The tyre doesn't fit !!

[Crackle]

Went to change my sons tyres today on his Islabike Beinn 20. It does have road tyres but as we've been riding trails recently I bought him some mtn bike tyres (20x1.75) to replace the road tyres (20x1.35).

Well apart from the front tyre being the hardest tyre I've had to take off, when I came to put the rear tyre on it was too big! Thinking I'd got a duff tyre I swopped front and rear, same result.

I then gave up and put the original back but even that gave me problems as it too was too big but just tight enough to encourage back on with some air in the tube and some judicious fiddling.

The only conclusion is the back wheel is smaller than the front.

I will contact Islabikes on Monday but in the meantime has anyone got any wise words or had something similiar happen.

Took me all soddin' afternoon to do it as I just could not accept it wouldn't go on and I'd taken his mudguards off which he wanted back on with his old tyres - what a pain

 

[mickle]

It doesnt take much manufacturing tolerance discrepancy to make a particular, supposedly matching tyre/rim combination incompatible, its more pronounced in the smaller sizes and more common with entry level components.

We had a batch of thirty bikes out on loan last year which suffered from spontaneous blowouts due to slack tyre fit. Scary. Cost us a fortune to put right.

Chalking the inside of the tyre and the tube always helps with tight installations. Using workshop quality tyre levers makes tyre removal a lot easier. I use Pedros excellent levers at work. If the problem persists contact Isla, they may have had a bad batch from the factory

 

[Crackle]

Having forgotten all about this until last week when we did another trail on the bikes, I finally contacted Islabikes. Mickle was absolutely right, a small batch of undersized wheels.

Anyway they are sendng out a new wheel with apologies.

Son No.1 has finally realized the value of Islabikes, having rejected them previously on 'cool' factor, he is fed up with being outpaced, especially uphill, by his younger brother. So a Beinn 24 is in the offing, once I've flogged the Xmas bikes I still have to fix up his Trek for 'stunts' though. What price a lesson in what is a good bike eh!