Struggling to get the bead of a conti rubber queen 2.2 to seat on a mavic crossride that I’ve taped up. Used home made compressor as well as one for a car but just can’t get the bead to seat – there just doesn’t seem to be anything like enough proximity of rim to bead to get any pressure sustained to seat it properly.

Any tips really appreciated before I think about getting a spesh rear tyre – the purgatory I’ve got went up with a track pump!

TIA

use a tyre lever to ‘lift’ the bead out of the rim well towards the edge of the rim and then use lots of soapy water.

Stick a tube in and inflate to 60ish PSI and leave overnight.
Whip the tube out (disturbing the bead as little as poss on the other side.
Soapy water and a paint brush – brush around the rim and bead – get your home made compressor up to 80 PSI and give it a go.
Worked for me after several attempts on a tyre that looked too loose.

HTH and good luck!

Si

Soapy water for the rim.

Think mostly fairy with a dash of water, you want it well lubed.

If you have a ghetto tubeless inflator, don’t forget to remove the valve cores on the wheel itself so that air can get in faster.

Does the soapy water act like glue to keep the bead on the rim? Or does it do something else?

Seriously thinking about doing the inner tube bit but before removing taping the sidewall in place to the rim temporarily. ….

Removing the valve core is the game changer for me, I can usually get the pump off and valve core fitted before the tyre goes down much too.

Don’t forget to go round the beads and trim off carefully any release nipples of rubber…..I my experience I have found that they can be a royal pain in the arse causing air leaks too.

Tie a ratchet strap around the circumference of the tyre – this distorts the sidewalls and moves the beads nearer to the rim. Once you’ve got the beads seated, you can deflate the tyre, remove the strap, then re-inflate

I use the inner tube first then release one side of tyre to remove tube then lie wheel on it’s side (the side tube came out of) then pump up furiously with track pump. Of course plenty of soapy water and removing valve core help too

Vaseline all the way round the bead/rim on both sides and remove the core! Press the tyre flat where the valve is. Works every time, provides an initial seal and the bead just slips in….. ahem.
No jokes please, it really does work.

Just buy a small tub of Tyre Soap, only a few quid and will last ages, brush some around the tyre and rim and it’ll pop on no bother.

How about fire and explosions?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZaHGxMTy8[/video]

*pst* probably not a smart idea on smaller volume tyres

I do the same as belugabob, just a strap to reduce tyre volume and focus the pressure on the beads and used just a track pump. Worked for proper UST and Joes on skinny and wide rims.

The tube overnight thing always works for me.

i can never make the ratchet strap idea work. It seams to just deform the tyre really badly and keep the bead away from the rim

Just had my first semi battle setting up some 29er mavic xm319 rims with standard folding oem Nobby nics. Two wraps of gorilla tape, then tease out the beads as far as possible rolling them out by hand, soapy water round beads and rim and compressor…….went up relatively easy having tried single wrap of gorilla tape and strap, they weren’t having any of it………..my message is, you can’t beat a small compressor, soapy water, a bit of patience and calm.
Only downer was after adding the sealant and re inflating etc looked at rotation of tyres to notice both were on backwards despite me being ultra careful not to cock it up…….New 2014 bike (second hand) that Halfords had replaced front and rear brake levers and calipers having made the seals melt and leak, a chain that had mis routed through the rear mech, and both tyres mounted backwards……no wonder the previous owner (a roadie) hated the bike, it must have rode terribly…….still all set up now ready to try this 29er cheating lark 😆

Similar to the ratchet strap but much easier – put a tube around the out side of the tyre to force the beads into shape

fwiw I gave up trying to get a Conti Mountain King to seat tubeless onto a Mavic Crossride rim, even when using a compressor. No problems with a few other tyre types on the same rim.

Everything everyone else has said PLUS try turning the tyre inside out (tread inside / smooth inside facing out) overnight – it seems to help give the tyre better shape to help it pop into the rim when inflating.

Tube overnight and vaselined rim with home made compressor finally worked! Thanks for the advice – very happy 8)

Just a heads up, vaseline tends to rot latex based stuff. you’re better off with soapy water.

A point I finally realised, after lots of faff with Mavic XC717s & Conti X Kings, was that if you’ve not used about half a bottle of fairy liquid, your soap isn’t slippery enough. And a CO2 cartridge or two makes life much simpler.