Very good idea! I'll give it a try. It seemed anathema to end at the valve, but it makes the moat sense to leverage it the way you state.
René Sent from my iPhone 4 On Feb 28, 2011, at 9:05 PM, "Bill M." <bmenn...@comcast.net> wrote: > I use a slightly different method than my namesake that I believe > gives a little more forgiveness with a very tight tire. > > Start with one bead on and enough air in the tube to give it some > shape. I (being right handed) start mounting the second bead just to > the left of the valve, and go around the wheel to the left. The very > *last* section to snap over will be right at the valve. Release a > little air from the tube as you go if it gets too hard to push the > bead over the rim. It you get stuck at the last few inches, release > *all* of the air from the tube. Now, starting opposite the valve, > push the second bead of the tire away from the rim flange so it can > drop into the middle of the rim where the diameter is the smallest. > Work as much slack as possible towards the stem on both sides. Then, > as you push the last bit of the bead over the rim and just before it > snaps down, push the valve stem up into the tire so that it lifts the > tube and the tire can slip down beneath the valve without pinching the > tube. > > That sounds a little complicated, but it gives you the absolute most > slack you can get in the tire. This method lets me mount pretty much > any tire without using a lever, and without pinch flats. > > This technique did not originate with me, I got it from a pictogram on > the box of a stupidly skinny and tight Michelin tire back in the > 80's. Years ago I described it in a letter that was published in a > Riv Reader. It still works. > > Bill > > On Feb 28, 12:13 pm, William <tapebu...@gmail.com> wrote: >> 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. > -- 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.
