Are gatorskins hard to fit!?!?
- Thread starter magnatom
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
jahlive905
Senior Member
I've had a few punctures lately and so it was time to change the tyres on my Ribble. No problem. I've used gatorskins before (shop fitted when new) so that's what I went for. Last night I decided to change the back one (the worst) before todays commute. AAARRRGGHHHHH! I just could not get the b*gger on!
Are gatorskins usually a problem getting on when new? Having broken one of my good tyre levers and pinched one of the tubes (I was running out) I gave up and took a gatorskin off my other bike and that fitted no problem.
So what is the best way of getting these new tyre on without giving myself a hernia!!?
Just keep trying. I'm a relative newbie when it comes to cycling and I'd bought some wire-bead gatorskins thinking they'd be a piece of cake to slip on. How wrong I was. Took me a good hour to slip on both tyres, using brute force and lots of breaks.
Although, silver-lining, my thumbs are now impressively calloused.
Globalti
Legendary Member
So what is the best way of getting these new tyre on without giving myself a hernia!!?
Yes:
Sprinkle liberally on that sticky new rubber tyre and on the rim. You'll be able to fit the tyre with two thumbs.
Nigelnaturist
Guru
- Location
- Pontefract
It depends on the rim, my R501's are easy the RS11's a little more troublesome, but once on they only need to come off when the wheels wear out, I usually end up with a fractured rear rim on both my last RS10's and 11's after the winter, my front gator has just died (outer rubber came away from the carcass) after 12,000 miles or so without a punture, the rear is on about 5,000 without one.
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
vittoria tubes are not only nice and small (18-23mm x 700) but also slightly talced to aid installation…
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Changed from gators to vittoria rubino pros , easier to get one and off and no flats yet ( shhh ! )
Profpointy
Legendary Member
having had marathons, gatorskins and schwalbe duranos can't say I've noticed much difference nor had any great problem to be honest. Not done side-by-side comparison admittedly. Maybe lighter tyres are easier still but the above seem fine to me
