Originally Posted by
loose spoke
Not trying to highjack the thread; this is very relevant.
Has anyone had a folding tire where you can't even get the first bead on the rim? I can get all except the last 4-6" on, then no more. I can't figure a way for tire jacks to help since they seem to be for closing the last bead, so the Hook is backwards.
Already have thin tape.
I haven't tried a different rim to see if that's the issue. If I can get them on a temporary rim, I can try to stretch them... But I'd like to learn how to get this to work.
I've searched the forums and can find lots of tips for the second bead, but not much for the first.
Any suggestions?
- Tom
I also need a lever to mount the first bead on my Kinlin rims. Once one bead is on, with no tube mounted, it's so tight that I can't slide the tire around the rim to line up the label with the valve hole.
You need to be on the "tire" side of the wheel, so the unmounted bead is facing you,and the bead you are trying to mount is behind it. Then it's just the same as mounting the final bead. I use levers with a flat back side, so the bead can slide down to the end of the lever.
Like these Pedros levers:
Originally Posted by
FBinNY
...snip...
The tire is much deeper than a rim is, so putting the rim into the tire is about as easy as putting a pillow into a pillow case. It's easier to do, so I suggest you just try it instead of picturing it in you mind.
Some rim and tire combinations make it difficult. I could just slip the first bead over my old rims, without any effort. Not my new rims, with their shallow wells.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to the OP's original question:
See my old
thread about mounting tight fitting tires.
The key is to just lift an inch of the bead, and slide the lever over.
But you need to make sure the tube is tucked up, out of the way, or you'll pinch it and cause a leak.
An inch at a time:
