Had a couple of flats recently that needed the tyre off, but the bead was really locked on. Wanted to get folk’s experience with running inserts on gravel or road tyres where they’ve had to fix a flat on a ride.
One was a cracked vittoria valve on a road tyre, zipp 303 rim, creating a slow flat. Got the tyre unlocked with my hands but it was hard work, took 20 mins and sore thumbs. The other was a cross boss on a hunt cx rim – weird flat where I cased the wheel and damaged the bead somehow. It was still welded on, couldn’t get it off and would have been stranded if not for a nearby train station. Needed a vice to unlock it at home (and then saw that vittoria make a tool to break beadlocks).
In each case the actual tyre is easy to mount and easy to unmount once the beadlock is broken. And in general it is a great feature the vast majority of times, having a very secure tyre.
Anyone else encountered similar? I’ve previously double flatted a tyre with insert and it was no drama just taking it off on the trail, so wondering if it is just these particular rims.
