Bicycle Mechanics - Frustrating problem trying to mount a new tire

I am having a very hard time mounting a Vredestein tire onto my wheel, the first one went on easy, with no problems. I have changed tires before with no problems, but with this one it seems impossible to mount the final part of the tire to the wheel without using tire wrenches. The problem is I keep popping the tube with the wrenches. I was told never to use tools to mount a tire because of this, but what do you do when the tire is just too tight to get on with just your hands? I made sure it is the right size. Is there any trick to getting on especially difficult tires? Any help/advice would be appreciated, I can't tell you how frustrating it is to finally muscle it on and then hear the unmistakable hiss of air escaping. Thanks.

When the tire is just way too tight to get on by hand, I do sometimes use tire levers to mount the tire, but I do so as carefully as possible. Normally, when you mount a tire, you want the inner tube to be *slightly* inflated so that it holds its shape and doesn't get pinched by the tire. But if you get to a point where you need to use tire levers you should let the air completely out of the tube, so that you poke it as little as possible.

It sounds like maybe you're inflating the tube too much before mounting the tire, which could be making it harder than necessary. Are the tire levers you're using bike-specific with no sharp edges?

I ran across a situation where someone had put on several layers of rim tape filling the inner section of the rim. That made it extremely difficult to get the tires on & off, especially stiff wire beaded tires. I bent & broke several levers before I figured out what was causing the difficulty.:(

I was also having some problems with mounting a Conti SuperContact tire on a 26inch wheel. I did use some tire lever to mount it, but I was very worried about cutting the tube. Luckily, everything went just fine. However, I just ordered the Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack, which I understand from Sheldon Brown's site is a nice tool to have for mounting tough tires.

You might want to look into buying the Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack tool.

Regards,

Hi, bit late on the thread, but a useful tip I have used on new tyres that are very tight on the rim.

Run some chalk on the inside of the last section of the tyre that you are trying to mount. It will lubricate the "grippy" rubber and make the job achievable with fingers if you are lucky.

I had trouble with vredestien tire and used a bit of soapy water applied to the bead with a small paint brush. It's what we used in the the old days mounting auto tires with hand tools.

dish soap, shampoo, lotion -- whatever your flavor. it also allows the tube to "settle in" inside th etire and reduces pinch flats. Learned this old trick from a bike wrench at my local shop when i was a kid.