Tyre Q - Bead Not S...
 

Tyre Q - Bead Not Seating Correctly

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First time I've ever come across this in all my years of riding. Doing a bit of a parts swap between my youngest's old bike and his new bike including wheels. Old (mk1?) Stans rims and Schwalbe tyres NOT setup tubeless. I can't get the bead of the tyre on either wheel to sit uniformly so when inflated, the tyres are so off balance it makes the bike wobble! Tried some lube around the bead and putting in a LOT of pressure and still no go. Old tyres (Maxxis) had zero problem. Tried lowering the pressure and trying to pull the tyre over etc too.

 

Anyone ever come across this before and got a solution? 


 
Posted : 13/02/2026 2:27 pm
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I'm guessing from the post that it isn't caught up on the valve stem.

Has it ever been tubeless? Clean up and lube in any event

Mark the dodgy bit (chalk, biro,etc) and rotate the tyre around the rim and try again. Is it still the same place on either tyre or rim?


 
Posted : 13/02/2026 2:35 pm
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It sounds like the problem I was having in the latter days of riding 26" wheels, something I kept doing long after they were regarded as obsolete. I concluded that modern tyres, designed to be run tubeless on wide rims, don't work very well with inner tubes on narrow rims.


 
Posted : 13/02/2026 2:52 pm
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Hmmm, maybe I should just try and set them up tubeless then. I'll give that a go tonight as I think I've got some spare valves somewhere.


 
Posted : 13/02/2026 3:13 pm
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Posted by: timba

Mark the dodgy bit (chalk, biro,etc) and rotate the tyre around the rim and try again. Is it still the same place on either tyre or rim?

You mean misalign the logos on the tyre and the rim? 😮 😛 


 
Posted : 13/02/2026 3:14 pm
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I had this recently with my lads bike, in the end I rotated the lumpy bit to the bottom and put all my weight on it while i inflated. Took 2 goes at this for it to seat.

Good luck!


 
Posted : 14/02/2026 11:36 am
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If it’s holding air put load of pressure in and leave it. Micro movements over a couple of hours will eventually seat it. Happened a few times with scwalbe for me


 
Posted : 14/02/2026 2:35 pm