Currently sat here red in the face after trying to fit some tyres.

Managed to get the front one on after bout 20 mins of messing about and now the rear is doing the same and also being a pain in the arse.

I have put on countless amounts of tyres over the years but nothing like this, the tyres are Schwalbe tough tom and I am using pedros yellow levers which are usually excellent.

Any tips on this, I can get it about 90% on.

You mean just getting them into the rim itself or inflating tubeless?

Just getting the tyre on to the rim.

Sounds as though you might be missing the ‘well’ that the tyre has to sit in.
Have you taped it flat inside the rim?

Best way is to use a ‘bead jack’ eg the Koolstop Tyre Mate. http://www.davemellorcycles.com/koolstop-tyre-mate/p19304

Nah. The best way is to learn to do it properly.

Thanks. That will be getting ordered this evening!

Is there a proper way to put tyres on? My ‘wrong’ way has worked for years on numerous wheelsets.
maybe is cause these are carbon rims?

Some tyre and rim combinations are super tight, there’s no way to fit them without using tools. Schwalbe Marathon Plus on narrow road rims are the worst I’ve tried.
The bead jack tool lifts the tyre up into the rim, so less risk of damaging the tube etc.

OP, what technique do you use currently?

Pfffft

Come and fit a steal beaded road Tyre to the vision 30s on my road bike.

So tight it just tore the rubber off the bed (not kackhandedness)

Have you tried a bit of soap and water to help the bead slip over?

Ignore the tossers telling you you’re doing it wrong.

Get a metal DH tyre lever and maybe use fairy liquid if necessary.

Some tyre/rim combinations are just horrible, regardless of technique.

I always thought this that some tyres really needed tools and couldn’t be put on by hand. a pal told me I was wrong so I challenged him. He fitted a tyre by hand that I struggled to do with levers. Its all about getting the tyre into the well and working the slack to the final area you want over the rim

Fitted a Continental Tempo tub to a disc wheel last night, my thumbs are still raw. It always gives me a mild heart attack when a £60 tub is half on/half off and it looks like a physical impossibility that it will ever sit on the rim!

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBa88zZossE[/video]

Warm the tyre up, grease the tyre sidewalk with something like swarfega

Like tj says, you shouldn’t use levers to put tyres on. With the right technique (bead into the rim well, stretch it round to give as much slack as possible) you don’t need them for any combination. All levers will do if used when fitting is damage stuff.

Best way is to use a ‘bead jack’ eg the Koolstop Tyre Mate. http://www.davemellorcycles.com/koolstop-tyre-mate/p19304

I use one of them for Schwalbe Marathon Pluses which can be very tough to fit – just glad that they pretty much never puncture! The tyre jack thing makes the difference between a nightmare struggle with the tyre and being able to fit it in seconds.

DO.IT!!!

I’ve fitted loads of Marathon Pluses on all sorts of shit rims and I’ve never heard of a “bead jack”.

As someone said above, move the bead into the very middle part of the rim. It’s slightly less diameter and therefore makes the tyre slightly looser to get over the rim.

This makes a massive difference. We’ve a set of Carbon wheels that are bloody impossible to get some tyres on without losing some fingers in the process, however using that method makes it quite a bit less painful.

Having not seen one of those tyre Jack/mate things in use I found this slightly amusing video demoing it:

here

In essence it gives you plastic thumbs with no pain receptors! 😀

Initially I thought it was a bit daft then I remembered how long my fingers hurt the last time I put a difficult tyre on!

That said,I don’t like using even plastic tyre levers as I’m far too precious about marking the rims or rim logos! Sad I know. 😆

also – when fitting the tyre, start opposite the valve and leave that till last. I know it’s the opposite of what most people have been taught, but then you have all of the well to get the bead into, instead of losing part of it to the valve part of the inner tube or the tubeless valve.

Then when you get the last bit over the rim, you need to push the valve into the tyre a bit and then pull back out to ensure the bead’s properly seated, but that’s still easy.

Had a right pain with some tyres last night. I think I should have finished at the valve as noted above because they really do screw things up.
Wide rims with shallow rim well’s really don’t help though.

+1 tyre bead right into the well. Years of fitting and struggling with tyres at times and didn’t believe it, then sudden revelation by trying it. Same when taking them off.

Wide rims are a little more of an effort but still can get them on and off pretty easy now. Lever just used for the last bit. Bonus with wide though is I find they seat tubeless far easier.

chakaping – Member 
Get a metal DH tyre lever

Not with carbon rims!

Mine would be OK on carbon actually, it has a plastic coating…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Icetoolz-Downhill-Lever-Aluminium-Carbon/dp/B006WJS8Q6

My carbon rims are an absolute sod to fit new tyres into. Rons and ralphs.
Once fitted they seem to stretch a tad and are then a bit easier to refit.

I use a combination of brute force, hard metal levers and the following method, but there’s always swearing involved.
[video]https://youtu.be/-XUFVrl0UT4[/video]

But as above, once you’ve got it mostly on, it’s critical to keep the beads in the central lowest part of the tyre well, working around several times and repeating as nessesary to ensure the tyres not moved from the centre.

BITD I used to use toe straps to help get stubborn tyres on, (but I haven’t got as much grey hair as the chap in the video.) I expect insulating tape would work as well 8)

AFter 20+ years of fitting tyres, including a reasonable amount of swearing, I never knew about the rim well thing until now.

Every day is a school day.

also – when fitting the tyre, start opposite the valve and leave that till last. I know it’s the opposite of what most people have been taught, but then you have all of the well to get the bead into, instead of losing part of it to the valve part of the inner tube or the tubeless valve.

As someone said above, move the bead into the very middle part of the rim. It’s slightly less diameter and therefore makes the tyre slightly looser to get over the rim.

After really struggling at the side of the road with my first puncture on my road bike, not bad for just over 2 years of riding, I decided I’d just try a few different techniques when I got the bike back home. Basically what I found to work were the approaches above. Putting the wheel on the floor and pushing down around the rim working towards the valve at the bottom. From struggling with 3 tyre levers I found I could now do it with no tools at all. Of course it could be very different in January in ice cold rain

I’ve done some pretty tight tyres with just my hands, making sure it’s in the well, starting opposite the valve, and working the slack around, but I’m not afraid to get the (plastic) levers out rather than battling it out to prove a point.

When resorting to levers, do all the stuff above as well, and just try to get a little bit more bead on with each go. As you lever it, push the bead up the lever with your thumbs so that it stays as close to the rim as possible when levering.

Oooh, I like that jack thinger. No more hot thumbs!

What TJ said.

chakaping – Member 
Mine would be OK on carbon actually, it has a plastic coating

I wouldn’t be worried about scratching, it’s the rigidity of the lever. Plastic levers snap. Metal probably won’t, in which case the rim might crack instead. Having had a carbon rim crack on a simple bunny hop on a fire road, I’ve got no faith in them.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KigNbUxx6X8[/video]

Shite.

I have some assymetric rims and it makes it quite easy, when approached from the correct side anyway.

Had some years ago that were a pain to fit, pumped them to 50psi so that I could at least eliminate the chance of a pinch flat and dreaded the day they would puncture. Well loose by the time they did.

Dave Mellor Cycles logo………brilliant!

Problem solved..

After purchasing the koolstop tyre mate and still having a nightmare I sacked the tyres off and purchased some new Nobby Nic folding tyres which I had on in approx one minute.

Never again am I purchasing the originals!!

WTB and stans dont play nice from my experience….

shame, as I like the tyres, and the rims….