Rim & tire don't play nice together? or...?

[berserk87]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Am I the only guy who stretches new tires by standing on the bead and doing "deadlifts" holding the opposite side of the tire? I move the tire about 6 inches and repeat until I've gone all around the bead. This helps them "break in" before the first ride.

I do this also but I'm not sure how much it helps. It counts as resistance training though.

Velocity A-23's (tubeless ready) are awful as well.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by benb

I've had trouble with these Contis too. I can always get them on but they are hard to mount and I've flatted brand new tubes installing them because they required too much force to mount. Usually once I ride around if I got a flat they'd be easier to mount.

I have stretched tires before but I'm wary of doing so, I had at least one tire that developed bead/sidewall damage and I couldn't get it out of my head that it might have been my fault for stretching.

One of my go-to things especially for tubeless is soaping the rim (take a couple ounces of water and squirt a couple drops of dish soap in it) to help slide the bead over the rim and then also help seat the rim with a regular pump instead of an air compressor. That is not a very good solution if you're on the side of the road with a flat though, I usually only have resorted to that with MTB tubeless setups which are almost bulletproof in my experience.

I tend to avoid the Contis kind of over this issue. If they were phenomenal tires in some way I'd put up with it but I find them middle of the road in just about every factor, whether it's ride quality, grip, wear, flat resistance, price, etc.. I feel like I can usually be happier with a different tire and it will also mount easier. Usually over the years that has been Michelin for me but I have been super happy with some Specialized tires over the past few years. The Specialized S-Works Turbo is one of the best tires I've ever run.

A small atomizer loaded with soapy water does the trick. It's what I carry. Original bottle was for spraying cedar oil.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by jtakeda

Tubeless tape (even if using tubes)

So I pulled the tires off Ms. Thing's bike to discover that JY used some weird plastic-y DTSwiss rim strips that feel like waxed canvas. I replaced those with Stan's yellow tubeless tape and, at least just now it seemed a lot easier to get the old tires back on.