I don't know too much about bikes, but I do remember a roadie telling me while I was fixing my flat that the reason my tires were so hard to put on was due to the fact that they were Continentals. Apparently they are harder to get around the rim and Michelins are easy but more expensive.

By the way, I know what you mean. They are hard to put on!

Bosco

It just depends on the tire/wheel combo. Kenda Koncepts slipped right onto my 700c Ritchey Aero DS wheels, but when I put a Continental on the same wheel it took an hour of cursing before I finally asked my bike shop for help. Different tires might help. (I'm getting Michelins next time.)

This is an interesting tidbit I picked up from conti. The standards for tire manufacture are actually higher than those for rims. One of conti's bragging rights is the fact that they meet the most stringent german production standards so every one of their tires is nearly identical to the next. Rims on the other hand do not come with the same guarantee, often producing a significant variance in production. This is because the dies used to extrude the aluminum wear out over time, becoming slightly larger. So the rims at the end of dies life will be harder to mount tires on than the first rims made off the same die. The solution is to purchase more dies, but this makes the rim more expensive. Both spinergy and ritchey have their rims made by a third party, probably velocity, araya or rigida, but most likely some factory in china or taiwan, so my guess is they may have a greater production variance.

Rim outside diameters are all over the place. That makes tire installation alternately easy or extremely difficult.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Are any rims 'better' in this regard?