Well I ran into a frustrating situation last night. I got my new tires in the mail (and latex tubes) but they refuse to mount after 15 minutes of using all my strength and 3+ levers at a time (2 holding each end in place and a 3rd to try and force it over the lip). I'm putting so much force that it's bent a metal lever and I'm convinced it would snap a plastic one.

I remember my Pro Race 3 tires being a pain in the ass to mount too but I did it...I remember that I ended up puncturing a tube while mounting them so I'm even more concerned now that I'm using a $15 latex tube instead of $7 butyl. I've mounted clinchers a couple dozen times and never had this much trouble before.

Any tips? I'm thinking of trying to lube the wheelset edge but I'm not very confident that will help much.

Throw them in the dryer for a couple minutes to loosen them up.

I had the same issue when mounting on Dura Ace 7850 tubeless wheels. I think the tire/wheel combo contributes to the difficult mounting. It took me 2 days to mount the tires and for the 2nd tire I needed help from a friend. The dryer trick helped a bit. Wear some leather work gloves to save your hands. I also used some talc on the tire beads. I went through 6 plastic levers and pinched 1 latex tube in the process. I purchased some stronger levers and a bead jack for future battles! Good luck.

CTracer

Is you rim tape thin enough?

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my plastic bikes, 29ers & stable of old steel

Thanks for the dyer and powder tips...I'll definitely give them a try tonight.


Not sure I see where you're going with this.

When I moved from rim tape to veloplugs the slight increase in depth made it slightly easier to mount new tires.

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Pro-Lite Cuneo

Doesn't sound to me like latex tubes are a great idea here?

Ok, I get what you're saying...I probably didn't describe the problem I'm having very well. I'm actually having trouble getting the bead over the rim.

I didn't even get the first bead on last night but I know I can get it on with enough patience and force...what worries me is getting on the 2nd bead with the latex tube inside as I don't want to damage the tube. I was even considering that I was shipped a tire that is too small or the wrong size but I wanted to check here before shipping it back.

After hearing back on here and looking into it a bit more (reviews mostly), it seems that it's just the same for everybody and a few people have actually given up shipped back the tires because of it.

Thin rimtape can make a huge difference as it determines the rim's diameter when mounting the tire. The tyre lies on the rim tape when mounting a tyre and determines how easy it is to get the tyre bead over the rim at the opposite side.

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my plastic bikes, 29ers & stable of old steel

I get what you're saying now. Something for me to look into. Thanks

make sure your tire on the "mounted side" is not actually mounted, but resting in the tire channel, this allows you to pull the side you are trying to get mounted higher, and makes it easier to overcome the edge of your rim. I have hands of Iron and never have to use tools, but the last time I tried to mount my 29er tubeless tires I thought I was going to have a hernia and I busted a lever, then I realized that the bead was caught in the channel, once I broke the bead and forced the back side of the tire in the channel properly all was well!

Are you using easton aluminum rims? Even with veloplugs, I had an unacceptable experience mounting tires to some ea50s. My guess is that as tooling wear occurs and extrusion size increases, rims get more difficult to mount a tire on. Hopefully companies do not hold onto tools too long. Extrusion tools are relatively inexpensive.

I've found pushing the mounted part of the bead to the centre of the rim bed (where the curve of the rim bed means that the rim circumference is smallest) helps as do veloplugs for the reason discussed. Yours does seem to be an extreme example though.

I've mounted the same tires on 3 different rims without any issues. I had a friend that had issues with getting the Corsa's onto a rim. He brought them over and I tried to get them on to my rims and failed. He took them back to the LBS and got a new tire and it went on with little effort.

I have a problem with new EVOs but it goes away after they stretch. For a first mount I use my Var tire levers

http://randonneurextra.blogspot.com/200 ... lever.html

The lever action helps with stubborn tight tires. I haven't used them but I have heard that this type tool also works

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/ProductDis ... =858051928