It was a tough job getting the tyre on in the first place, I needed a tyre lever for the first time in ages. (the one on the back wheel, bought at the same time, went on easy)

I can't rotate the tyre round the rim with no air in it, it grips the rim tape too tightly. I didn't think this was a great problem at the time, I just put a tyre lever in the saddlebag for if/when.

The tyre did rotate round the rim. It pulled the rimtape around too, and after 60-70 miles, they ripped the valve stem off the tube. I had to punch a new hole in the cloth rim tape so the new one would go through. In the middle of a race. rrrr.

Anyone had this happen?

I can't think that there's any other reason for the problem, other than the tight bead. The rim's had quite a few tyres on it, same rimtape, which had never moved before.

Can I stretch it without pulling the bead out of shape? (I thought about leaving it nearly installed on the rim overnight)

Or do I send it back to the shop?

Thanks again!

Did I make worse by running a lowish pressure, so the tyre wasn't bonding with the rim wall as much as it was bonding with the rip tape?

You'd be on a hiding to nothing trying to send it back – tyres are about the most difficult thing to claim warranty on and it doesn't sound like there is a manufacturing defect anyway.

There's a few things you can do though to try and stop it happening.

First tyres tend to move around on the rim a bit anyway and its usually not a big deal. The problem you have is that it's taking the tube with it, you therefore need stop the tube sticking to the tyre. A light dusting of chalk or talc is just the job.

Secondly if you're out on the trail and there isn't any talc to hand you can take the lock ring off the old tube and wind it down the stem of the valve before fitting the new tube, then fit the lock ring from the new tube as normal. You end up with a lock ring either side of the rim then this keeps the valve straight in hole and also moves the metal/rubber joint away from the sharp edge of the hole in your rim as its normally this which kills the tube once the valve has been pulled over to one side.

You can also look at trimming any excess off the tyre at the inner edge of the bead – it is usually flash in the moulding here that makes one tyre more of a pain in the ar$e than another to fit. Be careful though as raggedy cuts can lead to exposing the bead later. I wouldn't try this unless you've exhausted other methods first

Cheers dasilva,

I gave them a good dust of climbing chalk in absence of talc. Done that before with no problems, and no problems this time with the back wheel.

I think the issue is that the tyre pulled the rim tape around with it. The rimtape has never moved before. It's sticky cloth fond de jante stuff that has been on there since 2000 ish. Until now, through loads of tyre changes and puncture repairs, the hole in the tape for the valve stem has always been in the same place.

Now I've gone through it again, I've no doubt it was the tight bead that pulled the tape round against the hole in the rim, shearing the valve stem/tube connection.

I'll write to Wiggle and see what they say.

I may end up trying to stretch or shave off the flashing.

As far as whether it's a defect, in the light of the above, it sounds like it's outside tolerance for how tight a bead should be. Defect?

I've had valves ripping off tubes a few times in the past. I think it was down to using plastic rim tapes. I've never had the problem with cloth (velox) rim tapes as they seem to stop the tube moving. Maybe worth a try for a few quid.