How do you avoid pinch punctures changing tube?

Zen0

Found myself with a puncture while out yesterday. I ended up giving my spare tube a pinch puncture while getting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim. It's a tight fit and I found I had to use the tyre lever to get it on. Any advice on how best to avoid this? Are some tyres better than others, or is there some technique I'm missing?

iridemybike

Brute force and ignorance

Mr. Grieves

Don't use a tyre lever! Some tyres are much more difficult than others to get on to the rim - with one particular cheap Continental tyre I did the same as you multiple times in a row. I changed to a different tyre and had no problems after that.

Lumen

Partially inflate the tube before putting the tyre back on.

OEMBS

Best practice (IMO) for avoiding pinches,
Fill the tube with just enough air to make it round.
Have one side of the tyre on the rim.
Insert valve through rim.
Starting at the valve,slightly push the valve back into the tyre to avoid the tyre bead not seating, feed the other side of the tyre in by hand, working both side leaving the section opposite the valve to last.
By hand push the tyre back into place, if too tight use a PLASTIC/FIBERGLASS lever, put the tube in first then lever the tyre on.
Inflate... done.

Tip when taking off the tire if your work the edge of the tyre back into the middle of the rim loosening the bead and starting opposite the valve the tire will slide off with no effort.

Icyseanfitz

also make sure you have the tyre seated properly after you think you have it on or else you could be deaf for 2 minutes haha

Zen0

Thanks all. I guess there's no secret formula, other than to be careful. It didn't help on the day that I was being eaten alive by midges at the time, but I reckon I need to work on my technique.

MediaMan

What I find is that getting the tyre 90% back on is fine and the last 10% is the killler. Got a great tip which works for me anyway. Once you've got to that stage (tube in place, one tyre bead fully in place, the other bead 90% in), do the following. Starting from the end of the tyre that is diametrically opposite the bit that is still left outside the rim, work the bead into the centre of the wheel (the deepest part - half way between the rim edges) around both directions on the circumference towards the stubborn bit. Then the last bit of the bead should slip over the rim, into place. If it doesn't, repeat the process.

Hard to explain in words - needs a video!

Also, I've you've partially inflated the tube to help get it on, you may need to let the most of the air out again in order to get the tyre bead into the centre without the tube pushing it back to the edge again.

Zen0

Thanks MediaMan, that sounds like really good advice.

DisasterIRL

I found the best way to pass that final hurdle is to roll the tyre over the rim. A bit hard to explain, but if you have the bead towards the base of your fingers and as you're pulling up roll the tip of your fingers up towards the bead.

If you get this right, nearly, all tyres will be easy, it's something you get with practice