Tire issue

[JD1234]

I have a bike and the original tire size was 700x25c. I've purchased new tires that are 700x23. I had to use tools to get the first bead of the new tires on the rims and getting the second bead on required a ridiculous amount of effort and resulted in a busted tube. I've spent, literally, 5 hours trying to get the new tire off and can't do it.. and that's with 4 tire levers! It's ridiculously tight and exceptionally difficult just to wedge the lever under the bead. I can pull about 5 inches of tire off the rim but it's so tight I can't remove any more. I've watched at least 10 youtube videos but none address such and issue and not only am I a newbie but I'm lost.

Question: Is it possible the new tire is not big enough for the rim and that's the problem?

I'm working on two bikes. I found the other one difficult to put on and remove tires but it was NOTHING like my current issue.

Thoughts?

 

[Gnufrau]

Most, if not all, modern 700c tires are designed to mount to a rim with a bead diameter of 622mm. Some manufacturers, however, make the bead just a smidge smaller to accomodate higher tire pressures. When installing or removing a tire, make sure that nothing is between the tire and the rim (the tube for example). Also, it may be just a bit easier if you put the part of the bead that is farthest from where you are trying to get the tire off, directly in the center of the tube channel. This space is often rounded to make things just a bit easier on the tube, and putting the far side of the bead you are working on will give you just a smidge more slack to work with. Sometimes that is all it takes.

 

[JD1234]

Awesome. I'll give that a try later on today.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

I've heard of people laying the tire out in the sun for a while first. Lets the tire get soft and more manageable. Never had to do it but heard it works.

 

[JD1234]

Trying to move the opposite bead to the center didn't work so now it's sitting in the sun. Even if I'm successful at removing the tire and miraculously inserting a new new tube without destroying it the fact remains I'm going to get a flat some day and it won't be serviceable on the side of the road and I'll be stuck and have to call a cab. Fixing a flat should take 5-15 minutes, period. I'm at home wearing leather work gloves (thank goodness or my hands would be destroyed!) using four tire levers over 5 hours and can't even get the tire off much less remove and fix the tube then put it all back together. It's freaking insanity. It should NOT be this difficult... I don't care how inexperienced I am. I think I'm going to take the wheel and tire to the bike shop, give the person my levers and ask them to show me how to deal with the issue. My guess is they will have just as hard of a time with it as me and if so then I'll rethink the equipment.

 

[JD1234]

Ok, during the time I was writing that rant the sun heated it up and I was able to get it off in about two minutes.

 

[JD1234]

So I put a new tube in and manage to poke a hole in it too. The tire is simply to tight to put on by hand and levers are absolutely necessary for the last 1/3 of the process. Sadly my work space is out of sunlight so I'll have to wait until another day when the sun is shining to remove the tire. Guess I'll never ride on a cold or cloudy day. This is stupid.

 

[oldbobcat]

You give up easily.

Gnufrau has half the story for getting a tight tire on. The other half is, when your setting the second bead in the rim, start opposite the valve and finish at the valve. The the valve displaces some circumference, so saving it for last makes it easier.

Here's my tire installation that never fails. That's never, as in not ever.

1. Make sure the rim strip covers the poke holes, has no wrinkles or folds, and is otherwise lying flat inside the rim; and make sure there's nothing sharp in the tire.
2. Set the bead on one side in the rim.
3. Inflate the tube with a puff of air, insert the valve into the rim hole, and insert the rest of the tube into the tire.
4. Starting opposite the valve, start pressing the bead into the rim; as you get closer to the valve, make sure the tube is completely deflated and press the tire bead that's already on toward the center of the channel where the circumference is smallest; this is also a good time to make sure there's no section of tube peeking out beneath the bead.
   
5. Continue where you left off, using heels of your hands, or, if they're strong and not prone to getting dislocated, your thumbs. Persevere.
6. After you pop in over the valve, push the valve into the tire to make sure that bulky stiff section of tube that connects to the valve is inside the tire.
7. (Optional) Inspect your wheel for bits of tube peeking out under the bead. If there are, work them out before inflating.
8. Inflate.

Seriously, it works.

 

[Froze]

Keep in mind that a difficult to install tire means that in the rare event you have a blow out the tire will remain on the rim whereas a easy to mount tire will come right off which could put you and the rim and onto the ground along with a scuffed up rim and whatever damages your body took on.

There are some tools that can make installing tough tires a lot easier like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-VAR-Tir...736608?hash=item43d420eda0:g:Ok4AAOSwPgxVNbbT This tool simply snaps the tire right over the rim with relative ease and no way to pinch the tube in the process.

 

[JD1234]

I got a tube patch kit today to repair one of the busted tubes. I like the tire jack tool idea and if I'm unsuccessful tonight then I'll get one. Other than that I'll try to adjust my methods a bit but the fact remains these tires are insanely difficult to deal with. I will get them on though that I promise! I think I'm at about 9 hours for the first tire though. SMH.

 

[JD1234]

Success! I figured out how to deal with the problem! After 9 hours of frustration and 3 busted tubes to get my first tire on it took 10 minutes to do the second and no busted tube. The bike store guy gave me a suggestion: find something you can put the tire on then use your body weight to stretch it out. My patio cover had a few exposed 2x4's so I hung the tire over one of them and let is support all 165 lbs of me then I rotated the tire about 5 inches and did it again. I repeated this process until I made one full revolution of the tire and I could hear it stretching especially in the beginning. It was still tight but I was able to use my tire levers to get both the first and second beads on. Through this whole ordeal I was also able to develop a decent method to remove the tires. Oh, and I learned how to patch tubes too. Thanks for your help!