Continental Tyre Nightmare.

[nmfeb70]

Hi all, I recently ordered some Continental tyres for my Trek MTB (I know, I know, I should have bought Bontager and I have now). The Contis were an absolute nightmare trying to fit onto the rim. I broke 2 plastic levers so I had to use metal ones, pinching 2 tubes, and scratching my rim in the process.
I eventually decided to give up, mainly because of the nightmare scenario I envisaged of having a puncture in the middle of nowhere and being unable to remove/replace the tyre.
When I contacted the seller I was told Continentals were notoriously tight to fit and was refused a refund because the item was sold as described. Anyone else had problems with them?

 

[Blue Hills]

Yes, me, big big time.
I was always a great fan of Conti Top Touring 2000 tyres - great all purpose tyres for anything but racing or serious offroad but for reasons of "continuous improvement" or whatever they were discontinued.
I particularly liked the 700 x 28mm ones for general day riding/riding around London.
More recently I bought two 28mm Continental Touring Plus tyres - I think they are supposed to be the successors to the Top Touring tyres I valued so much, but who the hell knows with Conti's now mind-boggling product naming.
No way could I get them on and I am very good at getting difficult tyres on - nothing has ever defeated me.
These did.
In the end, luckily at home, not on the road, I did manage it but only by putting a tube in which was narrower than for a 28mm tyre.
I am convinced that they are undersized.
I won't fit them on a bike I ride until I have managed to replicate getting them on a wheel several times at home with acceptable huffing and puffing.
And even if I manage that I will now have to buy and carry extra spare tubes just for these tyres - I won't be able to use those tubes on anything else.
I won't be buying ANYTHING from Conti again.
Have you tried the trick with toe-straps/laces?
It has always worked for me - no trouble - except with Conti's new improved abominations.

 

[nmfeb70]

Yes, me, big big time.
I was always a great fan of Conti Top Touring 2000 tyres - great all purpose tyres for anything but racing or serious offroad but for reasons of "continuous improvement" or whatever they were discontinued.
I particularly liked the 700 x 28mm ones for general day riding/riding around London.
More recently I bought two 28mm Continental Touring Plus tyres - I think they are supposed to be the successors to the Top Touring tyres I valued so much, but who the hell knows with Conti's now mind-boggling product naming.
No way could I get them on and I am very good at getting difficult tyres on - nothing has ever defeated me.
These did.
In the end, luckily at home, not on the road, I did manage it but only by putting a tube in which was narrower than for a 28mm tyre.
I am convinced that they are undersized.
I won't fit them on a bike I ride until I have managed to replicate getting them on a wheel several times at home with acceptable huffing and puffing.
And even if I manage that I will now have to buy and carry extra spare tubes just for these tyres - I won't be able to use those tubes on anything else.
I won't be buying ANYTHING from Conti again.
Have you tried the trick with toe-straps/laces?
It has always worked for me - no trouble - except with Conti's new improved abominations.

Thank you, great reply & insight into Conti tyres. I thought it was my weak frame failing to put enough force into it! I'm glad I'm not alone here. What is the toe strap/lace trick by the way?

 

[bikingdad90]

It is for this reason I always go for a folding tyre with a Kevlar bead, so much easier to get on and off.

 

[vickster]

Try one of these?
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/var-tyre-levers/

 

[Blue Hills]

Thank you, great reply & insight into Conti tyres. I thought it was my weak frame failing to put enough force into it! I'm glad I'm not alone here. What is the toe strap/lace trick by the way?

No, nothing wrong with you at all.
My system is a variant of this:

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


I use two boot laces which I always carry with me.

Push the tyre down into the well, keeping it there with the boot lace - spiral it round the tyre - moving forward. No need to tie the bootlace, it will hold in place if you just loop it under itself at the beginning and end of the operation. I then leave a bit of a gap, still forcing/keeping the tyre forced into the well, using the second bootlace if needed.

Works every time for me.

And I still won't be buying anything more from Conti - as I said I need to check if, after several day's attempts I can reproduce my feat with the Conti, even with a "too-small" tube.

I use standard cheap park tyre levers - the best in my view - some I know see them as too stubby/not clever enough, but I like them - tough - never had one bend let alone break - no need for clever tyre levers - just folk that can make proper tyres - and boot laces.

 

[yello]

I've not had a problem like that with Contis before though admittedly the Gatorskins I have can require a little more effort. Coincidentally, I repaired a p* just a couple of days ago and was able to refit the (somewhat aged) 4 Season tyre with just my hands.

So just that particular model rather than all Contis methinks.

Edit: as @bikingdad90 points out, kevlar (folding) v steel (rigid) bead obviously makes a difference.

Edit edit: yes, and as pointed out below, rims make a difference too.

 

[vickster]

I’ve not had an issue with 25mm Gatorskins and I’m very feeble!
I do dislike Conti tubes and their flying cores with a passion though!

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

This can be down to rims, which vary in circumference (yes I know - madness), as well as tyres.

The joy of moving from Rigida Chrina to Mavic Open Pro, and discovering fitting a tyre did not need a 3 foot long lever...

 

[Cycleops]

The only mainstream tyre makes we get down here are ‘home used’ ones sent mainly from Europe. You can bet if you see a barely used model in some numbers it’s been roundly rejected and sent down here. I made the mistake of buying some newish Schwalbe Citizens a while ago and their puncture resistance was truly appalling. Only see well worn Continentals.
The problem here might well be the rim standards as @Eric Olthwaite points out.

 

[Blue Hills]

This can be down to rims, which vary in circumference (yes I know - madness), as well as tyres.

The joy of moving from Rigida Chrina to Mavic Open Pro, and discovering fitting a tyre did not need a 3 foot long lever...

appreciate your comment eric, but wasn't the case with my horror conti experience.
I regularly used to put 28mm tyres on Rigida Sputnik rims - big beefy pretty wide things that some folk don't realise are actually specced down to 28mm tyres.
It is true that my so far once only time (as I said I won't be off on the road with those tyres until I can repeat my superman effort) was on a narrower rim - that I think has 28mm as the max permissable - the sputnik has it as a minimum - but takes them with relative ease.

 

[davidphilips]

Only issue i have had with continental tyres is there external sizing, a 28mm gp4000 tyre looks about twice the size of a 28mm gatorskin and will not fit many bikes that normally can take a 28mm tyre with ease.

Have had lots of issues with tyres from many makes that are almost impossible to fit to certain rims, like yourself will always consider what would happen if i had a visit from a puncture fairy when out, if the tyre is hard to fit at home then theres no way am i going to take a chance of turning a simple puncture into a nightmare when cycling.

 

[Blue Hills]

Let us know how you get on @nmfeb70 - when I first found mine a little problematical, I must admit I did initially think of selling my Conti's on - but when after a few more efforts I realised they were truly mind and thumb bogglingly difficult I decided that that would be unfair-dishonest - suppose if I had done they would eventually have worked their way to @Cycleops

 

[Chislenko]

Never really had a problem with Contis to be honest.

Some Schwalbe tubeless however but I accept the old adage "The harder to fit the easier to seat"

 

[nmfeb70]

In contrast to the Conti, the Bontager X2 tyre almost slid into the rim & needed very little persuasion. Just feel a little deflated having wasted £50. On the plus side though they've now joined my old tyres as a safety barrier/cushion between the rear end of my car & my garage wall!