Why are my tyres so hard to change?

I've tried three different brands of tyres and yet it's all but impossible to swap out a tyre on my road bike. It's like the wheel is too big!

I've tried using several levers, heating the tyre with a hair dryer or leaving it in the sun for a while but it's impossible. It takes two people and lots of swearing to get it done if you are lucky.

I punctured on the way to the start line of a sportive last summer and it took myself and a very experienced mechanic 20 minutes to get the tyre back on. He said it was the worst he'd seen in years.

Other than forking out for new wheels any suggestions?

crosstownk

What wheel/tyre combination?

I've never had a tyre that I couldn't get on to a rim. However, I have had tyres that were incredibly difficult to fit. Mavic Yksion were a b1tch to fit. A smear of washing up liquid can help.

I've also had tyres that I could fit by just rolling them on by hand - Michelin Pro4 SC rolled on to my previous Giant PR rims but the same tyres need gentle persuasion with levers to fit Campagnolo and Fulcrum rims.

magicbastarder

in my (limited) experience, folding tyres are much easier. had continental grand sports on a previous bike and they were a bastard to get on and off, found gp4000s which i replaced them with much easier.

Wishbone Ash

Have you/can you borrow a wheel just to see if they are easier on another brand?

Springy Turf

Deleted User wrote: »

I've tried three different brands of tyres and yet it's all but impossible to swap out a tyre on my road bike. It's like the wheel is too big!

I've tried using several levers, heating the tyre with a hair dryer or leaving it in the sun for a while but it's impossible. It takes two people and lots of swearing to get it done if you are lucky.

I punctured on the way to the start line of a sportive last summer and it took myself and a very experienced mechanic 20 minutes to get the tyre back on. He said it was the worst he'd seen in years.

Other than forking out for new wheels any suggestions?

Try "How To Fit Any Difficult-To-Fit Bike Tyre" - it has a few suggestions. When I have had difficulty, soapy water has been the most successful method for me. Once the tire has been on and off a couple of times, I find it gets a little easier.

Wishbone Ash

Springy Turf wrote: »

.. soapy water has been the most successful method for me...

Fine if at home but not really accessible at the side of a road.

07Lapierre

Bought a set of Conti GP5000’s recently. Fitted them to a set of Fulcrum Quattro wheels... no issue.

So I bought another set to put on a set of Fast-forward wheels. Geez I nearly burst a blood vessel trying to get them on! Bizzarly for the tyre onto the rear wheel (eventually) but could not for the life of me get it onto the front wheel.

Eventually gave up and bought a pair of Pirelli P Zero tyres.. went on no problem.

There's a special place in hell reserved for gatorskin tyres imo.

thekooman

what type of wheels have you? if its a set of Mavic UST's you may have issues trying to put on normal clinchers.

Wishbone Ash

Deleted User wrote: »

There's a special place in hell reserved for gatorskin tyres imo.

Gators are handy enough compared to Schwalbe Marathons.

John Hutton

I use marathons and marathon extremes. Really hard but there are some techniques that will help. Brute force will not do it, there are some good videos on YouTube specific to those tires which are universally regarded as really tough to get on and off.

John_Rambo

My bike has Schwalbe kojak tyres.

To fix a puncture you need three days, a bottle of baby oil, two kilos of talcum powder, fourteen tyre levers, Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his prime), four hands and Keith Duffy.

cletus

I was going to complain about the Schwalbe Smart Sam's I put on one of my bikes. I literally (well maybe figuratively) kicked my wheels around the kitchen trying to get them on

But then I saw Rambo had similar struggles, so I thought, **** it Cletus, you're not doing too bad

John_Rambo

Tell the lads Keith sentye.

magicbastarder

and then when you get the bastard on - the bead doesn't sit right into the rim so you get a flat spot.

this is more where the soapy water comes in. i would *not* recommend soapy water getting the tyre *onto* the wheel, you need as much grip as possible doing that, i.e. not to destroy any grip you had in trying to pull the damn thing into place.

Wishbone Ash

magicbastarder wrote: »

and then when you get the bastard on - the bead doesn't sit right into the rim so you get a flat spot....

....or the rotational direction is wrong... ....or the fcuking logo isn't over the valve! :mad:

cletus

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

....or the rotational direction is wrong... ....or the fcuking logo isn't over the valve! :mad:

I generally set my logos at about 17°, but no more that 21°, counterclockwise from the valve

Shai

I bought this tool a while back: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A855QRY. It helped me a lot. It's no miracle tool, but there was deffo less swearing involved than usual.

John_Rambo

John_Rambo wrote: »

My bike has Schwalbe kojak tyres.

To fix a puncture you need three days, a bottle of baby oil, two kilos of talcum powder, fourteen tyre levers, Arnold Schwarzenegger (in his prime), four hands and Keith Duffy.

Sounds like my experience!

Springy Turf

Springy Turf wrote: »

Try "How To Fit Any Difficult-To-Fit Bike Tyre" - it has a few suggestions. When I have had difficulty, soapy water has been the most successful method for me. Once the tire has been on and off a couple of times, I find it gets a little easier.

Is that the GCN video? Not much help and the tyre he fits slips on like a cotton shirt!

route66

I used to have lots of difficulty fitting tyres before I adopted the following technique which I read about somewhere:

Go as far as you can until you get to the last difficult bit (which should be nowhere near the valve). Then try harder. Keep going until you have the absolute minimum of bead exposed. Then, and only then, turn your attention to the opposite side of the wheel; squeeze the beads together and push these into the well of the rim. This should provide enough clearance so that you can push the remainder of the tyre in.

This has worked well for me on GP4000s, wire rimmed Schwalbe Marathon tyres, wire rimmed gatorskins, etc and mostly without tyre levers - just roll the last bit on.

Alanbt

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Fine if at home but not really accessible at the side of a road.

I bring a tiny bottle (size of baby finger) of washing up liquid in saddle pack for this. Just use for sliding on last bit of tyre. Find it helps when a tight squeeze

Fian

Shai wrote: »

I bought this tool a while back: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A855QRY. It helped me a lot. It's no miracle tool, but there was deffo less swearing involved than usual.

I have one of these, or really i should say had.

It bent out of shape when i was putting on my gatorskins so it doesn't work anymore.

Also not really a tool you can keep in a saddlebag, more for home use.

murphyebass

[Deleted User] wrote: »

There's a special place in hell reserved for gatorskin tyres imo.

Since my gatorskins have been on I’ve had zero punctures but I’m moving to Pirelli P Zero 4S this week hopefully (they’re in the post :-) ) for two reasons:

1. If they ever were to puncture, however unlikely that it’s, I think I’d be on the side of the road for a looooong time trying to get them back on. More likely I’d have to call the wife for a lift home.

2. Grip. Gatorskins are absolutely terrifying in the wet and let’s face it we don’t have all year round dry weather.

mh_cork

Shai wrote: »

I bought this tool a while back: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A855QRY. It helped me a lot. It's no miracle tool, but there was deffo less swearing involved than usual.

I came into this thread with the intention of suggesting this too.

Makes some difference to getting Marathon tyres on.

I also use a set of aluminium Lezyne tyre levers - lots of people will say dont use metallic levers, but after breaking multiple plastic ones, these are my goto set.

Type 17

route66 wrote: »

I used to have lots of difficulty fitting tyres before I adopted the following technique which I read about somewhere:

Go as far as you can until you get to the last difficult bit (which should be nowhere near the valve). Then try harder. Keep going until you have the absolute minimum of bead exposed. Then, and only then, turn your attention to the opposite side rest of the wheel; squeeze the beads together and push these into the well of the rim. This should provide enough clearance so that you can push the remainder of the tyre in.

This has worked well for me on GP4000s, wire rimmed Schwalbe Marathon tyres, wire rimmed gatorskins, etc and mostly without tyre levers - just roll the last bit on.

This. (with my slight edit)

Even with the above method, some tyres/rims are just bigger/smaller than the spec (like how some shoe brands run big or small, so you have to go up or down a half-size or so to get the fit you normally expect).

Conti's are tight, Schwalbe are a bit tight too. Giant branded tyres are so loose that you need to check that they are seated properly before you go up past ~20PSI.

Some rims run big (some Mavics) - I've broken a few plastic tyre levers putting Continentals onto Mavics, even using the above method.

Wishbone Ash

murphyebass wrote: »

Since my gatorskins have been on I’ve had zero punctures but I’m moving to Pirelli P Zero 4S this week hopefully (they’re in the post :-) ) for two reasons:

1. If they ever were to puncture, however unlikely that it’s, I think I’d be on the side of the road for a looooong time trying to get them back on. More likely I’d have to call the wife for a lift home.

2. Grip. Gatorskins are absolutely terrifying in the wet and let’s face it we don’t have all year round dry weather.

I punctured Gators several times and blew the side out of one. They are by no means puncture proof. There's a knack to getting them on and can be easily done on the roadside without levers.

I stopped using them a few years ago because, as you say, they are very dodgy in the wet especially the extra durable version of them - can't recall the sub-name of them (Dead something?).

murphyebass

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I punctured Gators several times and blew the side out of one. They are by no means puncture proof. There's a knack to getting them on and can be easily done on the roadside without levers.

I stopped using them a few years ago because, as you say, they are very dodgy in the wet especially the extra durable version of them - can't recall the sub-name of them (Dead something?).

You must be travelling some very beat up roads full of glass and nails.

I’ve not had one puncture thankfully with them.

But yeah the grip is just atrocious so time to change for me. Would rather a few more punctures and more grip personally.

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

... they are very dodgy in the wet especially the extra durable version of them - can't recall the sub-name of them (Dead something?).

Gator Hard Shells (don't know where I got the 'dead' from.

murphyebass wrote: »

You must be travelling some very beat up roads full of glass and nails...

Not really but I do recall that when I punctured, it was usually a nail, tack, industrial staple etc.

murphyebass

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Gator Hard Shells (don't know where I got the 'dead' from.

Not really but I do recall that when I punctured, it was usually a nail, tack, industrial staple etc.

I must have been very lucky so.

As it happens my new Pirelli’s just arrived.

Hope they fit the bike now. I went with 25’s to see what all the fuss was about.

woody1

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Gators are handy enough compared to Schwalbe Marathons.

glad to hear this, was trying to put a set onto the young fellas bike, got the front one on eventually but tore the tube with the levers, didnt even try the back one, itl be going into the bike shop soon and they can do it ..