Bicycle Mechanics - Trouble with Continental Ultrasport Hometrainer

I purchased this tire with a cheap wheel from Nashbar to use on the trainer. I can't get the tire to mount properly. The problem is, after getting both tire beads inside the rim, a section of tire stays in the center of the rim, refusing to "pop" into the bead mounts regardless of how much I pump up the tube. I can get it mounted fine on another wheel, although it is the tightest tire I have ever mounted. I've tried spraying the tire with silicone, windex, soap and water, all to no avail. I think today I'm going to try popping the tire into the dryer for a couple minutes to see if that helps. Are there any other secrets I should try? Kool Stop Tire Jack?

I enjoyed similar mounting dificulties with a Mavic CXP-21 rim. I finally prevailed by using undiluted (straight from the bottle) Dawn dish washing soap on everything (rim, tube, tire, etc) and inflated to about 130psi before it "popped" into place. I will never remove the tire from the rim untill it is ready to be discarded.

The only time I ever had a serious issue with this was when I installed new rim tape and the rim tape was too wide for the rim. The tape got in the way of the tire properly getting deep enough to catch the bead and it really made it tough getting the tire completely on.

Furthermore, it was tough anyway and required the use of two tire levers in the same spot with lots of leverage so that they didn't break. If I had used one lever it would have broke. How do I know that? Because I did that initially and it broke :)

It's so weird but once it wants to get on it does it with little issue. It always looks impossible and then "fwoop!" right on it goes.

This is the tire made for use on indoor trainers, the orange one?

Yes, that's the one. I got it on sale for around $20. When I put it on my regular wheel, it rode awesome on the trainer. Dead silent, and smooth, even resistance. It really rode noticeably better than regular tires (even smooth, hard road tires). This is also on an Elastogel trainer (a urethane-like covered roller), so with a smooth steel roller I would imagine it makes an even bigger difference.

I should also note it was the hardest tire I've ever mounted on the road wheel, and damn near impossible to take off. Swapping tires is not really an option for this reason.


This is why I really want to get it on and mounted on my cheap $30 Nashbar wheel!!!