Rear wheel went up no problem with a Crossmark and Crest rim. Sealant added afterwards via the valve and all good so far.

Front wheel with an Ardent refuses to inflate.

I’ve tried soapy water and reseating the tyre. Is there any point we adding sealant before the tyre is inflated/deflated once? Presumably it will just leak out if the bead isn’t seated correctly?

Could I have installed the rim strip incorrectly?

How are you inflating the tyre? Might just need to use a compressor or one of those ghetto plastic bottle jobs that was posted on here a little while ago (i made one and it works a treat)

Push down on the tyre by the valve (tread towards the rim), and pump.

inflate with a tube in: deflate and pop one rim off only (leave the other in place)

Don’t add sealant until you’ve got it to inflate “dry” first.

+1 for inflating with the tube. Then loads of soapy suds inside rim and inside an out on the rubber.

+1 for DIY tubeless inflator, it’s brilliant.

Neat washing up liquid around the bead/rim, both sides. It blocks the holes just long enough.

You’d have bubbles everywhere, and fairy everywhere, but it works.

Sticking a tube in overnight to shape it all doesn’t hurt either, and if you remove it carefully, you should have one side locked in at least.

Mounting up one side with an inner tube’s been foolproof for me.

That, and stopping using my Joe Blow… Nice pump, well made, etc etc but it doesn’t push much air. Got a cheap Air Tower which is far more effective (takes almost exactly half as many strokes to inflate a tyre, to give an idea of just how much difference it makes)

I’ve used pegs in the past. Push the tread down and peg the sidewall so it pinches the tyre beads wider apart. Works a treat. I use 16 pegs per side so that’s one per spoke. Just watch out for flying pegs when it starts to inflate.

As for bead lube, I just dunk a bar of soap in a bucket of water and rub the wet bar around the bead.

Worth going back to basics though. Have you got the rim strip sat evenly between the rim walls? Have you removed the valve core? Have you tapped the tyre all the way around? I also found it helps to inflate the tyre off the ground, hang it up somewhere. It doesn’t seal well if the weight of the wheel is compressing the bottom of the tyre.

co2 canister or air compressor, if all else fails,

Inflate with tube in overnight.
Tube out, unlocking one rim bead only!
Peg the “unlocked” side.
Inflate with track pump, with valve core removed.
Sealant in via removable core valve.
Shake, set…………flip, shake, set etc, etc.

Ive routinely mocked people who resorted to fairy liquid in the past but over the weekend I had a real stubborn one, wouldn’t even go up with the compressor. I did the inner tube first to seat one side, neat fairy on the other. straight up, lovely

Thanks all a few things to try there