akakj5

Thank you in advance for any advice given. I am a newb to the cycling world. Last year I started commuting about 80 miles a week and I'm loving it. A few weeks ago I decided to switch out my tires to a narrower tire for reduced resistance. Let me just say that I am on the verge of defeat and I need advice. I am very capable physically and I am quite mechanically inclined. I have removed and re-mounted the stock tires multiple times using Park Tire Levers to check and re-true my wheels. I will try to explain what's happening to the best of my ability. I'm sure I will get some nomenclature wrong so please be patient with me. I'm also sure that some of you will want to advise me to buy a real bike or buy expensive components. I bought the best I could afford and that will not change as I buy components. I am a commuter but I push myself hard to make the best time possible. Please give advice accordingly. My bike is a Diamondback Maravista 2007 model. I bought it new in 2008. The rims are Weinmann AC-19 700c x 19c rims. Actually, here's a link for all the bike info: https://www.bikepedia.com/Quickbike/B...ista&Type=bike . The stock tires are 40c. I want to go down to 28c tires. The first set of new tires I tried were Serfas Seca Road Tires in 700c x 28c. After spending two weeks and a lot of knuckle tissue trying to solve this major problem, I figured there may be something wrong with the tires so I bought a different set. Now I have Vittoria Randonneur Cross Tires in 700c x 28c. The problem remains the same. The only other factor I can think of is my tubes. I switched those out to a thick thorn resistant tube of appropriate size. With no more delay, here's the problem. Mounting the tires was nearly impossible. I even powdered the tires to make it easier. Getting them back off several times during this process has been so bad I've nearly decided to cut them off; but I haven't. After mounting the tires, and inflating the tubes, there is a very noticable flat spot, about eight inches long, along the circumference of the tire. At this flat area, the tire bead simply does not reach the outer edge of the rim. By "outer edge" I mean where the tire bead is supposed to seat as you inflate the tube. I have inflated the tubes to as high as 140 p.s.i. in an attempt to force the tires to expand to the bead seat. Within this eight inch area, the tire twists to one side or the other since it is not expanded against the rim at its greatest cicumference. I can actually twist the tire by hand to straighten it, but it moves back as I continue to manipulate the tire. My belief is that these rims are manufacured incorrectly. I believe their diameter and, therefore, circumference is too large. By the way, the stock tires did not have this problem. They were 700c x 40c Kenda Cross tires. Please help if you can as I really need to get back on the road. It's been three weeks and I'm getting the shakes.

superjohnny

Hi akakj5,
It sounds like your new tires are simply too small for that rim. Some tire manufacturers don't measure very well, so what they advertise as a 28mm tire could actually be 26-30mm's wide. You are really stretching the limits of that rim running a tire this small. I would recommend going with a 32mm tire and see if that fixes your issue.

Let us know how it turns out.
Johnny

nvr

Dumb question, but the tube is deflated right? Some brands are easier than other to put on. A 700cx19mm rim can take a 28mm tire. I've had Kenda Kontenders and Kenda Kompetitions that I can take off/put on without levers. Others I've had, folding and wire bead (Hutchinson, Michelin, Conti's, Bontragers, Chen Shin) all needed at least two levers to put on. I've broken levers with some of them. Go try it again...it'll pop when it's seated.

norwood

If I'm understanding your post correctly, your problem has nothing to do with the width of the tire. Rather its that the tire is not seating on the rim properly. Sounds like your not getting enough air pressure to seat the tire. I suggest first ditching the thorn resistant tube for a "normal" tube. Second, try soapy water on the rim and tire bead. (dishwashing soap and water mixture). And lastly it can be nearly impossible at times to seat a tight fitting tire using a hand-pump. I nearly always use my air compressor. You may have to take the wheel/tire to a service-station if you don't have access to a compressor otherwise. Make sure the tube is in the tire properly. Inflate the tire in short bursts until it "pops" onto the rim seat. You won't explode the tire.

AndrewP

Panaracer Pasela TG 700 X 28 foldable mount easily withou levers.

Longfemur

Maybe your rim is simply a touch oversized, and it's exacerbated by trying to fit a narrower road tire.

You know, maybe you should just forget about the misconception about road tires. I have a sport touring road bike that I put 23 mm, sometimes 25 mm tires on. But that's my fast, fair weather bike now - used for pleasure rides when I'm just riding and I don't have to leave the bike anywhere. Sometimes, I like to show young guys on carbon racing bikes what an old guy on a traditional style road bike can do :-)

I'm retired, but I'm carless and I ride to places I need to go. For that, I use my very old touring bike, which has 32 mm wide tires. I like them because they take abuse, and I don't have to worry much about broken pavement and that sort of thing. I usually inflate to only about 60 psi, but if I want less rolling resistance (at the price of a harsher ride), I put more in. Those almost slick tires can roll pretty fast, even if they are wider.

All this to say that unless you go exceptionally wide, rolling resistance is more about pressure than width. You can still push yourself... you're only racing yourself, after all. If your rim is wide, the narrower tire has to stretch that much more to fit the bead where it needs to go.

DannoXYZ 

You may have a pinched tube. This would cause part of the bead to ride too high, which pulls another section somewhere else too low. Try this:

1. Let out all the air after you've mounted the tyre.
2. pull the tyre sideways so that you can see into the gap between the tyre and rim-edge
3. no tube should be showing.
4. move down about 6" and pull the tyre sideways again.
5. work your way all around the tyre making sure no tube is showing
6. then do the other side of the tyre, all the way around
7. Also makes sure you don't have the rim-strip or rim-tape off to the side and sitting on the ledge where the tyre should sit. This too will cause one section to ride too high and another section too low.
8. Only after you've confirmed that there's no tube pinched between the tyre and rim, and no rim-strip , only then start pumping up the tyre.
9. give it only 1 pump so the tyre assumes a round shape
10. Then pull up on the sections that's sitting too low.
11. There's usually a moulded rubber line just above the rim-edge. This should be evenly high above the rim all the way around

meb

If the above cited ideas don't work, another possibility is the thorn resistant tube. I've had troubles fitting some thorn resistant tubes into road tires. What width tube did you get?
You might need an undersized thorn resistant tube to fit. You could try one of the old tubes with the new tires and see if that goes on easily-if so you can order smaller width thorn resistant tubes.

Panthers007

Resistance to punctures should be reserved to the tire itself. Get a tire with a Kevlar belt or similar. And ask yourself the following question: Do I really think that a "thorn-resistant" inner-tube is going to stop whatever managed to breach a Kevlar belt?" I've heard nothing but complaints about these "resistant" inner-tubes.

akakj5

WOW!!! You all gave me some great advice. I've definitely learned a ton here already. I also posted my problem to four other forums and I got two replies between them all. This is now my new favorite cycling site. I'm going to try mounting these beasts of burden again tonight and see how it goes. I'm going to ditch the thorn resistant tubes, lube the bead, and over inflate in short bursts until I hopefully hear a non-explosion associated POP. If the difficulty level remains so high I get nose bleeds, I'll jump up to a 32c tire. My 28c tires may be toast anyway as I wore the rubber off of the wire bead in a couple spots trying to work the levers in. I guess that is a good follow up question; Are the tires still safe and usable in that condition? I'll let you know how it goes for me. Thank you all again!!!

thefsb

some combinations of tire and rim can be an absolute pain to mount. zipp acknowledges that their tires are hard to mount on their rims and they even have a video to help you do it.

yesterday i was putting michelin pro race 3 tires on neuvation wheels and a good deal of cussing and foot-stamping ensued. this is the only combination of tire and rim that's forced me to use a lever to get the tire on.

if you do use a lever, check that the tube doesn't get caught between rim and lever before applying force. you might need a flashlight to take a look.

akakj5

Well, just as you all knew it would, it worked. Now I feel like a real idiot since it turned out to be so easy. A little lubricant goes a loooooooong way. Thank you all again for all your help.