- Some tyres are really difficult to fit.
That's right, if you are struggling,
it may not be your fault.
Some tyres are renowned as being a tight fit,
they literally have the circumference of the bead
that is slightly smaller than another.
And indeed, rims themselves can also vary ever so slightly,
even the same make and the same model of rim
may be ever so slightly different.
But, there is always a way.
I've never admitted defeat on a set of tyres yet.
So coming up, are six things
that may just make the difference.
First up, I'm gonna start with the best tip going.
And that is, that when you're fitting your tyre,
make sure the bead is resting in
the centre of the bed of the rim.
Now, the reason for this, is because, as you can see,
the centre of the rim bed is almost always lower
than the edges, so that of course,
the circumference here is less.
The quickest and simplest way of making sure that your
tyre is resting on the right place on the rim,
is that when you've got it to this point,
so that the tyre is almost all the way on,
you take your thumbs,
and with the wheel resting at your feet,
you actually press the bead of the tyre
into the well of the rim and then
slide both thumbs around the tyre at the same time.
I find it helps to imagine that I'm actually pushing all the
slack in the bead of the tyre to one place at the bottom,
where we can then just, very simply, lift it over the rim.
Now, while we're thinking about circumferences,
another little trick that may help
is to use thinner rim tape.
Now, rim tape is the stuff that lines the bed of the
wheel rim and protects your inner tube from the spoke holes.
Now this stuff is nice and thin, but some is famously thick,
and that's great in some instances where it may have to
protect your inner tube from an awful lot of nasties
on the rim bed, but if you are struggling to fit tyres,
then it might be the rim tape that is at fault.
If that's still not quite working yet,
then another little tip is to make sure
that your tyres themselves are warm.
Now, it could just be room temperature,
but I have heard of some people actually leaving them
on radiators for a couple of minutes to really warm up.
And, admittedly, there is no hard evidence for this,
but the theory kind of makes sense,
because materials do often expand when they're warm,
and tyres do seem much harder to fit in cold workshops
or cold garages, or god forbid, at the side of the road
when you've got a puncture in the middle of winter.
But, if nothing else, a warm tyre is at least,
kinder to your fingertips.
Another little trick is to make sure that
you try and leave the last bit of bead
to get onto the rim, at the valve hole.
Now, this is best practise for a number of
different reasons, but in this case, it's really gonna help,
particularly if you've got tubeless tyres.
Because in that instance, you can actually push
the valve inside the tyre, and that is gonna give you
more slack at the bead to work with.
Now, here, where we haven't got tubeless,
we've got a normal inner tube, it's not gonna make
quite such a difference, although still worth doing,
and like I said, it is best practise anyway.
Don't worry, you needn't be sinking into despair just yet,
we still have more tricks up our sleeves.
If you are still struggling to get this last bit on,
and I'm guessing we may well be in the realm of
tubeless tyres here, they are notoriously difficult
to seat because they have to be tighter
in order to get that seal on the rim.
Then, you can try lubricating the bead of the tyre.
In that case, it will actually help
the tyre just slip on to the rim.
Now, I'm not talking chain lube here,
I'm just talking, a bucket of warm soapy water and a sponge.
But it could well do the trick.
By and large, I do try and do with tyre levers.
I'm not entirely sure why, it has to be said,
because they are really quite good,
and particularly when used correctly.
And in a case like this,
where you get a really stubborn tyre,
they are absolutely indispensable.
But you may find that when you get to the last section,
like this, that actually it becomes quite
difficult to insert a tyre lever in,
in order to flip the bead into the rim.
So, fairly straightforward trick,
is to actually use two tyre levers at the same time,
and then you can flip one up, and then the other.
Last but not least, when you are fitting the tyre,
make sure that you push the bead into the
deepest part of the well of the rim,
where the circumference of the wheel is at its smallest.
And yes, I know that this is the point
that I started with in the first place,
but as I said at the beginning,
this is the most important thing that you can do,
one of the absolute fundamentals.
So I make no apologies for saying it twice.
Hopefully, all of these tips combined will be just what
you need in order to get that stubborn tyre onto your wheel.
It is really important to have tyres that you can get
on and off with relative ease, and so if you are struggling,
then it might be time to actually consider
trying out a different pair of tyres.
Or at least taking your wheel into a local bike shop
and seeing if they're struggling as well.
Right, well, there are more maintenance videos here on GCN,
in fact, there are more every single week.
So do make sure you subscribe to the channel,
to do it is completely free,
you just have to click on the globe.
And if you're after some more content about tyres,
then why not click just there,
because I'll show you how to reduce the risk of punctures,
so you have to take them on and off less, which is a bonus.
Or, click just down there to actually find out,
basically, how you take them on and off.