the key to not sacrificing plastic levers, I've found, is to make sure the bead is sitting as close to the rim as possible when lifting the bead over the rim and working in small amounts.
It helps when the levers are slim as they can slide in without causing the bead to be displaced a lot.
And I've killed park tool and PBK metal insert levers. The ones that are working for me now are some cheap feeling levers from a WTB repair kit.
These are key points for me. I posted
a thread on BF showing my tight fitting tire mounting method. There's photos and a description there. I don't know how well this would work with wire beads, since they are less flexible.
I had sore fingers and mangled levers with my new rims.
The key for me was lifting just an inch of bead at a time, then sliding the lever over and repeating. It's actually quite easy and doesn't need a strong lever now. I do think that levers shaped to let the bead slide down to the rim work better.
Originally Posted by
peripatetic
Jim Langley's tips on tire installation are far better than anyone else's online.
...snip...
I recommend you try Langley's technique for getting the tire loose in the first place--place both beads into the center well and work your way around the entire rim, pinching both beads into the center. This should get the tire a good amount of slack, which slack you can then push over one rim side and then get the tire even looser.
That really works great for most wheels. But my Kinlin rims have an extremely shallow well. With no tube and just one bead mounted and down in the center, I can't slide the tire around the rim to center the label with the valve hole. That's tight!.
