jamse

Alright, I ran into a dilemma, I took apart my single speed bike for a whole deep body cleaning for the first time since I purchased it 6 months ago. After I mounted the new bull horns I purchased, I tried to get my tires and new tubes on the rims, but I can not for the life of me get the last 4 or 5 inches of tire back on the rim... I tried using a small flat head screw driver, a large flat head, screw driver, and the tire lever that came with my specialized multi tool, but two popped tubes later I still can not get them back on. I use to have tire levers that worked great to get tires off/on, but apparently I can not leave anything in the living room of my apartment without it getting thrown away or lost... (because of a fat ***** that lived with me and my roommate for 3 months...)

I really want to get this sorted before i leave for uni in the morning, so any advice on how to get road tires back onto rims would be great.

treebound 

treebound 

This one isn't so rushed:

jeff22107

Try using the back end of and adjustable wrench, it can give greater leverage and it won't pop the tube (I've actually punctured more tubes using tire levers than with an adjustable wrench!!)

ldmataya 

Yeah, these modern folding clincher tires seem to be much harder to get on. I put leather gloves on and use the roll technique for the last 4-5 inches. Grip the entire tire and rim with both hands and rotate. The LBS showed me a trick last year on these Michelin pro race tires - which was to start *opposite* the valve and finish the bead at the valve. It worked.

treebound 

I always start opposite the valve, gives a bit more room for the tire beads to settle into any valley the rim has to allow more slack to get the last bit of bead over the side of the rim. And some tires are just tighter than others, and couple that with a rim that might be on the large side of the acceptable tolerance range and you'll have issues. I broke an un-breakable tire lever on one of those last fall, I eventally got the tire on with just my hands and rolling it.

I wonder if jamse was successfull in getting the tire back on?

Panthers007

Kool Stop makes a tire-jack - one part fits on the rim on the side of the tire you do get on. Then you get as much of the second side on as possible by hand and have the other side of the tire-jack straddle the rim. It has a hook that grabs the bead on the part of the tire that won't budge. Pull back - and the tire is pulled up and over the rim, mounting the tire.

VAR makes a similar device. Both are lightweight and can be stowed in your bike-bag. Or your pocket. I was surprised as all get out at how well these work! They really do! No more BIG Park levers.

jamse

unfortunately I was not able to get it back on for uni, but i got it on. I ended buying new levers when uni finished, it was definitely harder to replace the tire with the new levers, because they have a short rounded part to use for leverage. The levers that I lost were great cause it was just a giant curved pieced of plastic with no sharp ends, and it fit in perfectly in between the tire and the rim. i could get my tire on and off in a few minutes instead of the 10mins it took with the new ones... if only i could find another pair...

bigvegan

Buy a HANDFUL of levers (at least 3) and use them all. They're usually about $1 per for the cheapies.

DO NOT use screwdrivers or metal levers, as you can pop your tube (as you've noticed), or even pry chunks off the rim, which is never good.

Use the right tools, be patient, win.

zr7rider

If it's any help, do what I do when changing the tires on my motorcycle. If possible, lay the new tire outside in the sun to warm up. A warm soft flexible tire is so much easier to put on and take off. I'm not talking about little dirtbike tires either. I've had 9 street motorcycles over the years dating back to 1979. God I feel old! Anyhoo! I recently had to change out a leaky tube on my new to me 2006 7.3 FX. I made the mistake of trying to get the tire off without setting it in the sun for an hour, what a pain in the you know what! I got the tire and tube off, but made sure to let it lay out in the sun for a bit before putting a new tube in and mounting it on the rim. The tire almost slipped back on with my fingers. Just a little bit of tire iron and pop it's on!

On a side note, I LOVE my bike! It sure beats the pounding my joints take running. If I die, let it be on two wheels. By pedal power or gasoline, I don't care! There is nothing else out there that compares to being on two wheels!

Ride Safe!