Ok I had some couple of years ago on my cotic soda. Set them up tubeless ‘learnt the knack’ of getting tyres on and off. Did all the stuff watched the videos, ripped flesh from nails, broke and tried loads of different tyre spanners, bought the co2 stuff, used the fairy liquid with the brush, threw the wheels across the garden, picked them up again PESERVERED …and just about sussed it having previously popped tyres on and off my orange like a good’n for a few years (Mavic normal rims).
So ran tubeless for quite a while, pulled out thorns etc. marvellous. I still dreaded changing tyres but got on with it until….. one cold rainy winter night ride in the middle of nowhere a big slit inside wall and a long walk home. I then decided to run tubes again for the winter but couldn’t be bothered to go back to tubes in the summer anyway.OK I know that could happen with tubes but it’s worse with tubeless (don’t disagree unless it’s happened to you with both please).

I then sold the stans wheels never really looked back.
So got a lovley new 29er and broke front wheel on the big rocks in the dales.
I thought I know what I’ll get some spanky handmade wheels from Merlin. Hope hubs and Stan’s I’ll give it another go order the arches which were wider than the crests I had and decide if I should go tubeless when I get them…turned up today (great wheels Merlin boys) OK I don’t want to go tubeless.so fit all the stuff rotors, cassette etc….and then the tyres..déjà vu all over again….it took twice as long as doing the other stuff and annoyed me A LOT.

Thought. Compared to the other wheels I’ve had, Mavic not ust, dt Swiss tubeless/ust ,wtb I 19 tubeless/ust which tyres pop on and off of with great ease, life is too damn short for stans notubes rims…ok I know they’re not ust and can take most tyres whether they’re ust or not but come on Stan sort it out man it just shouldn’t be that difficult.
I now have two choices, run them tubeless again so I don’t have to repair punctures from thorns and take the damn tyres on and off mid ride with the help of 4 mates and 20 tyre spanners and buy tyres that weigh a ton with thick sidewalls OR sell them and lose money and order some more wheels from Mr Merlin man.

Using tubeless rims with tubes fail.

Is it one brand/type/model of tyre that you’re having problems getting on and off? maybe switch brand/type/model if so.

Sell them, I’ll have them £100?

extra marks for spelling the capitalised bit wrong.

I found I had problems until I

a) used the yellow tape (even with tubes)

and

b) made sure the bead was dropped right down into the well of the rim when fitting and removing the tyres.

[edit] oh and a ban for swear filter avoidance no doubt on the way just to make your day.

If you use electrical tape/yellow tape as rim tape with a bit of talc powder, it helps the tyre slide on easier.

Also make sure the first bead you put on in in the center of the rim.

edit: beaten to it.

CBA to read all that, but it does look like a solid 8/10 rant.

Need a hug, champ?

Never had a problem with any of mine, other than with a defective tyre… Good rant though.

Rant based on OPs inability to perform a simple task rather than actual product failure.
2/10

Kayak, shirley that increases the irrational nature of the rant, increasing the score?

I’ve got 29er Crests on my commuter. I can get my 25mm Conti GP4seasons on and off relatively easily. Definitely a tyre lever job but it doesn’t take much longer than any other tyre/wheel combo I’ve used.

Edit: the converted rims I tried to use tubeless were a nightmare. But the stan-a-like Superstar tubeless rims I’ve got now made tubelessing very easy, once I’d got the tyre the right shape by running it with a tube for a day or two.

£125 posted ?

What he said.

I’m going to buy a 650b tyre and see if that’ll go on my (26″) Crests.

mr B Lightyear,ran my cotic soda for a least a year with tubeless rims and tubes = no fail.
Mr Kayak I became reasonably adept at the ‘simple task’ it’s just nowhere near as simple as DT Swiss or WTB in my experince.
Mr Northwind,pleased to hear it.
Thanks for the suggestions,yes I was quite good at getting tape on (better than LBS)
I did run them tubeless guys it was OK but bugger me it’s a life shortening experince with lovlet Stan so much more difficult than the other brands i’ve used..
I’ll take £289 that’s £100 off what they cost me and they are not even one day old,i just have to take the bits off.

I’ve had no problems with Stans rims over the past few years. I only use Maxxis tyres. Non tubeless , LUST and UST, they’ve all been fine.

Oh, and if anyone has a problem with leaky sidewalls I can recommend buying some liquid latex (hobbycraft sell it) and painting it onto the inside of the tyre.

Leave to dry and then refit the tyre with stans sealant, works a treat.

You have trouble with Stans but not with DT Swiss?
The 5.1s I had were an utter nightmare to get tyres onto. Never have I sworn at a bike so much in my life. I don’t miss them.
Stans were OK, Mavics perfect (can get tyres on bare handed no probs)
But those bloody DT swiss things….

I’ve used Crest, Arch, 355, Olympic and Flow rims and had no bother fitting tyres tubeless or with tubes to any of them.

Still have Crest and Arch wheelsets and think they are great using Schwalbe and Continental tyres (have also used Kenda and Maxxis).

I tried and failed to get my High Roller off a flow rim in the summer, dreading it when it ACTUALLY HAS to come off. I just wanted to adjust the logo valve alignment after a poor effort by JE JAMES. 1st world problems.

Any tips appreciated to avoid more broken levers!

Schwalbe tyres?

I can put Maxxis and Geax’s on with my fingers, Schwalbes broke all the spoons in the house until I realised it was an exercise in futility.

Any tips appreciated to avoid more broken levers!

Only the obvious; make sure the tyre bead is sat in the “well” of the rim.

Om my hack I had to hacksaw a tioga factory xc of a cheapo sun rim. Broke every lever I had trying. Bought some old fashioned metal ones shortly after, but luckily the cheapo conti’s I stuck on after were better (still need the metal levers though. Killed the park levers)

Ditto Schwalbes.

Finally mounted a 29er Rocket Ron before realising I needed to replace the yellow tape. After seeing red, swearing a lot and checking my fingernails were all still there, I removed it and it’s now for sale now.

I have a Ground Control waiting instead; after my experience with 26″ Spesh tyres I have high hopes it’ll be a doddle to mount.

Mr Wrecker …well my DT Swiss Tricon XM 1550 are alright for me…Dr. Pedros tyre spanners are the only ones that didn’t bend or snap,i don’t like metal on metal.

Balls. I had leaky sidewalls on my purgatory last night. Wondered what the hell had happened to my tire. Just loads of stans fluid weeping out.
Oh they went on my new arch ex rims no bother. I do dip the tyre in a bit of warm water to make them a bit more supple.

Getting a new tyre on can be a bit of a struggle but they do stretch a bit over time. Never really considered it that big a deal.

As for the rant. Good score for quantity, but quality is a bit poor.

[smug mode] I really don’t get these anti-Stans threads at all. 😕
I’ve got Crest, Flow & Flow EX, all with yellow tape and stans jizz. All running perfectly tubeless and never needed to deploy a tyre lever or compressor.
Maxxis dual plys, Maxxis LUST, Maxxis Single ply, Bonty Mud-X, Spesh Purgatory, Spesh Storm, … all been perfect [/smug mode]

Top tip so far – rub neat fairy liquid round the tyre bead and the rim. Aids with both fitting and importantly with getting the initial seal when using a track-pump.

Stans Crest 29er with Schwalbe Rocket Ron EVO front and a Racing Ralph rear. I used plastic tyre levers, but other wise absolutely no problems at all.

Initially I couldn’t for the life of me get the tyre to inflate with a track pump. Then just rolled the wheel fully a rotation and it popped the bead into place and hey presto, up straight away and stayed up. There was something in mbuk about them having trouble inflating on the arch ex.

And, to make your life easier get these into your life, high volume pump and some rim grease… ooooeerrr. One pump and the bead seats, simpler than a compressor, far cheaper, less noise, and you can pop it all in the car or van when you’re away 🙂

Once you try it, you’ll wonder how you managed before.

Topeak Mountain Pump FTW

Tubeless Tyre Lube 🙂

I agree, hate them and will hit mine with an axe very soon. Just wish there was an equivalent rim out there that even comes close the the weight. But then I’ll take a few gramms not to be stuck 50miles from home in winter with cold hands and unable to put a tube in should the sidewalls get slashed. Hate them hate them hate them hate them (get the idea?).

I have that Topeak pump – not impressed. Find the valve clamp a PITA and difficult to remove without dropping pressure. Nothing like as good as the head on my old SKS.

Maybe try the Lezyne equivalent instead?

mr B Lightyear,ran my cotic soda for a least a year with tubeless rims and tubes = no fail.

Sorry, I should have added a wry smiley face with my smart-alec remark 😉

Stans is designed for tubelessing and the rim-tyre-fit is deliberately tighter. This makes taking tyres on-and-off to fix tube punctures rather wearisome.

You can routinely run tubes if you like, but it’s defeating the object of buying Stans rims IMO.

Had the same issue as the OP. Could not seat Nobby Nics on my new crests. I stretched the bead for a week at 70PSI. Used a Stans tape and valves and a garden sprayer at 40PSI to try and seat the tyres – all to no avail. One side seated fine but the other bead is too tight and peels back off the rim.

Dissapointed to be honest.

And I broke a Park lever mounting the first tyre.
And I know all the tricks to mount tight tyre beads.

When I first tried I could not get Nics on my Crests at all… but once I got the knack of using the drop channel and starting opposite the valve it became much easier. The last Nic I put on went on by hand with no levers… so I am hopeful that I will not struggle too badly if I ever have to do a trailside fix.

once I got the knack of using the drop channel

This is important. I used to be ham fisted tyre changing numpty until I realised this. Now it’s really easy.

Of course, there was once a problem with schwalbe tyres and stans rim. So I guess anything from that era (~2 years ago?) might still be problematic. I think schwalbe made the tyres a bit smaller to help seating and at the same time stans made the rims a bit bigger.

Ive had crest rims for 18 months now, and every tyre I’ve tried on the rim has been a pain in the ass to get on.
If I’m at home I will warm the tyre up first with hot water before mounting it then spear washing up liquid around rim so it mounts fine when inflating, but doing this when out riding isnt possible. I’m seriously considering changing my wheels. Anyone fancy some crest rims?

I think this is the issue. It’s not that they don’t seat, it’s just that tension in the kevlar bead pulls one side back off the rim. This even after using 5Lx40PSI push of air to inflate the tyre. I wondered if adding sealant would help, but take the high view that they SHOULD seal without!

The beads have stretched enough that I can get them on without levers – and previously, I’ve never resorted to tyre levers to mount any tyre – as I said, I know all the tricks. It’s just this rim/tyre combination.

Agree that one needs to use thin tape, ideally the yellow Stans one, regardless of whether you use tubes or not. Maxxis Ardent and Aspen plus On-one’s Smorgasbord ( made by Maxxis ) all fit and unfit fine in my experience. Kenda SB8s were never, ever going to fit, Schwalbe’s neither. Only temptation for me in 650B size is I may have the tyres already.

I’m dreading swapping my tyres over in the coming week(s), however on the very rare occasion I do get a tyre catch and inflate straight away (well twice in about 5 years)

and +1 for snapping Park levers, I not have Pedros big wide levers, so far so good.