Simply Cannot Fit A Tire To My Rim.

[The Mighty Volt]

Tires in question are Maxxis, the rim is by Electric-Rider.com laced onto a 5305/Brute. I have nothing but good things to say about Electric-Rider.

The tires arrived today and were folded up to make sure that they fitted into the box. Free delivery so who's complaining. 8)

I couldn't get them on, I spent hours and different techniques to no avail.

I happen to have a spare set of 20" rims knocking around which were taken off a Giant Ten20 BMX. My hookworms flew onto them. As did the old tyres that came off the Giant.

Whilst it is hard to measure the rims thanks to having a great big axle going through them, it seems, if anything, that the Electric-Rider rim is slightly SMALLER than the other rims.

Eitherways it is a totally unexpected and most frustrating problem.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

 

[REdiculous]

You can measure the circumference to see what the difference is. Fabric shops usually have cheap flexible tape measures if you don't have one already..worth it to be able to measure curved things with some accuracy.

If it was me I'd take it to the LBS and see what they say. I hate installing tires so I almost always have the pros do it.

 

[Ypedal]

Tire levers and hot sun helps.. but yeah, the hookworms can be a challenge on double walled rims with high beads..

Letting the tire sit on a hot driveway in the sun for a while will soften up the rubber and help a bit but it's the bead that gets tough... the tire on my chopper i fear i may have to cut off the rim when the time comes... i got it on there but woooo..

 

[vanilla ice]

I broke a few tire levers last night on my son's bike.. finally got it though. I'm sure you're using lube right? If not try that too. You're not alone, some rim/tire combos are just bastards.

 

[FMB42]

Ya, double walled rims can make mounting certain tires seem impossible due to the fact that the "double wall" doesn't leave much room to "drop center" the bead(s) during the mounting process. One thing that you can try is to heat the tire in a bathtub or sink of hot water (while the tire is folded). Just be sure to wipe the inside of the tire try before you mount it.

A serious MTB buddy of ours has highly recommended the "Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack" for difficult to mount tires (I haven't had to use it yet tho).

http://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tire-Bead-Jack/dp/B001AYML7K



Here's a well received video on the subject on difficult tire mounting issues:

http://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/installing-hard-to-fit-tires/


BTW, your tire is designed to be folded. This, of course, allows you to easily store a spare tire on your bike. Here's a link on how to fold a folding tire:

http://www.rideyourbike.com/tirefold.html

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Thanks for all the replies fella's

tell you the truth, when the hookworms got here today, first thing I noticed and I should have spotted it earlier- the suckers don't have the tread right the way round the tire like their 24" ands 26" cousins do. Thats one of their major selling points down the drain for openers.

Seeing as the hookworm in 20" is not the tyre I thought it was, would my problem now be solved by moving on up to a 2.00+ tire??

first picture here is of the rim which accepts tires with no problems

second picture is of the rim on the electric-rider 5305

Third shot is of both rims

Fourth shot is of a 1.95 rated tire trying to go onto the Electric Rider hub

 

[dogman dan]

That's when I start getting out the big screwdrivers. Long as your forearm kind. Gotta get enough leverage, while also trying to pop the bead deeper into the rim, 180 degrees away from the big lever by pinching it in towards the center of the rim. Once you get the tire on, you find out you just pinched the hell out of the tube of course.

 

[StudEbiker]

A tire lever would pop that tire on that rim with no problem at all. They are super cheap, no reason not to have a set.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

@Dogman: the sound of steel on aluminium upsets me

@Studebiker: yeah, I guess I will order some with a new, wider fitting tire.

Is the problem here that the rim is too wide, or too deep, or both, for the tire in question??

 

[dogman dan]

The tire would go on easier, if the rim was deeper. That is the distance from the edge of the rim to the bottom. More space there would allow the bead on the other side to go in deeper, creating room on the opposite side.

Whatever the tool, you need leverage, and you need to pop that bead on the opposite side as deep in there as it can go. So squeeze that bead towards the center on the other side, while levering on the other.

Re steel on alu, I'm from the west, worked construction all my life. Get a bigger hammer is too often the solution. Used to love my 8 pound sledge, for moving entire houses over 1/2 inch.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

It's such a pain in the f**king ass. To spend €400 on getting a wheel made up and shipped, sweat as it gets lost in Canada, then finally get it here and realize that for the sake of a deeper rim you can't fit your blood expensive tires.

What, just by way of keeping all my options open, is the 100% easiest, surest way out of this???

Wider tire? Narrower tire?? New lacing job into a fresh rim??

Cheers.

 

[stanz]

Have you tried taking it to your bike shop? They do this every day, mine charged $3 to put a tire on, a real no-brainer.

 

[liveforphysics]

Dude, if its that close, it will 100% mount. You put a big screwdriver in that gap area, hook it over the lip of the rim(careful not to pinch Tue tube) , and then pry it over.

 

[jimw1960]

Big screwdrivers will just risk cracking your rim or pucture your tube. Never use a screwdriver to mount or unmount a tire. From the picture it looks just like the bead isn't set all the way down in the well of the rim as you try to get the last bit on. I bet I could get that on without even using levers. Watch that video again and see how he has to keep massaging the bead down into the well to get the next little bit of the tire to go over the rim.

Oh, and you seem to be missing a tube in that picture. I'd hate for you to get it on the rim and then realize you forgot the tube.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

@LFP: thanks for your encouraging words, thats why I always post a pic. I can assure you, my thumbs had had enough. These levers of which you men speak must bte the foshizzle, because my thumbs were not budging that baby. It was a like a straight line chord of stiffness. Felt like a steel bar, not a bit of wire in rubber.

@ Jim: i don't like the idea of the screwdriver either, but the guys here might be more talented with one or less cosmetically concerned. I deliberately omitted the tube so as if there was an accident or if I got really really pissed off I would only break the motor and the tyre into small pieces and not the tube too :lol: :lol:

 

[FMB42]

Here's another old "tire stretching exercise" trick that I learned of back in my motorcycle mechanic days:

1. Mark the side walls of tire with a permanent marker or, take note of a particular section of the sidewall (i.e. a particular colored letter, mark, tire size text character, etc).

2. Take the tube out of the tire.

3. Place the "marked" tire bead section inside the rim "drop center" opposite the valve stem hole.

4. Carefully "mount" the tire as far as you possibly can by starting at the "mark" and working away from it on both sides.

5. Dismount the nearly mounted tire and start again (opposite the valve stem hole) but, with the tire mark 45-90 degrees clockwise from where you last started.

6. Repeat step 5 by again rotating the tire a further 45-90 degrees clockwise each time until you finally succeed in getting the bead over the rim (without too much trouble).

7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 on the opposite bead (be sure to insert the tube once you're pretty sure that you're going to be able to fully mount the bead.



T

 

[REdiculous]

These levers of which you men speak must bte the foshizzle

Not always. In my experience, if you can't get it on by hand then the cheap levers won't really help since they either bend or snap. I went through 3 sets before I gave up on them. Now I take it to the local bike shop and have the pros do it...they have better levers, lots of experience, a wheel stand and a compressor...and if they accidentally puncture the tube they'll replace it for free.

 

[Ypedal]

" Randome google image search, not the best price, they can be had for about 15 to 18$ each.. )

Motion Pro Tire Levers !
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blingkingproducts.com.au/images/0000_Motion_Pro_Spoon_Tire_Iron_--.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blingkingproducts.com.au/motion-pro-tyre-spoon-pair-p-91.html&usg=__HPYSMlLiW6gKADtdxVe0FSYDthA=&h=300&w=300&sz=6&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=6ZQKsa0ErOnjyM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmotion%2Bpro%2Btire%2Bspoons%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D592%26tbm%3Disch&ei=G7bmTfasMMjj0gGW8ICOCg

I have a pair of them, nice rounded end, they will not break, and plenty of leverage...

 

[The Mighty Volt]

This dude seems to have it down, he demonstrates here the process you guys mentioned where he pushes in the tire to make sure she is sitting into the bead, thus freeing up a bit of slack. He is also using some sort of ties to hold the tire in place at different spots. He looks like Jeremy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4

 

[The Mighty Volt]

These levers of which you men speak must bte the foshizzle

Not always. In my experience, if you can't get it on by hand then the cheap levers won't really help since they either bend or snap. I went through 3 sets before I gave up on them. Now I take it to the local bike shop and have the pros do it...they have better levers, lots of experience, a wheel stand and a compressor...and if they accidentally puncture the tube they'll replace it for free.

Hi REdiculous,

The only beef I have with going to a shop is the combined cost of getting to the shop, getting back, waiting and then paying for the job. It seems I am being tight but I just prefer to do it myself if possible. That and the sheer effort of lugging the X5305 about. The local bike shops near me are real anti-E-bike, I mention controllers and amperages and they stare off into the distance hoping I will go away, or talk to them about the Tour De France :lol: :lol:

With regard to what Dogman and LFP have been saying, it seems that I am close to getting this done, I need to pinch the tire around to make sure I am in the bead and keep working free some slack.

Thanks again.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Here's another old "tire stretching exercise" trick that I learned of back in my motorcycle mechanic days:

1. Mark the side walls of tire with a permanent marker or, take note of a particular section of the sidewall (i.e. a particular colored letter, mark, tire size text character, etc).

2. Take the tube out of the tire.

3. Place the "marked" tire bead section inside the rim "drop center" opposite the valve stem hole.

4. Carefully "mount" the tire as far as you possibly can by starting at the "mark" and working away from it on both sides.

5. Dismount the nearly mounted tire and start again (opposite the valve stem hole) but, with the tire mark 45-90 degrees clockwise from where you last started.

6. Repeat step 5 by again rotating the tire a further 45-90 degrees clockwise each time until you finally succeed in getting the bead over the rim (without too much trouble).

7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 on the opposite bead (be sure to insert the tube once you're pretty sure that you're going to be able to fully mount the bead.



T

That sounds like something I could try tomorrow when it gets light. Cheers.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Okay, I got the mother to go on today, using some bits of aluminium wrapped in duck-tape to avoid unnecessarily scraping the rim. It went on, eventually. Needless to say I was practicing it without the tube so now it is on and has to come off. I got some new problems, so it can sit there until the new levers show up. I ordered a set of basic Park levers with the hooks and a set of these:

Supposedly well thought of.

The aluminium rims were doing a fine job but the duct-tape thickens them and makes them harder to slide in, plus after a while the aluminium was starting to exhaust and bend like a bit of butter.

In the meantime a new issue cropped up so its off to the torque-arms thread I go.....

Thanks for your help and encouragement.