Orbea Gain tyre problem

[Grandad]

After changing tyres and mending punctures for 70 years I've found one that has beaten me.

I've done just under 500 miles on the basic Orbea Gain and want to fit better quality tyres. Just had the front wheel out and can't budge the tyre from the rim, no chance of getting a lever in. Very relieved not to have discovered this with a puncture during a ride.

Fortunately it's booked in with the LBS for investigation of why the motor switches itself on when going downhill (90% of my rides are with the motor switched off - it's only there for some hills). They will also do the first service - which will now include taking the tyres off!

I've had my fair share of difficult tyre/rim combinations over the years but nothing as bad as this.

Has anyone else come across such impossibly tight fitting tyres?

[NickWi]

I briefly had a pair of Marathon Plus on my D20 and they were a real sod to get both on and off, but I understand that's a general issue with those tyres. The OEM tyres (37mm gravel tyres) and the ones I use now, 28mm Pirelli Velo 4s road tyres are no better or worse than anything else I've ever used.

[robgul]

I've had the odd tyre at the shop that wouldn't leave the bead - try using a thin, rigid bit of plastic as a sort of "thin tyre lever" to slide in and just break the bead . . . something akin to a crdit card - just try and break the bead to start with, not get the tyre off. Once it starts to move you should be able to run round the rim and get the tyre off.

WARNING - CARE REQUIRED: You could try pinching the tyre by holding it in a vice (obviously clear of the rim) and gently squeezing the jaws together enough to pop the bead. I've done this a couple of times - with an assistant holding the tyre steady and me holding the rim and working the vice.

Have to say my Gain was no problem when I took off the OEM (Kenda IIRC - which were pretty poor) tyres immediately after I bought it. Replaced with Marathon Greenguards - M Plus are the work of Satan and very heavy/slow.

Rob

[Cyril Haearn]

'Break the bead', do you mean damaging it?

[robgul]

'Break the bead', do you mean damaging it?

NO! - I mean "break the seal between the bead of the tyre and the rim" - the bead of the tyre (which will be steel wires for a rigid tyre or a Kevlar "string" for a folding) sits in the edge of the wheel rim pretty firmly when inflated - it's that seal that you need to break.

FURTHER WARNING - DESPERATION METHOD: You could try riding the machine very slowly and very gently on a good surface with the tube deflated - that MAY get the tyre to unseat.

Rob

[Phil Fouracre]

Perhaps try as car tyre fitters do, ‘squashing’ the tyre! Wide pair of grips with something to spread the load along the tyre, and squeeze the tyre to break the bead. Worked well for me on a number of occasions.

[willcee]

So imagine doing that antic along the road with the wind howling Bloody tubeless type rims and tyres.. my mate changed them completely on his Gain...will

[RickH]

Albeit with limited experience*, but I've found that tubeless compatible rims need a slightly different, rather than harder, technique for removing tyres. I've found I need to press the tyre directly away from the rim sidewall towards the rim well (push the sidewall with both thumbs if necessary) before trying to get the bead over the edge of the rim as normal.

(*Voyager Hypers run with tubes on Hope & WTB rims plus WTB Nanos run tubeless on the WTB rims.)

[mjr]

+1 to pushing the bead into the rim well, holding it there, then levering the opposite side off.

So imagine doing that antic along the road with the wind howling

Why do that? Head for shelter. For example, bus shelters still stand, even in places that haven't had a bus service since Thatcher's regime.

[stodd]

Why do that? Head for shelter. For example, bus shelters still stand, even in places that haven't had a bus service since Thatcher's regime.

Most places I ride are probably more than a mile to the nearest shelter, and I wouldn't know which way to head for the nearest one anyway. And that's just shortish rides around Winchester so hardly remote. (Marathon Plus reduce the problem dramatically though.)

[mjr]

Most places I ride are probably more than a mile to the nearest shelter, and I wouldn't know which way to head for the nearest one anyway. And that's just shortish rides around Winchester so hardly remote. (Marathon Plus reduce the problem dramatically though.)

Reduces one problem, increases two others

I find it difficult to believe that Winchester has less available shelter than the fens. Highlands and mountains possibly, but then hopefully all-year cyclists behave like fenlanders and carry emergency blankets and ponchos and so on just for the very rare occasions your steed fails you.

[stodd]

I find it difficult to believe that Winchester has less available shelter than the fens. Highlands and mountains possibly, but then hopefully all-year cyclists behave like fenlanders and carry emergency blankets and ponchos and so on just for the very rare occasions your steed fails you.

Maybe its just that its so windy in the fens you need more shelters? We're lucky to have quite a few quiet back lanes where I don't think buses ever went even pre-Thatcher. If I really had a bad failure I'm within staggering (or hitching) distance back to home.

[Mike Sales]

I find it difficult to believe that Winchester has less available shelter than the fens. Highlands and mountains possibly, but then hopefully all-year cyclists behave like fenlanders and carry emergency blankets and ponchos and so on just for the very rare occasions your steed fails you.

Maybe its just that its so windy in the fens you need more shelters? We're lucky to have quite a few quiet back lanes where I don't think buses ever went even pre-Thatcher. If I really had a bad failure I'm within staggering (or hitching) distance back to home.

It may be windy here but bus shelters are very rare.

[willcee]

Shelter here is at the root of a dyke,pronounced ''deack'' back under the root of a hedge or under a decent tree... many on here forget that we don't all live in major conurbations but out in the sticks or boonies. as someone else said it could be blooming miles hunting a bus shelter and they are only on trunkish roads.. but exactly correct in the way to dismount the tyres squeeze the sides in and perhaps have a metal tyre lever to hand carefully lift the bead.. to be honest for this particular reason i wouldn't have anything like them about me.. will

[Mike Sales]

I find it difficult to believe that Winchester has less available shelter than the fens. Highlands and mountains possibly, but then hopefully all-year cyclists behave like fenlanders and carry emergency blankets and ponchos and so on just for the very rare occasions your steed fails you.

Maybe its just that its so windy in the fens you need more shelters? We're lucky to have quite a few quiet back lanes where I don't think buses ever went even pre-Thatcher. If I really had a bad failure I'm within staggering (or hitching) distance back to home.

It may be windy here but bus shelters are very rare.