Originally Posted by Totoro
I recent put some commuter tires on my mountain bike. They are Vredestein Monte Carlo. I also put new 26 X 1.25 tubes to match the tires.
Once they were mounted, the seating wasn't even, causing the tire to wobble. I deflated it, reseated, and reinflated countless times, but still the same uneven seating. The weirdest thing is that the seating is uneven on both sides, causing a depression in the tire. This is happening on both the front and rear tires.
I am thinking that it has nothing to do with the tire, but rather that the inner tube is not inflating evenly all the way around. Perhaps the place where there is a depression in both tires is a spot where the tube is not inflating as much as elsewhere. That's my theory, any others?
Also, any ideas on how to fix it?
There are two types of seating problems:
1. Tire bulges out.
B. Tire dips in.
1. When the tire bulges out, it is often tube related, typically the tire bead is sitting on top of the tube somewhere. This is especially common near the valve, where there's a reinforcing patch around the base of the tube. It's also common if the tube is a bit too big for the tire.
With a "bulge" type mis-seating, the tire is at risk for blowing off.
B. When the tire dips in, it means that the tire/rim combination is a particularly tight one. This seems to be particularly common on German tires. Continentals, in particular, are somewhat noted for this.
There's an easy fix for this, however, once you manage to get the tire onto the rim---overinflation!
Sometimes I will actually lubricate the edge of the tire by spraying Windex or alcohol down into the gap between the sidewall of the un-inflated tire and the rim. Then I inflate it way hard, disregarding the desired pressure for actual riding.
At some point, the "dip" will snap into place with a loud "pop" and the tire will suddenly be perfectly seated.
Once this has happened, you can reduce the pressure to the desired riding pressure and everything will be hunky-dory.
Sheldon "More Air!" Brown
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