Originally Posted by
NextRightThing
I used the proper tubes,
these, and I never knew about the whole 'hooked' bead thing.
So it got even more frustrating. I figured I'd mount up a pair of 26x1.25 slicks I recently got on my extra MTB wheel set to do some road riding on my mountain bike today. I had been waiting for the proper tubes, but somewhere I had read that a larger tube would work well enough so I figured I'd give it a go. Well, go figure, more issues. The tubes had so much extra material my plastic tire irons pinched holes in each of the tubes, so I had to patch both of them
That wasn't so bad, but getting those tires mounted was one hell of a chore. I had to use numerous zip-ties to keep the bead from popping out as I got the last 1/3 of the bead on. Today is not my day with bikes... Time for a run...
The tube size has very little if any impact. The tire is what constrains the expansion of the tube. If you inflate a tube on its own, you will see that it will inflate to a size far greater than the size of your tire, so you can generally get away with a tube rated for narrower tires without any major negative impact. The fact that you are getting both pinch flats and blowing tires off the rims indicates that you do not yet know how to install a tire properly. There is a proper methodology to installing a tire that should be followed. Once you master that, you should no longer have either problems with pinch flats or beads being blown.