I can't get tyres back on rim - Mavic T519

[Helen]

15 May update: see today's post for my good news!!! Have concluded it's all about having fairly new tyres, good pressure and not too narrow.

Never had a problem with tyres till recent years. Now, even bigger, stronger people struggle with replacing my tyres. And I DID stipulate to the wheel builder what I needed. Do they ever listen?

I have Mavic T519 rims and any tyres I can get as they wear out on tour. At the moment, a Conti Top Touring 2000 on the front and a Chinese thing on the back (Cheng Shin - cost me £20 in Denmark but the shop wouldn't put it on. When I finally needed it in Germany, I was charged £20 for a new inner tube and labour charge for putting on my own tyre.)

Apart from losing time and a lot of money, there's the danger aspect of being stuck. Do you want to hear about me being chased by 3 aggressive men in a van in France? I'm a small woman and usually tour alone.

I REALLY need rims and matching tyres that I can replace myself. Any suggestions?

[reohn2]

I've never had problems with Schwalbe tyres on a variety of rims ie,Mavic 719,271,Rigida Sputnik,DRC STtouring.
In the past if I've had trouble with tight tyres I've used a little washing up liquid on the bead of the tyre (between tyre and rim)to lubricate,though in an emergency I suppose sun cream/Oil of Ulay/hair shampoo/bar of soap wetted, would do the trick.
If you find a good tyre to rim combination you could carry a spare folding tyre of that make,if a folder isn't available its a case of doubling a rigid bead one into a figure of eight then folding the two loops together so halving the size of the tyre(hope that makes sense),then strapping it to the rack or pannier.

[Helen]

That's how I carried my Danish tyre.

It's not so much the spare tyre situation as the dread of a puncture thing. It's a major worry nowadays.
In the past, it was ME who used to get everyone's tyre back on with careful use of a tyre lever, and never popped one till lately.

[reohn2]

That's how I carried my Danish tyre.

It's not so much the spare tyre situation as the dread of a puncture thing. It's a major worry nowadays.
In the past, it was ME who used to get everyone's tyre back on with careful use of a tyre lever, and never popped one till lately.

Are you saying you're nipping the tube whilst replacing the tyre?
If so try putting a little bit of air in the tube first (it trial and error as to how much)put the tube inside the tyre (off the rim)then put the valve through the hole in the rim,next get the first bead on the rim the one furthest away from you,starting at the valve,next starting at the valve again get the second bead on but saving the last bit of tyre to go on NOT opposite the valve but 1/4 way round the rim, the bit of air in the tube keeps it away from the tyre lever.

If you mean a fear of puncturing due to past experience ie feeling vulnerable whilst immobile(three men in a van scenario)then a more reliable tyre is the answer,Schwalbe Marathons I've found fit the bill,for extra insurance Schwalbe Marathon Plus is the ultimate answer,though the Plusses are hard to get on the rim they are virtually puncture proof so once fitted they seldom need to come off other than when they're worn out.

Another thing to examine is how you ride or to be more precise where you ride on the road ie try to keep out of the gutter where the debris is and try to avoid potholes especially when loaded.

Tyre pressures are another area that could be examined,are you riding with enough tyre pressure?

Are you riding a tyre too close to the limit of its life, I know someone who will ride a tyre until the canvas is showing through! then wonders why he always punctures.Perhaps a new set of tyres at the start of every long tour for peace of mind £35 not a lot for peace of mind.
How often do you examine your tyres for cuts,imbedded flints,shards of glass,small thorns all which will work their way further into the tyre the more they are ridden on,a small knife blade or sharpened nail can be used to remove these potential punctures before they become a threat.


You come across as an experienced cyclotourist so forgive me if I'm teaching Grandma to suck eggs.

[thirdcrank]

Helen

I'd be slow to offer advice to somebody with your level of experience. OTOH I have those rims on a couple of my bikes and because of the relatively deep well, I find tyre fitting OK.

I appreciate you are looking for advice on tyre / rim combinations but have you considered a VAR tyre lever? They get a lot of recommendations.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-VAR- ... er-903.htm

[Helen]

Thanks for your help!

Yes, I do ride carefully re road position etc and try to be careful about tyre pressure. Maybe the tyres have been on the baldy side and prone to puncture by gravel in the rain (the reason for my last 3 punctures).

Although I've usually favoured Kevlar tyres in the past (the sidewalls splitting before wearing out), I've decided I'd rather have an easier-to-replace combination. Believe me, grown men have sweated, trying to replace my tyres in the last couple of years. I had to resort to asking strangers cos I'd tried for 2 hours to get them back on.

Never heard of that gadget, but I'm desperate!

[reohn2]

Helen
I've just been out to the bike shed and dug out an old 7sp wheel I have which lo and behold has a Mavic 519 rim attached!
I fitted four different tyres to it (not all at once of course) a Schwalbe Marathon HS308(32mm),Panaracer RibMo(28mm),a Conti Gatorskin (25mm)and finally another HS268 Marathon(32mm)all with my hands easily, and then removed them with one tyre lever very easily.
I'm concluding that either your rims are part of a bad production run or your tyre choice/availablity has been particularly bad luckwise.
If I were a betting man(which I'm not)I'd be putting my money on it being Mavic's fault(not unheard of).

[gaz]

.

[7_lives_left]

Don't know if this will help, but I was shown this technique by a fellow rider who helped me when I punctured on the Dunwich Dynamo last year and I didn't have any tyre levers with me. You can use it to both remove and fit the tyre.

This the kind of thing you need three hands for. I don't have three hands so I take off my shoe and use my foot instead!

Note the valve is at the 12 o'clock position. That's important. You need to force the bead of the tyre into the central well of the wheel rim. If you don't have valve at the 12 o'clock position, it gets in the way and you don't end up with enough slack to get the tyre over the rim at picture 4.

What you are trying to do is pinch the beads together while continuously pulling the tyre upwards. The pull has to be continuous because otherwise the bead pops out of the rim well and you have to start from the beginning again.

When you get to the top, you should have enough slack to pull the tyre on/off the rim depending whether you are fitting/removing the tyre.

When refitting, get one bead on the rim and get the inner tube in place. Don't let the inner tube get trapped between the rim and the tyre bead because a) it explodes when you pump the tyre up and b) it also makes it more difficult to seat the tyre bead in the rim well so the tyre doesn't go back on easily.

The rim in that picture is a mavic T221. The tyre was a 6 year old Michelin world tour and therefore lost a lot of it's elasticity. It was more difficult than I expected because the rim has a rather flat bottomed U shape profile. A V shaped rim with a more pronounced well makes it easier getting the tyre on/off.

Finally, when you get the tyre back on, you have to recenter the tyre on the rim because you tend to end up with lots of slack tyre around the valve otherwise.

Edit: As a bonus you get to see my bald spot in picture 1 And yes I do seem to habitually go around with my right trouser leg tucked into my sock.

Edit2: update picture. Note, it helps if you have strong fingers but this method is not purely about brute force.

Edit3: update picture. Mention refitting tyre and inner tube.

[thirdcrank]

... This the kind of thing you need three hands for. I don't have three hands so I take off my shoe and use my foot instead! ...

The third hand bit was what gaz was talking about with using toe straps. You don't explain how to remove a tyre without tyre levers. That's the bit that particulary interested me.

(Incidentally, well done for your detailed instructions + pics. A couple of years ago some experts made a video of mending a puncture - they were all dressed as batman if I remember right - and when it came to replacing the tyre it went back on by magic. The video was publicised in the CTC newsnet thing, and I attracted the attention of a mod., by criticising the CTC for linking to it. So, it's a subject close to my heart.)

[7_lives_left]

Thirdcrank, I updated the picture, I hope that makes it clearer. The idea is that by picture 4, you have enough slack that you can just pull the tyre over the rim. Of course if you have tyre levers by all means use them, but creating some slack like that shown in picture 4 makes things easier.

I don't claim that you can get every tyre off using this method, but I have have used it the remove (and refit) tyres that I previously found difficult.

[andrew_s]

The actual fitting advice seems to have been covered.

However, it is worth noting that rims do vary in size slightly due to wear in the extrusion die. If you've got an oversize rim this time it doesn't follow that another rim of the same type will also be oversize. Tyres are also variable, and kevlar bead folding tyres will stretch slightly in use and thus are often on the tight side to start with.

Also, a rigid bead tyre should not be folded in two - you risk ending up with a kinked bead that won't seat properly on the rim.
Instead, you should fold it in three. As well as not kinking the bead, it's smaller.

To fold in three, hold the tyre at 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock, bring your hands together and transfer both bits of tyre into the grip of one hand. With the free hand grasp the 12 o'clock bit of tyre and swing it down away from you to meet the other hand. You should then be able to slide the left and right upper loops over each other and swing the bottom loop away and upwards to form a triple loop

[braz]

Hello, Helen. Mrs Braz would like to know which part of France you were in when you were chased by three men - she's just done a French tour and had no luck at all, she tells me.

Tyre fitting: I've always found that using lots of levers and taking small 'bites' of the tyre usually works when refitting - don't try and do too much at once - go slow and it might be easier for you.

Good luck anyway - and note that we are still using the uplift that you gave us a few years ago when we lived in darkest Lancashire!

regards, Braz.

[7_lives_left]

A comment in another thread by thirdcrank suggested that I might have been making things a little easier for myself by using the Michelin world tour tyre. Just to prove to myself, I repeated this with some other old discarded tyres that I had in the garage, Schwable Marathon (not plus), Schwable Marathon racer and a Schwable Marathon slick. They all went on fine. I didn't have a Marathon Plus to hand, they got thrown out, but I am pretty sure that I have got them on and off the same way.

Oh and I tried using the toe strap too. Put it round the rim and then put my foot through it. I found much easier, you don't need to take your shoe off and you don't strain your toes.

[thirdcrank]

7_lives_left

I hope I've not posted anything which may have upset you. In relation to fitting tyre on a rim, I've always thought this was a metter of technique - creating slack by getting the bead well down into the well of the rim opposite where you are working - exactly as illustrated in your excellent pics and instructions above. (I'm still not sure how you get a tyre off without a lever.) My right thumb is very weak since it was broken when I was knocked off my bike 25 years ago but I've never failed to get a tyre on without levers. More and more obviously experienced riders post about problems getting some tyres on so it's probably not so straightforward as I thought.

The other thread you linked to was about getting tyre beads to seat properly which raises different problems. Again my own solution appears not to be so generally useful as I thought.

So apologies if my wording has been misleading: my only purpose with these sort of problems people have is to pool the general experience to help people struggling, especially those at their wits end - where I often end up myself.