There are some rim/tire combinations that are tighter than others. In my experience, folding tires have a little more give than metal bead tires, so even if the tire is a touch undersized and/or the rim is a touch oversized, you can still make it work. Snakebite in the situation you describe is absolutely you catching a fold of tube between the tire lever and the rim. The number 1 best way to avoid that is to never use a tire lever. Fortunately for me, with my current set of bikes, I can put on and take off all my various tires using only my hands. When I worked at the bike shop it was probably about 2% of tire/rim combos that I needed to use a tire lever. Here's the way I do tight tires (this warrants a youtube):
1. Put one bead of the tire on the rim using only your hands. No tube. Can you do this? If so, then there's no reason you can't get the other bead on without a tire lever, but we'll get to that. 2. Put enough air in the tire that it is tube shaped. Start at the valve stem and nudge it in over the rim without even starting to get the second tire bead on. The more air you have in the tube the bigger diameter the tube will be. If you have too much, you'll end up scrunching tube inside the tire, and that's really bad. If you have too little, the tube will be closer to the diameter of the rim and will be down there in the neighborhood of where it's going to get nipped by your tire lever, and that's also bad. In other words, put as much air in the tube as you can without getting it to scrunch on itself when you are stuffing it inside the tire. 3. Start at the valve stem and get the bead onto the rim and UNDER the thicker disk of rubber around the valve stem. Work around the rim, both ways if you can, one hand in one direction, one hand in the other. If you can't do that, then go two-handed in one direction. Make a point of getting that bead into the center of the rim as best as you can. 4. When it starts to get tight, and you can go no further with your hands, DO NOT start with a tire lever yet. Instead, take the bead back out, about a 12" section. Like when you are facing it, remove a 12" section of bead on the left. Then, from the RIGHT, you should be able to push on a similar 12" section before it gets tight. This gets you an unseated tire section with the tube shoved as far over the rim as possible. 5. Now, this last section that you can't do with your hands you have to do with the lever. As you shove the lever up between the rim and the tire, make a conscious effort to scrape the lever against the sidewall of the rim, so the tube cannot possibly get nipped between lever and rim. Try to walk it over a few mm at a time with a single lever. Try to hold the other end of the gap in place with your other hand. Only if you can't hold it in with your other hand should you use a second tire lever to keep that end of the bead from walking out. 6. Eventually you'll feel that you are at the last bit and you should be able to pop that last section in with your thumbs. You should be able to peek into the rim and confirm there are no folds of tube under the tire bead. On Feb 28, 11:02 am, Minh <mgiangs...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have a really dumb tire question for the collective, i'm asking > because i'm dumb-founded and need help. > > I spent my saturday waiting for the plumber swapping tires around on > my bikes. Schwalbe Marathon + 700x25 went on the go-fast bike. They > were a bear to get seated, and then on, but i was eventually able to > get them on and holding air, ride is not too bad for 25s. > > Put a Schwalbe Marathon + 700x35 on the rear of my Sam H, not as bad > as the 25's, almost able to do the last bit with my hands only. > > Now for the problem, i took what was on my Sam H, a Vredstein 700x35 > touring tire and put it on the front of my cruiser. THe front wheel > is an araya rim-no-name wheel. I was running a 700x25 which was > working fine but wanted the bigger tire. Anyway, the mounting is > really tough for a 700x35--these went on easy on the Sam so maybe it's > just this rim, but the bigger issue is that i've pinch flat three > tubes while trying to mount this tire. I don't believe it's an issue > with the rim or something sharp in the tire as all the flats are the > snake bite pattern and seem to be in different areas of the wheel. > And it's not a case of under-inflating and riding them, they're either > not holding air, or holding it briefly then airing out. > > I thought i knew how to change tubes/tires (i just did 4 last month, > when i built these bikes up) Any ideas before i try another tube? I > can't figure out what i'm missing and it's getting expensive! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
