Have a new set of Roval traverse ELs.. Was changing discs, tyres and tubes just now.
Trying to get my newish nobby nic Evo tyres onto the rim and can’t believe how difficult it is! I mean I was sweating for pete’s sake!! Is this normal? Is it cos the rims tubeless or just the rim and tyre combo..
Was putting so much effort into just getting the tyre onto the rim that I’ve scraped some of the rim stickers and I haven’t even ridden them yet. Managed to pinch the tubes as well.
Havent got sealant yet but thinking if it’s gonna be this much hassle with tubes I might as well just go tubeless now and get it over with.
Any info or advice appreciated as ever.

Sounds like a bad combo but hopefully an owner can confirm.

I hope not!! So it’s not normal for it to be so tight then?
Guessing it (hopefully) means it’ll seal well!!

My DT ex500 rims with dual ply Highrollers were like this. 2 person job with several sets of tyre levers falling casualty.

Cheers mrh68. Did they seal ok in the end?
Obviously different tyres but glad other folk have had similar issues..

Yea they sealed absolutely brilliantly. I found these levers to be brill for the job as they are quite wide and seemed to resist snapping LINK

If you start the fitting opposite the valve, and work the tyre into the well of the rim as you go, it’ll give you more slack to work with than if you start at the valve.

As a test before fitting the tyre with tubes, did you try getting the tyre on the rim without tubes? I ran my 355 rims with inner tubes initially and it always seemed harder to get tyres on with tubes in.

If it’s that hard to get the tyres on, I’d go tubeless or change tyres as when you get a puncture it’s going to be a serious pain to change the tube particularly when they are all covered in mud.

newish nobby nic Evo tyres

could be your problem, I have been running tubeless with various tyres and rims for 18 months now,

lots of problems, but also months and months of uninterrupted riding,

at MM 2010 bought a pair of Nevegal UST, put these on my XT UST wheels mid race and they went on a dream with a track pump, no washing up liquid and shaking the wheel to seal, straight on and inflated first time, used them for 4 months solid after that,
decided to use the front tyre again for this winter, on the same wheels, it just will not lock into the rim, tried inflating with an air compressor and no luck, now having to use the tyre with a tube

If you are through our way, bring em in.

The newest Schwalbes are tight. Roval rims tend not to be too bad, assume you’ve just got the blue or yellow rim tape?

Schwalbes when new on to Stans crest rims were a major pain, few bent levers. Got to work them in to whatever well there is in the rim. Might be worth popping them on another set of wheels for a couple of days as the bead does stretch. I can now get the same tyres onto the rim just using my fingers.

I had some DT5.1 rims which were an absolute b@stard for fitting a set of Maxxis tyres that were no trouble on my Stan’s Rims. After spending ages snapping tyre levers, soaping rims, shouting, that kind of thing, the 2 minute solution was to employ a third hand (my wife, although I live in Herefordshire so three hands isn’t that unusual 😉 ) to stop you chasing the bead around the rim as you tried to get the last bit of the tyre on.

I was so traumatised I had to commit it to writing: http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=2496

I shudder to think what’ll happen if I have to get those tyres on/off the rim on the trail. Probably just have to abandon the bike !

Similar experience with these wheels and rocket rons/tubes. Washing up liquid did the trick in the end, but not before I’d chipped the rims a bit with steel tyre levers. Reckon I’ll need to carry a little bottle of it on the trail should I puncture.

Impressed with the wheels first time out yesterday though!

Get hold of some Sun BlackEye rims..

use those for a few seasons and you’ll find that putting any tyre/rim combo on after that is a treat akin to cutting butter with a warm knife..

Ust rims plus ust tyres = anti pita.

Easiest tyre system to get on and off and pump up that I’ve ever used. 🙂

Shame they weigh a ton.

Technique is a big part of it – learn to fit tyres properly without levers and you’ll not scratch your rims! There can be some tight combinations (and like I say the newest Schwalbes can be bloody tight), but can still be done by hand.

Maxxis vs DT swiss are tight when new, alright once the bead has stretched a bit though.

Tbc, am on nights at the mo but ta for the offer, it’s appreciated.
Sounds like there’s various pitfalls involved.. Will try get some sealant tomorrow and see how we get on with tubeless..
Hopefully once I’ve got them sorted out it’ll all be good.
Ps, I have watched the full Stans vid so am
Looking forward to that too!
Cheers everyone for imparting your wisdom!

Well, I dont feel so bad. Dropped the wheels into my local Evans and the mechanic said they were a bugger to get on, and wasn’t able to get the tyres to seal properly so tubes it is at the moment!
Oh well.

New tyres are often difficult IMHO – try soaking them in hot water first or pump them up with a tube overnight – also scrub the beads with washing up liquid to get the manufacture coating off as well?

Newish.. A few months old and only about seven or eight outings on them.
Mechanic said its prob the tyre.. Will maybe need to replace if I wanna get rid of tubes- will maybe give it a go at some point..

Schwalbe (Internet Fact warning) seem to have made the 2011 tyres a little bit too tight… I’ve never had any bother getting any tyres on or off my traversees but lots of people have been griping about the latest Schwalbes being hard to fit and harder to get to bead properly.

But there’s nothing in particular about tubeless rims that makes them a pain to use. Kind of bewildered about the chap up the page that things UST tyres are somehow easier to remove.

Actually from experience some tubeless rims are harder to stretch tires onto.
I have wresteled rocket Ron tires onto roval traverseerims and through trial and error realized that spraying the second tire bead with windex or any soapy solution will help you a lot to get the tire on. For the most stubborn tires,
Put on a pair of basic 10 dollar contractor work gloves and it will give you more grip and I guarantee it will make it much easier to mount any new tire onto any compatible rim

Ha! Just seen this has been resurrected! Still pinching tubes when fixing punctures..
Must get Stans fluid this week!!

Fluid bought, front went on a doddle, took 5 mins.
Back had some tears in the rim strip from my cack- handed attempts to fit with tubes.. Patched those and got the tyre on ok but not holding air brilliantly. Lots more shaking to distribute the fluid seems to have helped- waiting to see how we get on with that.
So far though quite impressed! Plus saving best part of 1Ib in weight from the tubes.. Wowser.

Back had some tears in the rim strip from my cack- handed attempts to fit with tubes..

The blue tape that comes fitted to the Roval’s is pretty rubbish I’ve found. Best off replacing it when it’s knackered with Stans yellow tape, it’s tougher and sticks to the rim better.

The first time I tried to fit Ralphs on my Crest rims it was a major ball ache but I did it after about half an hour – each, only for them to fail to seal. I then moved on to Schwalbe Marathons for my winter (road) bike and it was even worse (with tubes, not tubeless). I persevered, learned the technique (Marathons are ten times worse) and returned to the Ralphs. Since then, it has been relatively easy, a five minute job. It is all abut getting the bead sitting in the lowest part of the rim and working round. The last few inches can be ‘lubed up’ with spit and eased on, which works well for me.

Apparently Schwalbe are making their tyres easier to fit for next year, which is good!

And Spesh are doing a track pump specifically for seating tubeless tyres – high volume low pressure.

Have a look at a section of a mavic ust rim and you will see that in the middle of the rim there is a groove that you have to set the tire into during installation. If the tire inst fully seated in this groove when pushing on the last bit of tire my nobby nicks are near impossible to get on. When its fully in you can get them on easily with no tools.
maybe your rim is too deep in the middle to allow easy installation.
Andy

Have a look at a section of a mavic ust rim and you will see that in the middle of the rim there is a groove that you have to set the tire into during installation. If the tire inst fully seated in this groove when pushing on the last bit of tire my nobby nicks are near impossible to get on. When its fully in you can get them on easily with no tools.
maybe your rim is too deep in the middle to allow easy installation.
Andy

I’ve got a set of Nobby Nic Evos on my Traversees (old ones but I think that works out the same as the EL). They go on easily and seal up well too, but they may not be the absolute latest model, I think they’re the last ones before they all went officially tubeless ready.

NW- think that’s what I have too.. Still seem to be going up ok tho!
Andy- seem to have the hang of it now, as long as both beads are in the centre recess I can just about get them on by hand!
Mboy- noted. Thanks.