mustang1

700x23 Gatorskins: they're puncture resistant and I suppose that's the main thing required in a commute but boy they're hard to install (unless they're warm when they're a touch easier). I use specialized 20-28mm tubes and have also tried continental 20-25mm tubes. When using these latter tubes the tires is easier to install but the batch of tubes I bought appeared to be a little faulty so I went back to spesh.

So now I'm either looking for new narrower tubes and/or new tires. I'm not sure if it's better to just get more flats and repair them quicker or get fewer flats and screw up my fingers.

Q: Is the folding version of gatorskins easier to install than non-folding version? Is it as puncture resistant?

Barrettscv 

Yes, the folding Gatorskins slip on the rim a little easier, but not much. You might also find the 700x25 easier to install. They are equally puncture resistant to the wire bead version. The primary benefit is that they are lighter and a folding tire can be packed and used as a spare for touring.

colleen c

Get a Quik Stik from REI or other similar tire lever that are made to remove those punture resistant tire. I almost cried the first time I tried to install my 700x23 folding Gator Skin on my rims. Then after I got that tire lever, I had no problem getting the Gator Skin off and on. I used that same lever to installed 700x25 Armadillo All Condition Elite and a 26x1.5 Armadillo Nimbus. Pack one in your kit just in case you have to change tube on the road.

The only thing I don't like of that lever is that after about 5 installations, the plastic on the tip show some sign of wear. They are like deep groove that's been cut into the plastic by the rims, but it also tells me just how much more leverage I have with that tool. Your thumbs and palm will love you more if you use those lever

ArthurIhde

what's meaning of topic?

rekmeyata

The folding version is easier to install. Don't forget, new tires like the Gatorskins type of construction are more difficult to install, but once they've been on for about a month or so they become easier to take on and off, which is good news in case you get a flat on the road. But that seems to only apply to folding tires, wire beaded tires don't get any easier.

Drew Eckhardt 

After the time (they seem to need a little stretching) I can remove and install my 700x25 folding Gatorskins without tools on Mavic Open Pro rims.

Some of that might be technique.

Maxxxie

+1 to Colleen's comment. I keep a VAR lever in my saddle pack, and have a koolstop tyre jack for use at home. Check out this review of the VAR lever. I got mine from SJS Cycles. I also wrote my own commentary on the VAR levers here, though it's something of an aside rather than the purpose of the post.

Max

daven1986

Get some specialized armadillos and forget about these wannabe puncture resistant tyres.

prathmann

Thinner rimstrips will help with tire installation and removal more than thinner tubes will. The idea is to get the tire bead all the way down in the center channel of the rim which then allows you to slip the last bit of tire bead up and over the rim edge. A thick rimstrip keeps the bead up a bit higher and makes it harder to install the tire.

It also helps to provide a bit of lubrication along the edge of the rim - a sliver of soap in your tire repair kit will help if you rub it on the rim where you'll be getting the last bit of the tire bead installed and wet it down with a little water.

Raiden

Definitely try narrower tubes- those 20-28s will fit, but you'll fight them every inch. Find some 18-23s.

The lube suggestion is good, too- some soapy water or a little tri-flow works wonders for installing/seating difficult tires.

mustang1

Thanks everyone, very useful suggestions here. I'll try a combination of them and see how I fare.

GP

It's your rim. Some tires are tight on different rims. I suggest a Vittoria tire. They seem to be sized a little bigger. I don't know if they have a puncture resistant model though.

stringbreaker

+1 on the soap idea. Sometimes I will use Windex to help out, anything that is slippery like that except oil based stuff but the soap is the best.

Kuma

Also, I've heard tires that are tough to mount on the rim can be made a little easier if you put them in the clothes dryer for a short time to warm them up. Never tried it, but it seems logical to me. I guess you'd want to tie them in an old pillowcase when doing this, though, so you don't get road dirt inside your dryer...

BA Commuter

I haven't had a hard time mounting mine, I guess it's because I've had to change them a few times due to f___s!

At home, I wipe the bead with a little dish soap on the road I use some U.S. Grade A spit.

When they wear a little more I'm not getting another set of Gatorskins.

Maxxxie

Mustang, I got your PM but can't reply to it because I haven't yet crossed the 50 post threshold Since I can't reply via PM, here it is, for all to see.

No worries RE recommendation. I really do like the VAR levers. They have succeeded where others have failed!

The 30 years bit is from when I first started riding as a kid. As a child, I rode my bike everywhere. I never once got a puncture. I stopped riding when I was around 18, and didn't take it up again until a few years ago. So in fairness, there's a big gap there. It's probably more like 10 years (riding when I was a kid) and another couple years as an adult. But 30 makes a good story, don't you think? Mileage is a good question. Thousands, easily, but as a kid I never concerned myself with the numbers. A bike computer was unheard of!

As to what tyres I was running back then.. whatever came with the bike! One bike was a kids' bike with pretty wide tyres. The other was a road bike, and my guess is the tyres were somewhere between 30 and 35mm. The next bike was a mountain bike. Very wide tyres, I'm guessing 40mm or so.

The bike I was riding (and still am riding) in 2009 is a Cannondale Synapse 4. The stock tyres were Maxxis Colombiere folding slicks, 23mm. Very nice tyres, and pretty good puncture resistance for what is ostensibly a race tyre. I didn't change them until I got a puncture and took it as an opportunity to install a Gatorskin at the back. I run a Vittoria Rubino Pro on the front. The Gatorskin isn't bad, but I feel it has slightly higher rolling resistance than the Rubino. Also, its handling in the wet isn't anything special. That said, it does an awfully good job of resisting punctures. I pulled out a chunk of serrated metal from the tyre some time back during a routine inspection. No puncture, so I was pretty happy.

The good news is that the Gatorskins do eventually become easier to remove and install. Over time, they stretch just a little and this does help. My method of removal (and installation too) is to use my hands and regular tyre levers (I use Pedros levers) to do the bulk of the work. Once I get to the really tough part, I pull out the VAR lever or the Koolstop tyre jack, and finish the job.

If you get no joy with the VAR levers (or some other tyre jack device), and you decide to replace the tyre altogether, the Rubino Pro isn't half bad. I routinely travel a stretch of path that I refer to as the Glass Gauntlet. It's never punctured from that glass, so I guess that speaks for itself, really!


Max

spudston

My favorite rim lubricant is Armor All. It's not good for much else, so I have a lifetime supply.

paperback rider

I have no problems changing tubes on mine, and do it with standard-issue tire levers. I think it's the combination of rim and tire that makes it hard when it's hard, and not the tire alone.

dab3

Once you get those gator skins on your wheels, watch out, you are going to have much less traction than your accustomed to -- those tires are slick!

aley

I haven't had any major issues - mounting them when they're brand new may require levers (I use metal ones rather than plastic - much less likely to break!), but after that I can mount them just with my hands.

That said, I've heard enough good things about Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires that I think I'll try a set when I'm ready to replace the (fairly new) Ultra Gatorskins on my LHT...

Raiden

I just realized that I gave some bad advice before- or, rather, I left some obvious information out- my tri-flow suggestion is only for disc-specific rims! And its better for seating a tire (getting the beads to sit in the lips of the rim, after the tire is mostly installed) than for installing one. Soapy water is the safer choice.

MVclyde

+1. I recently switched to Gatorskins (from Armadillos). They were really easy to install on my Velocity Deep V rims. They almost felt too big...I was worried how loose they were until I snapped the last bit onto the rim.

Nick94804

Arghhh, that just makes my experience worse. I have a set of 32mm gatorskins on Velocity Deep Vees and they're making me lose my mind. I can't get the tire on w/o f-ing up the tube. I loathe these tires.

TenSpeedV2

I have had no issues installing mine on a set of American Classic wheels, in fact they seem like they are almost too big for the wheel. They come off easily with one standard lever and go on effortlessly. I think that it really has to do more with the wheel that they are going on.

rekmeyata

I realize everyone wants life to be easy but in this case easy can be dangerous. The tougher it is for a tire to go on a rim the less likely it is for the tire to come off the rim in the event of a blowout or a very fast leak. Most riders don't realize this, they just don't want the pain and cussing involved putting on a tough to install tire so they look for one that goes on like a wet noodle, except they don't realize that that tire will roll right off the rim with very little resistance and then your skidding along on a bare rim crashing and burning, or at the very least damaging a rim.

I don't happen to like Continentals for a different reason but I've always found Armadillos to be very difficult to put on due to their stiff and puncture/rip resistant sidewalls vs Conti's paper thin sidewalls which is the reason Contis were so easy to put on was due to the paper thin sidewalls. Specialize Armadillo sidewalls are so resistant to gashing I once, for an experiment, ran a Armadillo All Condition rear tire that I had wore out to the cords and then it flatted which I then proceeded in riding it flat for 5 miles, (I did stop ever so often to check for rim damage and there was none), after the 5 miles and being home I checked the tire for sidewall damage and there was none, I can't say the tube wasn't damaged but the tube was old and had 15 patches on it so I didn't care.