I've never had trouble mounting tires before, and usually only needed a little boost with a tire lever to get the last section of bead onto the rim.

Then I got some new wheels with Kinlin XR-300 rims. These have shallow wells in between the rim edges, so there's not much slack when the bead is down in the center while mounting the tire.

After struggling to get the tire on, I thought I might need to get some of those big specialty levers and carry them on rides. I really didn't know if I could change a tire out on the road. It was tight, really tight.

I made sure the bead was pushed to the center of the rim and tried pulling the slack in the tire toward the remaining bead. Nothing helped.

But now, with the right levers and a good technique, it's actually pretty easy and fast.

I'm changing my old front tire, GP4000S to a new one. New tires are even more difficult to mount.

Removing the old tire

The old tire. I use Michelin AirComp ultra light tubes, 700x18-23 60mm smooth valve tubes. I think these are smaller than the usual tubes, so they are easier to tuck up into the tires when mounting.
EDIT--they seem to be a similar diameter to a regular tube for a 23c tire, not any smaller.




UPDATE 2016-- I've used other rider's levers with this method, and some of them just don't work at all. The bead won't slide down the back of the lever very easily, and the end of the lever keeps popping off the rim. Very frustrating.

Continental tire levers. I don't use the hook end--if I hook it on a spoke, the bead is so tight I can't get the second lever under the bead. (I cut off the hooks on the pair that go in my saddle bag). The pry end is rounded, and has a flat back side so the bead can easily slide toward the end of the lever. There are other brands of tire levers that have a similar shape.


EDIT--now in 2016, I still have the same Continental levers, with just some scuffs on the curve. The low amount of force on the levers keeps them in good condition.
EDIT--I helped another rider that used Park TL-1 levers, and they didn't work very well. Those Park levers are the type with a thin, sharply curved hook at the tire end of the lever.


I haven't tried these Pedro levers. They have a similar shape, and should work the same way.
EDIT 2018 -- I have a pair of these Pedro levers at home, they work great. The Continental are narrower, easier to fit in my small saddlebag.





First, push the bead into the center of the rim, all the way around.

Hook the bead of the old tire.




Yes, it's really tight!



Two levers are needed. I'm trying to lift enough bead at once with two levers. Both levers are hooked under the tire bead, then levered at the same time. Here, they are still too close together.


Let the bead fall back into the rim, move the levers, and try again. This is pretty close. One more try.


Now, this is wide enough to lift a section of bead over the rim, and have enough slack to now push one lever sideways to get the rest of the bead off.


All the way around.


This is one reason the tire is hard to mount. The center well is quite shallow, even with this thin plastic tape.


I carefully removed the inner tube, then I needed a lever to help get the final bead off the rim.

Next: Mounting the new tire.