There seems to be a fair amount of stuff on the interweb saying WTB tyres really don’t play nicely with Stan’s rims. As in it’s mega mega tight and no fun at all trying to fix trailside if you need to pop a tube in, unless you enjoy bleeding and breaking tyre levers.

I’ve read all the bits about rim standards (oo err) and all that, and technique etc. etc.

However, the posts I’ve found from people having a horrible time all seem to be quite old.

Is it still the case that it’s a very bad idea to try and use (Tough Casing) WTB tyres with Stan’s rims?? Was thinking 2.3 or 2.4 Vigilante and 2.4 Trail Boss or Judge onto Arch MK3 29er rims.

No experience of those tyres, but I ran WTB resolute 650b x 42C on mk3 rims and they were very, very difficult to fit and remove without using levers and even then it was hard to do without damaging the rim tape

Not Stans, but I have a 2.5 Vigilante and 2.4 trail Boss on I9 Enduro rims, and there was much swearing and 2 broken tyre levers.

I’ve got exactly this set up – Tough Casing, Vigilante front and Trail Boss rear on Arch MK3 rims. They were a bit tight to get on, the Vigilante especially, but nothing that would cause any concern. I’ve only had to do one trial side repair – I don’t recall fitting the tube as being especially difficult.

Not sure about Arches but I’ve had 2.25 Rangers on Flows and Horizons on Crests and both have been a right pain, really requiring a lot of work to get both on and off, particularly when new. Flip side is that they work very well tubeless, Horizons popped on to the bead with just a hand pump! Just about okay to fix at the road side but it’s a hassle I could do without. Now got Specialized Butchers on the Flows and they went on easily by hand while also going up tubeless with no hassle.

Tyre in a bucket of hot water for 10 minutes was a big help for me when fitting a tough casing WTB for the first time.

Tyre in house overnight before fitting has helped me before (spesh tyres on spesh rims – you would think that would be nice).
No help for fitting an emergency tube though.

Absolute murder trying to get WTB Riddlers on Crests for me a while back, brokn tyre levers, cable ties, injured hands, industrial language, the lot.Got one on eventually, but ended up buyinga set of Hunt wheels, same tyres went on those by hand.

I’ve got a pair of arch rims with wtb nano cross and resolutes stuck on that i can’t face trying to remove, snapped 6 tyre levers getting them on, used a vice to get the bead in the centre to try and remove them then snapped another 3 tyre levers. currently using another set of wheels. Invested in some tyre plier thing that wont handle them.. I have same issue but not quite as bad on two sets of kinesis wheels. I’ll be changing to panaracer gravel kings and buying a large metal tyre lever to get the wtb tyres off and selling them. Great tyres but blimey a total total pain in the ass on the arch rims i have!

If you’ve not already got the tyres, just go for Maxxis or Schwalbe instead.

Schwalbe Supergravity carcass are similar toughness to WTB tough but a bit more supple and with better compounds IME. Reasonably priced from ze Germans.

Or if you’re determined to use WTB, lend them to a pal who has Hunts/ Mavic/ Hope etc rims. Get a couple of rides done to stretch the bead slightly and then re-fit them to your own wheels.

I’ve not had a problem with fitting a large Trail Boss on the Stans Arch rear of my commuter, bit snug but managed ok getting it on.
Arches with Maxxis is usually a doddle.

Thanks everyone, lots of really good ideas, it’s very much appreciated. Opinions range from it being fairly fine to a bit of a nightmare…. just out of interest @phil56 what size did you go for on the Arches?

I wrote to WTB and got a couple of emails within hours from a very helpful person called Jiri who said:
“I can confirm WTB tires work really well with Stans rims (I am personally having Flow MK3 on my Cannondale with no problems, fitted even with a floor pump:)”

hmmmmm? so who to believe? The hive mind of Singletrack or a WTB sales manager??!

On one hand I just like the idea of the WTB tyres (tough as, durable, (heavy)! quite fast rolling in the case of Trail Boss) but then my gut says somewhere in my future I’ll be cursing the name of Jiri, high on Helvellyn in horizontal sleet as day turns to night with a bike that won’t go!

Ta again everyone for your thoughts.

@tb927 I think the Arches are 26mm internal. I’ve also used gbecsame tyre combo on 29mm internal Flow MK3s – again with no real problem