Just ruined my second tyre within a year :-(

[Pgd]

Some time last year, can't remember exactly when, I got a routine puncture and tried to replace the inner tube. Took me an absolute age to get the tyre off, but I did it... but in attempting to get the tyre back on the rim again, I bashed my rim paintwork to sh*t and ultimately ruined the tyre by exposing the metal bead. LBS fitted me a new tyre and made it all look super-easy.

Today, would you believe it the exact damn thing happened again (with the other wheel). Another ruined tyre. And this time I had ridden over to my folks, in the next town, which apparently has only one LBS, not open Thursdays. So I've had to abandon ship (bike) and return home via PT.

I'm so incredibly annoyed. Clearly there's a trick I need to master, but surely it's not that difficult to change a tyre, and I'll now be £30+ out of pocket, which is unsustainable every time I get a puncture.

Not sure if I'm after advice or just needed to rant, but there you go. Bike is a Boardman ADV 8.8 (I think?), second-hand but with what look to be original rims & tyres, FWIW.

 

[Dogtrousers]

All I can offer in the way of "trick to master" is when you put a tyre on (or take it off) squeeze it all round so the beads are away from the shoulder of the rim and in the deeper well of the rim. If they keep popping back onto the shoulder, keep squeezing them off. This gives a bit of extra wiggle room for getting the tight bead over the rim, as the beads on the opposite side of the wheel can sink down into the middle of the rim.

That probably doesn't make any sense.

 

[vickster]

Try talc on tyre and tube.
There are some tyre levers which can make the process easier. Normal ones don’t help get a tyre on ime, only off.
Strong thumbs help. Sometimes I have admitted defeat and headed to LBS, no shame in it.
I can find that leaving it an hour or two after failure is helpful, if just to let sore hands and frustration settle!!
If you’re not too fussed about speed / weight, perhaps look at slime inner tubes

 

[bluenotebob]

If you wait by the side of the road for a few minutes, a bloke in a red Skoda will come along and change your wheel for you.

I've seen it on the telly...

 

[vickster]

Personally I subscribe to ETA, who pay for a taxi

 

[ColinJ]

LBS fitted me a new tyre and made it all look super-easy.

Why not do it exactly the way that they did it?

 

[wafter]

I second @Dogtrousers' point - took me many years to pay enough attention to try it properly, and now the default is that tyres go on without levers, rather than levers being consistently required.

From the top:

Get the tyre on so that both sidewalls are outside the rim

Seat the sidewall on one side onto the inside of the rim and fit the deflated / partially inflated innertube

Starting at or near the valve, start working the other sidewall over / onto the rim

Chances are the tyre will hang up with about 1/4 left to go on this is where you start working your way around the whole tyre, pinching / pulling both sidewalls together into the centre of the rim; ideally while applying some load in the area where the tyre is hanging up on the rim, which can help to keep it taught elsewhere (and hence remain within the smallest diameter part of the wheel at the central rim channel.

Each time you work your way around you should get a bit more tyre on, until it's properly seated.

I also like to run a very sparing amount of synthetic grease around the beads, as this helps with both getting the tyres onto the rim and seated properly once inflated.. although some might advise against this I've not had any problems..

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What on Earth were you using that you damaged the tyre right down to the metal wire?

 

[Pgd]

Chances are the tyre will hang up with about 1/4 left to go on

Yep, that's precisely what happened

ideally while applying some load

Could you clarify a little more?

Each time you work your way around you should get a bit more tyre on, until it's properly seated

This does make sense, and even though I ultimately failed, I did notice that repeated manipulation of the tyre was causing it to loosen and to be more manageable. When you say "until properly seated" do you mean that the last bit just "pops" into place?

Thanks @wafter and @Dogtrousers -- good food for thought.

 

[Pgd]

What on Earth were you using that you damaged the tyre right down to the metal wire?

I know, I know, it sounds like I must have been attacking it with a knife or something!! But just standard plastic levers, I assure you. I had the tyre ~80% on, but the last bit was super stiff so required a lot of force (or so I thought)

 

[wafter]

Could you clarify a little more?


This does make sense, and even though I ultimately failed, I did notice that repeated manipulation of the tyre was causing it to loosen and to be more manageable. When you say "until properly seated" do you mean that the last bit just "pops" into place?

Thanks @wafter and @Dogtrousers -- good food for thought.

No worries

By applying load I mean keeping pressure on the part of the tyre that's at the point where it's crossing from the outside to the inside of the rim. Doing so while mainpulating the rest of the tyre will encourage it onto the rim, while keeping the rest of the tyre taught so less likely to slip out of the well in the middle of the rim.

Properly seated was probably the incorrect term actually, but yes - on the rim, with both sidewalls inside the rim channel and ready for you to stuff a load of air up it.

It's worth searching for this sort of stuff on youtube as it's easier to understand when you can see it being done..

 

[Pgd]

It's worth searching for this sort of stuff on youtube as it's easier to understand when you can see it being done..

Absolutely -- that's what I'm doing right now -- but like @ColinJ alluded to, I know I'll learn stuff now, or watch the LBS do it now, and then forget again the next time
I also know I should practice this stuff -- but if I have a working bike, I'd be anxious about taking it apart and risking ending up with a *non* working bike...

ETA maybe I should print out a list of tips and keep it in my cycling bag

 

[tom73]

Calvin's your friend
https://www.youtube.com/@parktool/search?query=changing tyre

 

[youngoldbloke]

Fitting Marathon Plus
Most tyres you don't need the straps.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Practise at home getting the tyre on and off. And talc as @vickster suggested.
How could plastic tyre levers damage a bead? Does it matter if the metal bead is 'exposed'?
Not sure why there's any "paint" on the rim or why plastic tyre levers would damage 'it'. Why would any damage matter?
Make sure the final section you're trying to force on is NOT opposite the valve.
Also try standing on the tyre (wheel flat on floor; the bit where the bead is still a chord) and lever the wheel down.

Tyres	Schwalbe G-One All round RG 700x40mm
Wheels	Boardman ADV Tubeless Ready rims, Formula CX20 (F) CX22 (R) hubs

From what I can tell these tyres can be mounted tubeless. Such tyres are invariably very tight. Good luck.