Gatorskins are a real pig.

Not convinced of the benefits and the lose of performance is worth the grief of changing them.

GP5000 or GP4000 are pretty puncture resistant anyway and easily removed

We are now at 50 posts discussing how to change a tire....Triathletes are hilarious....

Honestly, my HED Ardennes are one of the easier wheels to change tires on. I put them on by hand with a tube with no problems.

GP5000 on a 700C Ardennes SL and GP4000 or Schwalbe One on a 650C SL

I don't the most common use case for tire irons is when you can gently lift the bead over.

Take this as a sign that you should not use gatorskins! ;)

The rim plays a key role in the ease of changing a tire/tube. I have one set of rims that's super hard and have broken levers change a tube. I have a set of race wheels that I can change using my fingers. They are all different. Its probably not you.....its the rim.

Original Ardennes or the current ones (21 mm internal width; 25 mm external width)?

If the current ones, what is your strategy (e.g. pre-stretching, heating, soapy water, etc.?)

It's worth the posts! If someone could magically give failsafe trick how everyone could change that road flat in <2 minutes without tearing your finger skin off, regardless of tire/rim combo, we'd end the thread!

I have a related question. What is the easiest way to change gears on the side of the road so that the chain is at the farthest cog out, in order to remove the rear wheel? I struggled with that part also.

Do you lift the back wheel up, change gears one at a time and rotate the pedals each time? That's what I did but it seems like there is an easier, faster way.

rolling resistance is similar to using gatorskins. if you only have an hour to train, you lose fitness changing that tire if not your whole workout down the toilet.

Ideally, do it while you are rolling down between getting the flat and stopping. Otherwise, yeah, you are doing that awkward gig of shifting with one hand while supporting the bike and turning the pedals. Depending on your bike, you may be able to easily remove the wheel while the RD is in a bigger cog. But then remember to shift the RD after you get the wheel off.

yes.

It can also be helpful to unship the chain off of the front ring altogether, or just move to the small ring.
also, for horizontal dropouts make your life easier by entirely removing the skewer from the hub

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Anne Barnes
ABBikefit, Ltd
FIST/SICI/FIST DOWN DEEP
X/Y Coordinator
abbikefit@gmail.com

I don't. I usually leave the chain 2-3 cogs in from the outermost position. makes it easier to reposition the chain when reinstalling, and there is still plenty of clearance from the derailleur.

As far as shifting, just preshift to the cog position you want and then spin the cranks.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

There are a lot of rims out there (such as the Ypsilon Stradas I mentioned earlier) that do not have center channels:

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Looking at pictures of my bikes, I have the LT and not the SL but it's the same 25mm rim.

I know it's a 25 cuz I trashed my rear wheel and had to replace the rim. I used a 25mm Belgium rim which is the same as the Ardennes rim.

I make sure the beads are in the center, push one bead on, put slightly inflated tube in, push the other bead on starting at the valve.

I know starting at the valve is supposed to be harder but it's the way I've always done it. I have mounted many tires over the last 35 years. I've probably forgotten about more tires than most people have seen

Edit: these wheels

The testing we did when looking at distributing them showed that the difference in rolling resistance was a lot greater than that, about as much slower than Gatorskins as Gatorskings are compared to GP4000s. The ride quality wasn't as good, either. My assessment was that they would generally only appeal to people whose number one concern was puncture resistance above everything else...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

The same reasons printers suck (seriously...it's 2020, printers should be better) - no money in making it better!

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Like ThailandUltras believes, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon with people suggesting solid rubber tires, the Gorilla Grip Group building a wall to keep out the tire-lever-using/pansy hands/patient/experienced dudes and dudettes, and every other Tom, Dick and Harry who just wanna blow off some steam here.

Jeezus! Before the age of 10 I learned the change a tube with a flat head screw driver, some rubber cement, a sheet of thin rubber and a small aluminum grate the size of a postage stamp instead of sandpaper to rough it up so the patch would stick. That was on a used BMX Monoshock bike I got myself for my birthday for $5 after mowing the neighbors yard.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Or, after catching your breath during the flat repair you make up for the lost 5 minutes by covering the same distance your workout requires in 55 minutes instead of the usual hour.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

I like to use a full size Zefel HP pump with either a pump strap or toestrap.

If your rear tire is flat shift into the smallest sprocket in the back as you are rolling to a stop open up your quick release and then before you remove the wheel get your pump out and all of your crap for changing the tire. if you can get to a decent spot to work on it then it's okay to roll in the room for a little while. If you can just hang the bike off of a road sign or tree while you're working on it all the better otherwise lay it down on the non-drive side to keep the chain out of the crap.

Not true. There are two aspects to getting that last bit of the tire onto the rim:

1) ensure that the beads of the tire are in the center of the rim (the smallest circumference available), and
2) generate "slack" in the tire by pulling/pushing the tire, on both sides simultaneously from the part that is seated
to the last part to be seated. Picture holding the wheel vertical with the mounted portion of the tire up and the unmounted
portion on the ground, then work the "slack" into the tire starting at the top and pulling/pushing the tire on each side towards the ground


The second aspect above essentially seats the tire beads as deep in the rim as possible. When the above steps are
taken, the effort required for those last few inches is minimized.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Correct. But the process is still the same. Those few mm's make a difference in rolling the last of the bead over the rim though.

If you are time crunched athlete that doesn't work. And I see these athletes get 3 flats a week. That is a lot of fitness to lose. Watts over time matters. Also you screw up maybe stuck in the middle of no where paying $200 for an uber ride .

Pretty good mindset

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Many folks have posted that they think tire tools should never be used to re-mount a tire or that it is easy to mount a tire by hand. Here is the ST challenge: please post a video of mounting a tire on a challenging rim bare-handed. But, you cannot do it in optimal conditions.

1. Use a legit difficult wheel & tire combo, like a wide Ardennes & Continental 5000 tires (no need to do Gatorskins; nobody rides them)
   
2. Ride for a couple hours to develop some real-world fatigue
3. If your hands are not already wet with sweat, dunk your hands in a bucket of salt water to simulate real-world challenges
4. Wipe your hands on your jersey to prepare for the tire change (no towels, because you would not have that on the side of the road)
   
5. Change your tire, video it, and post it here for all to enjoy

I can install a tire bare-handed. But, I would never recommend it for most people and definitely not on the road. It is a total waste of time.