So i have got some commuting tyres to replace my MTB tyres but had a nightmare fitting them onto the wheels…

Marathon plus tyres, utter nightmare, but i managed to get them on just about without breaking my back.

Question is this, the reflective strip that runs around the tyre makes it look as if the tyres are “out of alignment”

http://postimage.org/image/k7sljstez/

If not then i wondering if maybe my wheels are out of alingment/wonky a lot…

If so need new wheels for bike, question is, given my rockhopper now becoming a commuting bike is it pointless buying some of these RIM brake wheels for £79?
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Clearance++Gift+Ideas/MTB+Clearance+Section/Shimano+Deore+-+Mach+Wheel+Sale_DEORE-MACH.htm

Or should i buy some road wheels if they make any differance….need some advice, cheers

They may never seat properly on those rims. They’re an absolute arse on cheaper rims.. The shelf is too high under the bead.
Try using a narrower rimstrip that doesn’t overlap the shelf for the bead.. A couple of layers of gaffer tape maybe. Get some soapy water in there to lubricate them and over inflate them a bit to force them to seat.

They may never seat properly on those rims. They’re an absolute arse on cheaper rims.. The shelf is too high under the bead.
Try using a narrower rimstrip that doesn’t overlap the shelf for the bead.. A couple of layers of gaffer tape maybe. Get some soapy water in there to lubricate them and over inflate them a bit to force them to seat.

thanks for reply but a few of your terms i dont quite understand fully..

“the shelf is too high under the bead”…
do you mean my rims as they are from a rockhopper thus “cheap” wont fit 100% as the rim isnt built very well thus the “shelf” isnt properly defined?

and “Try using a narrower rimstrip that doesn’t overlap the shelf for the bead.”

have no idea what that means, do you mean different tyres?
atm i tried some fairy luqid which sort of helped get the tyre onto the wheel which in itsself was a pain in the balls …

help welcome

He’s talking about the rimtape(the stuff that covers the spoke holes, and stops them popping your innertube), if it doesn’t sit in the centre of the rim, or goes right out to the edge of the rim in places, it can stop the tyre bead seating onto the rim correctly.There should be a thin raised line in the tyre’s rubber that should run very close, and parallel, to the edge of the rim when the tyre’s seated properly, go by this rather than the reflective strip to judge if it’s seated correctly, as the reflectlive strip is often a little wonky.

If you look at the rim with the tyre off, it’s deeper in the middle and higher at the sides, where the bead of the tyre normally sits. It’s deeper in the middle to give you enough room to stretch the tyre over, and higher on the sides so that the tyre sits snug.. The high bit at the side is what I’m calling the shelf. On some rims the shelf is slightly too high so certain tyres that are a bit on the small side won’t stretch into place.
All around the rim is a plastic strip – the rimstrip. This covers the spoke holes. A thinner one could give the tyre more room, or a narrower one wouldn’t have to cover up to the edges.. only over the holes.
~Hope that helps!

bikewhisperer speaks the truth. The rims are fine. You need to fit the tyres so they dont look out of true. Start with really low pressures. Move / force the tyres to sit properly. Then inflate fully. Sounds easy – it isnt always!

I don’t believe anyone above speaks the truth. I work as a bike mechanic in a shop that sells a load of marathon plus’s. I fit many pairs a week.

They are a pig to fit, but once on they rarely puncture. There is a knack to fitting them. Once fitted the only weak point is that running them under-inflated can cause sidewall failure.

Rim tape has bugger all to do with tyre fit. Unless you are using pipe lagging as rim tape. The reflective strips on Marathons are often not radially true, so don’t use them as a guide.

I’d say your wheels are fine. Your tyres are fitted correctly unless the part of the tyre that contacts the ground is going up and down – that would indicate a badly fitted tyre.

I had some tyres that i had the same problem with.

I found that the parts of the tyre that appear to be sitting lower hadn’t quite sat in the rim properly.
They were sitting a little low.

I just pumped the tyres up a little harder than i would normally and then ( with the wheel facing me) gently rolled that part of the tyre backwards ie: as if i was trying to push it off the rim – the tyre then gently popped onto the right part of the rim.

Never had any problem with it after that.

Hope that helps.

I’ve had tyres do that before on bigger rims, continental travel contacts, sometime I just couldn’t get them, over inflate them till they pop on to the rim properly. Also sit them next to a radiator for a bit to heat the tyres up first, should make them a bit easier..you might struggle though.

Hi Waderider. I’ve probably fitted as many sets as you have. There’s some single wall rims that they’ll never fully seat on, and some where the thickness of the rim strip will make enough difference.
The ones in the pic aren’t seated. The reflective bit is usually off round, but not that far.

fitting marathon+ vid

double post

Oh dear. “It really doesn’t matter where you start”.

Well it does, as anyone who has fitted a motorcycle tyre will tell you, and as the gentleman himself demonstrated on the video when he had a job to get the last bit over.

The idea, as stated in the video, is to get the bead of the tyre to sit right down in to the well of the rim. The tyre valve prevents this so the last bit of tyre to go over the rim should be right at the valve. It can just make the difference with an awkward fitment.

@Waderider thanks for info.

I have now decided the tyres are actually out of true and starting to believe that there is nothin i can do fitting wise.(though im glad i persisted with them and did try and make effort to fit them)

I fitted them and have now found a way of getting them on a lot quicker and less hassle, some fiary liquid helped a lot.

The reflective strip i know isnt a great guide, but i used a micrometre to check and there is a 0.5 cm differance from the rim…. 😯

I tried multiply times and the reflective strip is not equal distance to the rim around the whole tyre, and is very close to the rim in 2 place on the tyre.

Going to call ON-ONE and see what they say, hopefully a replacement pair as these are now clearly “seconds” it seems.:(