Tips for fitting tyres to WH-6800 rims?

[Cyclothesist]

I have a set of WH-6800 wheels which are a lovely alloy wheelset but being old tubeless-ready they have a very shallow central well. I run with tubes and am not switching to tubeless on a 25c tyre. This makes fitting a new tyre a bit of a wrestling match. I gave up trying to fit a set of Lithion 3s to them because they were so tight. Schwalbe Duranos go on easier so that's what I had been using until Schwalbe stopped making them and I used up my stock. The Schwalbe One is the new Durano and while it looks very similar is a bit tighter. I had to employ 531colin's marathon tactics (lots of pushing the bead into the well, 2 toe straps to anchor the fitted sections of bead) and reasonable force with a VAR tyre lever to pop the last bit over.
Anyone got any tips for a good experience on fitting clinchers to this wheelset?

[Jdsk]

You've found Colin's video, so you know about dropping it into the well.

Is that the general purpose VAR lever? I now have the Kool Stop rim lever and a Tyre Glider, as discussed here:
viewtopic.php?t=159972

Jonathan

[Cyclothesist]

Hi Jonathan, thank you. It's the Var lever pictured below. It hooks on the opposite rim and uses that as a fulcrum to haul the tyre bead up and over the near side rim.
The difficulty is in large part due to the shallowness of the well on the wh-6800s. I'll have a look at the other tools you suggested.

[NickJP]

Are you starting fitting of the bead opposite the valve and finishing fitting the bead at the valve? If you do it that way, you can get the already fitted section of bead into the well at the centre of the rim all the way around, which makes it easier to get the final bit of bead over the rim wall. If you do it the other way around, then the valve prevents the already-fitted section of bead at that point from going into the well, making the tyre harder to fit.

[Brucey]

it is certainly best if you finish at the valve as previously suggested. Some rim/tyre combinations have been so bad they have made my thumbs sore, but I have seldom failed.

[Cyclothesist]

That's a yes for starting opposite the valve.

[keyboardmonkey]

I have that wheelset. I never use a tool to fit a tyre with them. From memory I’ve only ever fitted Continental GP4000Sii and GP5000 (clincher). No bother at all even with my slightly arthritic hands (and I fit at the valve first).

[Cyclothesist]

Having scoured the forum I've found one tip that I hadn't applied - to fit every section of the bead to the rim at least once.

For future I'll try:
1. Start opposite 'side' from the valve
2. Push bead into the middle of the well working from opposite to towards the valve
3. At the tight section by the valve fit the bead to the rim by allowing a nearby section of fitted bead to pop out if necessary
4. Repeat step 2
5. Apply toe straps to the end of the seated bead sections
6. Fit the last unseated bead section ideally by hand but by VAR lever if necessary.

Thanks to 531colin for most of this (see the video in his signature), and PH for the tip on fitting every part of the bead at least once.(viewtopic.php?p=1783891&hilit=tyre+tight+once#p1783891)

[Cyclothesist]

I have that wheelset. I never use a tool to fit a tyre with them. From memory I’ve only ever fitted Continental GP4000Sii and GP5000 (clincher). No bother at all even with my slightly arthritic hands (and I fit at the valve first).

Thanks keyboardmonkey. I've never used those tyres. There's definitely a difference in tightness between the makes of tyre. One to try for the future.

[Brucey]

FWIW rims with a shallow-looking well are often problematic. Not only may the well depth be less than normal, but unless the bead is under some tension all the time, it won't stay in the deepest part of the rim well, where it needs to be.

[Cyclothesist]

You're not wrong there Brucey! Out of the box a new folding tyre has several creases in the bead which reduce the effective diameter and don't help fitting it. Once it's been fitted it comes off and goes on again much easier. Maybe PHs tip helps to remove the creases and stretch out the bead? It's definitely easier if you're working in the warm with more pliable rubber rather than the cold, but sometimes that isn't an option.

[wjhall]

FWIW rims with a shallow-looking well are often problematic. Not only may the well depth be less than normal, but unless the bead is under some tension all the time, it won't stay in the deepest part of the rim well, where it needs to be.

After years of putting tyres into 27 in rims with my hands, without difficulty, I built some 700C wheels and found it increasingly difficult despite having watched Colin's video and adopted his techniques some years ago. Recently I reached complete impasse and despair with a Schwalbe Durano tyre on LX17 rims. Viewing the video again I spotted the essential difference and succeeded fairly quickly. The key is the hand rolling motion as he works his way around the tyre.

With 27 in tyres you could more or less just tap the tyre into the well and then slip the other side on. This does not work with shallow rims and tighter tyres, the steady rolling motion is essential.