It can be hard if the tire is ‘tight’ for your wheel. Starting is easy - hold wheel on your lap, then starting on the edge nearest you, mount the tire edge, and then push with your thumbs in opposite directions to mount the tire until it gets really hard to continue doing so.
At that point, you may have to use a tire lever to lever one of the edges over the rim, but it’s not so easy because the other edge tends to pop out. If that’s the case, you have to use the lever earlier before so much force is needed. Just go a little at a time and it should gradually work.
The best tool bar none for this is the kool stop tire bead jack which saves your thumbs and makes it a lot easier to lever the tire over the rim (it’s still somewhat hard, though.)
I am trying to install a new tire on a road bike and need help. I can’t seem to get the tire onto the rim. I slightly inflated the tube to give it a round shape, put the tube on the rim and then fit the tire over it. But.I cant get the tire to stay inside of the rim. I watched several YouTube videos but they don’t help. I start at the opposite end of the valve and try to work my way around but it keeps popping out.
This is really frustrating, and I know that if I ever had a flat out on the road I am screwed and would have to call for a ride. Any tips on how to get the tire to fit into the rim? The YouTube videos make it look too easy, but it’s clearly not.
Put one side of the tire on the rim before putting the tube in place. Don’t put any air in the tube. If your rim has a center channel be sure to push the second tire bead into this channel as you install it. As mentioned, the Kool Stop Bead Jack helps a lot while protecting tube from lever damage.
First off, realise some tyres / rims are a lot harder to mount than others. Also first time you mount the tyre will be the tightest it will ever be.
So my way of working if I do have tight tyres, and due to the new rims / tyres being tubeless ready then they are getting ‘worse/tighter’ than in the past, is like this.
First off, forget the inner tube for time being. Put the tyre on and off 3 times with no tube. This means you’re stretching the bead but without the risk of pinching the inner tube. Just gets the tyre stretched to it’s normal/design size not the ‘out of mold’.
And to do this I’ll put the wheel right in the middle with the two beads hanging on the outside of the rim. Then on one side I’ll work my way around, making sure that the bead is going into that centre channel to give me a little more ‘space’/bead to get over the rim. That’s the 'easy bit done. On the second side, you need to really work hard to push the bead over into the channel. I personally don’t resort to water/soap, with the exception of an orange trainer tyre years and years ago, but they were famed for being impossible to mount. Anyway, once on then you get to take it off, again you don’t need to worry about being careful of the tube as it’s not there. So once you’ve done this (and leaving the tyre on overnight for the first one can help too if you’ve the time, I’ve not done / needed to do that for a while, you can add the tube. Get the first side in, but this time after the bead is in then push the bead over to be on the ‘sill’. Then, starting with the valve, push the tube in being careful not to twist it. Chances are you’ll not get it all in as it’s keep popping out somewhere unless you’re blessed with 4 arms / hands. don’t worry, but again, starting with the bit near the valve get the tyre on. After 3inches push the valve so you know the tyre isn’t under the bit where the valve is in the tube. Then carry on around but make sure you’re pushing the tyre into the channel. As you get most of the way around it’ll get hard to do with your fingers. Don not worry, but go back and work around the tyre making sure it’s in the centre well, then you’ll find you’ll get a little bit further dropping it over. Repeat, back to the valve, and try to massage it around so each time you get that little bit further as the tyre stays in that narrow centre bit. Eventually you’ll either get the tyre on, or for the first time you need to take the risk and use a lever. Now here I tend to do another way, which is not to use the lever to get the tyre over the edge, but to just stretch the tyre up, so lever, stretch then lever out and fingers to then work a little bit more over the rim. Less than a centimetre at a time.
For me the Park Tools levers are the gold standard - it’s what I’ve used on the road and at home for the last 15 years. Literally wore through one pair a few years ago where the rim bit had worn so thin it started flexing. No idea how many tyre changes that was but hundreds.
I had a devil of a time fitting Challenge Paris-Roubaix clinchers (open tubular design) and was helped out a lot by this technique. Shock, horror, starting at the side opposite the valve! Works for me and I’ve been able to install tyres with my hands and not risk knackering my latex tubes with a tool. And I have the dainty hand strength of an office worker.
Are you trying to fit a wider (like 32mm+ tire) onto a standard road rim? I can’t work out if you are having a problem getting the tire inside the rim in the first place or staying in the rim once its already there.
Getting the tire inside the rim, specifically the second side of the tire, is a common problem. There are lots of trick and tips but with some wheel and tire combos is just a pain. Tubeless ready wheels can be particularly difficult because of the way the rim bead is designed. My recommendation is some Pedro’s tire levers or similar re-inforced tire lever. The tire will stretch with age so its will get easier if you have to do it road side.
If you are struggling to keep the tire seated you are facing a more unusual problem partly caused by the inner tube. I have only come across this when fitting cyclocross tires with soft sidewalls to super narrow OEM rims but the principle holds true for fitting 30-32mm tires to many cheaper road rims. Basically the larger size inner tube is pushing out on the tire preventing it from properly seating. At the same time the big tube does play well with the narrow rims and has a tendency to pinch and if not inflated. The trick is to get one side of the tire fully seated on the rim. Then install and partially inflate the tube using the tube to help keep pressure on the side you have fitted and then fit the other side. Using a smaller diameter than recommended tube can also be useful i.e. 23-28mm tube rather than a 32-40mm tube. What I would note here is that if this is your problem you are also going to have problems with the tires flopping around in the corners unless you run them rock hard. In effect the rim is too narrow to properly support the tire.
Put your inner tubes in a zip-lock plastic bag with some talcum powder to get them liberally coated. When you put a tube in the tire, talcum powder will inevitably spill onto the rim. The talc on the tire and rim will actually make it easier to pull the last bit of bead over the rim with your hands (which I was able to do despite not having an abundance of hand/finger strength) and not have to resort to using a tire lever and risk pinching in the inner tube.
Then when I try to fit the tire onto the rim, starting opposite from the valve
Because the tube at the valve is reinforced usually and thickest part of the tube, try starting at the valve and working away from it. First, get one side of the whole tire inside the rim. It should set in there were it is tight and does not fall out when laying flat. Next, insert valve stem through hole and work it into the tire away from the stem. Next, fit the other side of the tire into the rim at the valve stem and work evenly on both sides away from the stem. For most of my new tires, I can get all of the tire seated but 11-1 on the clock pretty easily. Then, making sure the tube is not getting pinched you need to muscle the majority of the last part, working both sides so they stay tight so they don’t release. Then tire lever. Key is using friction of the contact point of where part of the tire is on the rim and part of the tire still needs to be seated. Good luck and if you do pay the LBS, the better ones will show you how to do it and even pop it off and help you (thought with current social distancing rules this may be on hold).