Reply to
Nitro®

The secret with motorbike tyres (both removal and re-fitting) is to get the "other side" of the bead you are working on right into the spoke-well. Unfortunately modern bike wheels don't have these. Agree about putting a bit of air in the tube for refitting.

Reply to
newshound

Tube popping out of the tyre blows without the aid of brake blocks - BTDT. But that's often caused by the brakes wearing the tyre itself - your brakes are adjusted properly aren't they?

The most important bit to know is that rims aren't flat at the bottom, so you need to get the bead sitting in the lowest possible portion for as much of the circumference as possible in order to get you length to stretch the last bit over.

There are people who say that's sufficient knowledge, and can get tyres on and off with hands alone (no levers). I'm not one of them, and I'm not sure how they'd cope with some of the more strenuous tyres - eg the Marathon Plus on little Birdy wheels.

For most of my tyres, normal decent plastic tyre levers are enough - put the bead in the bottom of the rim, use levers to get tyre off, thumbs to get it back on again.

When things get trickier, you're not supposed to use levers to get the tyre back on. This is because unless you're very careful, you'll pinch the tube with the lever. I'm very careful :-) You have to make sure the tube is in the right place (pushed to the top of the tyre, away from the rim), then things go in. Sometimes it's easier with the tube completely flat, sometimes a little bit of air helps. Trouble with air is it means the tube is pushing the rim out of the bottom section on the rest of the wheel.

For the birdy tyres, I've done what you're really never supposed to do at all, which is use a hefty screwdriver. The downside is it does scratch the rim, as well as being even easier to hole the tube and even damage the tyre. The upside for me is the tyres are now on :-)

I've never used a vice, or lots of levers - three is sufficient. And I suspect your thumbs are stronger than mine and your tyres easier to fit than my worst ones. So I'd go with :

Decent plastic tyre levers - park are ok, if a bit chunky, I liked my Tacx ones till they broke, the one for when you're getting nowhere is a Var lever. Tyre sitting in base of rim. Take care with where the tube is.

Reply to
Clive George

Yup - the tyre was old and getting perished. I had also recently reinflated, so ten mins of riding was enough to push it over the edge.

As it happens these are Marathon plus. 26" wheels though.

Yup, for the kids bikes or even my road bike this normally works fine for me. Just this particular combination seems difficult.

BTDTGTTS!

Well I thought I would replace the front one at the same time - so I shall go have another go. ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

:-) M+ are notorious for being the hardest tyres to get on. Probably something to do with the rigidity of the case. The 700c ones I had a go at at Christmas just took normal plastic levers though.

Good luck. At least if you succeed you shouldn't have to remove them for a long time :-)

Reply to
Clive George

As others have said, making sure that the bead has dropped right into the lowest part of the rim on the diametrically opposite part of the wheel that you're applying levers to is the key. A bit of trapped air in the tube can make this difficult sometimes so do make sure that the tube is completely deflated wheh removing the tyre.

Also, a little air in the tyre when fitting helps to prevent tube damage.

Always worth looking to see what the guru had to say on the subject. (Sheldon Brown).

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Reply to
Tim Downie

As others have said, making sure that the bead has dropped right into the lowest part of the rim on the diametrically opposite part of the wheel that you're applying levers to is the key. A bit of trapped air in the tube can make this difficult sometimes so do make sure that the tube is completely deflated wheh removing the tyre.

Also, a little air in the tyre when fitting helps to prevent tube damage.

Always worth looking to see what the guru had to say on the subject. (Sheldon Brown).

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Reply to
Tim Downie

It turns out I was telling porkies - M+ was one I was looking at - but not what I ordered in the end. The were actually Schwalbe Land Cruiser - a road/ off road crossover tyre.

OK just done that one. Went better...

My wheels (Specialized ali rims) don't have much "well" to give extra slack, however the front tyre was a Maxiss and that was easier to get off than the back one. I also found a better technique for getting the new one on. I got as far round as I could by hand and then used a quick clamp to hold one "end". Using a pair of plastic "irons" I found I could slide the dished side of the lever up under the bead and over the rim, and could then leaver the bead over the rim. The trick was to then actually partially undo that, by bringing the leaver back again to make for a slacker fit, and get the next leaver in and under about half an inch further along. Bring both over, and then relax and repeat. Uing both together meant they did not bend either. So got that one on without any damage to the tube or rim.

Don't think I would fancy doing that repair by the roadside though!

Reply to
John Rumm

I second that - I put a pair on my Brompton (16" wheels) last weekend and they were a pig!

Reply to
Peter Watson

Should be trivial.

For an MTB, I'm assuming 26" x 2-point-something tyres.

2 x normal plastic tyre-levers, which are around 5" long. Do use proper plastic tyre levers, not metal ones which will damage ally rims.

Lever one under the bead, lever it up, and clip it under a spoke. Lever the second under the bead an inch or two away, and slide it round the rim. After a quarter-turn or so, you can dispense with the levers; it will fall off the rim. Now, grab the half-removed tyre and tube together at the valve, and pull the valve stem up and out of the rim, whilst at the same time pulling the second bead off the rim. The whole thing will then just fall off.

Getting them back on is the reverse. Get one bead on by hand. Insert tube, starting from valve, and work both ways to the opposite end. Ensure valve is poking out straight - rotate / shuffle tube till it is. The outer bead will go on mostly by hand, but again you'll need the levers for the last bit. *be carefull* not to nip the tube!

Poke the valve ( and hence tube ) up briskly into the tyre to ensure the tube is not caught there, and partially inflate. Inspect the beads for correct seating all the way round before fully inflating.

Reply to
Ron Lowe

I just put a set of Michelin Pro3 race 700x23c foldables onto my road bike, and they were a bit of a pig. I'd expected that without the wires, they foldables might be easier, but no.

I've got a big ride out on Saturday, 185 miles with a million feet of climb. It's called the Snow Roads Audax...

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map:
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be fun...

Reply to
Ron Lowe

I think that is the sort of thing I do sometimes, with hard to get on tyres. I've used an old toe strap to hold the tyre/

Clive mentioned the Var tyre lever, for some people/some tyres it really does work better.

It basically gives you a way of applying leverage to the bead from 'outside ' of the tyre.

Reply to
chris French

Lol, yup I know how its supposed to work as well.

This was how I discovered you could bend a tire iron through 100 degrees without the tyre moving one bit.

Fat chance with these.

Reply to
John Rumm

Did that as a Perm. back in '87. Foggy for some of the first part but through the Cairngorms was silent and black. No trafic, lights, moon or owt. Really enjoyed that part.

All the best with it.

Reply to
PeterC

Ah, those tires... I have them too.

Haven't actually spent on it, but it is supposed to help: "Schwalbe Easy Fit Tyre Mounting Fluid"...

Thomas Prufer

Reply to
Thomas Prufer

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