Tire Mounting Rant Thread

[Wilkinson4]

This should be a sticky!!! Why oh why are Challenge tires so damn difficult to mount!!! I just bought a pair of Erocia tires and I'm ready to send them back. I'm trying to mount them on Kinlin 270 rims. I have a kool stop and VAR tire jack, but I can't even get to the point to use them. The bead just keeps un-hooking around the tire before I can get the jack on the rim!

Arghhhhh! Good Grief!!! I had mounted some PR's on older Torelli Master rims and they were notoriously difficult to mount tires on so I thought it was the rims. Now I know why they call them Challenge! Sick joke...

Any tips? I feel a little better now...

mIKE

[gone]

Nope, no tips at all. After I mounted a set of PR's on some DT Swiss rims (first time I ever had to use steel core tire levers to put a tire on) I wondered if I could still have babies. An absolute bitch to mount.

[palincss]

I keep hearing this and marveling. My Parigi Roubaix go on without tools easily and even come off easily without tools. Rims are MA-3 in front and Open Pro in back.

[Wilkinson4]

I keep hearing this and marveling. My Parigi Roubaix go on without tools easily and even come off easily without tools. Rims are MA-3 in front and Open Pro in back.

I loathe you:) Ok, so I stepped away and attacked it again. Worked the bead on like I would mount a sewup, and it took me about 5 min of rasslin with it. Whew. I give it a once over, looks ok. Bead looks set. Start pumping it up. Give it a turn at about 30 psi so far so good. I start inflating again. 40 psi, 50 psi, 60 psi, 70psi, BAM!!! 0psi I psi'd my pants!

The tube must have been pinched in there. Blew half the tire off the rim and I had a dime size blowout. @!*&! I think I'll give it a try tomorrow. The PR's ride so nice, it's like crack or meth!!! I figured these would ride even better. Damn, I just sold my JB'S!!!

mIKE

[gavingould]

the only non-tubular Challenge tires i've had are Grifo XS file treads, they mount up with no tools very easy.
when deflated they practically fall off the rims, at least with Ksyrium ES and handbuilt A23s.

[Wilkinson4]

One last try. Success. I went to a smaller tube, 25mm. I ran 25mm-28mm in the JB's no problem. So, I was able to get a little air in the tube this time and then peeled on the bead. Set the bead all around and started to inflate.

Gotta say, when it got to about 60psi I was flinching a little:) Anyway, got it on and it measures 30.2mm. I agree about the Grifos XS, they go on and off easily.

[palincss]

The tube must have been pinched in there. Blew half the tire off the rim and I had a dime size blowout. @!*&! I think I'll give it a try tomorrow. The PR's ride so nice, it's like crack or meth!!! I figured these would ride even better. Damn, I just sold my JB'S!!!


I wholeheartedly agree with you about the ride. That's their Dr. Jekyll personality. However, there is also Mr. Hyde: one flat every 300 miles with the P/Rs. That's why I took them off for the winter and replaced them with Paselas: fixing flats in the cold is so not fun!

[palincss]

Bravo! Overly large tubes do make it very difficult to install without catching the tube under the bead.

[FlashUNC]

Challenges are easily the toughest tires I've ever had to mount. Clincher or tubular, doesn't matter.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I've gotten in the habit of going around the whole rim on both sides after mounting the tire and physically looking down in there to make sure the tube isn't pinched anywhere.

It adds some time to the process-especially out on the road with buds waiting for me to change the @#$% tube. But it also prevents any poop-in-the-bib-shorts inducing explosions like you described. :eek: ;)

But I feel your pain indirectly . . . never had that much problem myself but one of my friends has Neuvations and we learned the hard way on a ride what happens with Conti's and Neuvations. all three of us were yannking on it and I was afraid we were going to tear the wheel apart trying to get the #$%@ thing on there! :crap:

BBD

[merlinmurph]

Man, this makes me wonder what it would be like mounting these tires on a Campy Neutron which is notorious for being difficult to mount tires on....

[russ46]

I have a set of aluminum Shimano Dura Ace wheels that are very difficult to mount tires on. I also have a set of Eastons, that the DAs replaced, which are easy to mount. After several battles with the DAs, I started keeping a new tire mounted on one of the Eastons for a backup. When I have to replace a tire on one of the DAs, I remove the "stretched" tire from the Easton & switch it to the DA - all done with low blood pressure & zero finger strain.

[umami]

You haven't truly suffered until you've tried to mount anything to a tubeless rim (Stans, I'm looking at you). Even with soapy water and multiple levers going, you feel like you're doing something wrong the whole time. I did my first one dry--before I read the destructions. I never, ever want to have to deal with one of these on a ride...:butt:

[nightfend]

Kinlin rims are very tight for a number of different tires. Just part of owning Kinlin rims.

[Mark McM]

Kinlin rims are very tight for a number of different tires. Just part of owning Kinlin rims.

This must be a recent change. I've got a few Kinlin rims (XR-200 and XR-300) on which tires slip on and off quite easily - maybe too easily.

Maybe it's just me, but I actually prefer rims with tight tire fits. If the tire goes on easily when installed, it will also come off easily in case of riding a flat tire. While handling on a high-speed descent is bad with a flat tire, its worse with no tire.

[Lovetoclimb]

the only non-tubular Challenge tires i've had are Grifo XS file treads, they mount up with no tools very easy.
when deflated they practically fall off the rims, at least with Ksyrium ES and handbuilt A23s.

Same experience with Grifo and Limus Open Tubulars. So much so that they roll off the rim during hard cornering in CX races!

[UberBike]

Most of the challenge tire issues we have are due to the clinchers being shipped / stored completely flat which makes it hard not to pinch a tube on the 1st install.

If I'm not being rushed, I will pop the tire on a rim with out a tube and let it sit for a while in hopes it will settle more round.

[pakora]

I just wanted to join the club of the Challenge Tires Challenge.

I bought a pair of Parigi-Roubaixs off cat6 but was waiting for my pr4s to die. Eureka, a cut to the cords after riding in Jersey on gravel-strewn old asphalt.

I gave up after 30 minutes so I didn't lose my patience after getting no further than 3 spokes away of mounting just one bead on an old Ksyrium SSC.

I had a similar thing mounting a mountain tire on a tubeless rim for the first time (that one cost me a huge blister on my thumb, and took an hour).

Does anyone have any success with the mtn tricks of a concentrated solution of soap and water to help?

[Wilkinson4]

Welcome to the he-man challenge tires haters club:) I actually like em, but not so much the mounting... Best bet is to use the thinnest rim strip, or better yet veloplugs and go with a tube a little smaller that what you would normally use. Then just work em on... Patience:) A kool-stop or var tire jack really helps too.

mIKE

[pakora]

Heh that's the best part - I don't even have a rim strip because the Mavic rim design doesn't have a drilling through the lower half of the rim.

I'll try again tomorrow with some talc and after hugging my teddy bear for a few minutes beforehand.

[AngryScientist]

those challenge tires are tough to mount, no doubt, but it can be done, and the results are a fantastic riding tire. i love these things.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ufpP9g7Usfw/UgmMt8Q1eEI/AAAAAAAABXc/jtJrk5rw-Vw/s640/DSCN0012.JPG

[vqdriver]

i freakin hate installing/removing tires from my kinlin wheels. just a real pita.
on the same note, i've never had to work harder with tires than installing a set of challenge parigi roubaixs onto dt rims. put the two together and it would be a cursed night in the garage.

[Wilkinson4]

i freakin hate installing/removing tires from my kinlin wheels. just a real pita.
on the same note, i've never had to work harder with tires than installing a set of challenge parigi roubaixs onto dt rims. put the two together and it would be a cursed night in the garage.

Bloody finger builds character. And your vocabulary:)

mIKE

[choke]

I never tried it but I've read that throwing them in the dryer for a few minutes helps a lot. I just take my time and use a couple of cheap levers, working them on in small steps.

FWIW, the Strada Biancas I recently bought went on a lot easier than the Parigi-Roubaixs - though still tougher to mount than most tires.

[oldpotatoe]

I never tried it but I've read that throwing them in the dryer for a few minutes helps a lot. I just take my time and use a couple of cheap levers, working them on in small steps.

FWIW, the Strada Biancas I recently bought went on a lot easier than the Parigi-Roubaixs - though still tougher to mount than most tires.

But the extension cord has to be really long to tow the dryer along if you get a flat on the road.

Built a bike with Challenge some sort of rando tire, really tough to get on..no WAY the lady was gonna change a flat on the road.

But TiDesigns is a better source for tire info-call him directly, maybe at 2-3am...

[AngryScientist]

But the extension cord has to be really long to tow the dryer along if you get a flat on the road.

Built a bike with Challenge some sort of rando tire, really tough to get on..no WAY the lady was gonna change a flat on the road.

my experience with challenge tires is that, while they are a pain to get on, once they are on the rim and stretched in the sun, riding for a few hundred miles, etc. they really do stretch a bit and become easier on/off.

[joosttx]

The first time to put them on is very tough. But like AS writes they become easier to mount once stretched on the rim.

Try applying dish washing soap liberally on the tire bead. Then using a cheap tire level to get the last 4 inches on the rim.

[pakora]

But the extension cord has to be really long to tow the dryer along if you get a flat on the road.

:hello:

I can't bring myself to put $100 worth of tires that have a super thin coating of rubber and a polyester casing in the dryer though.

[FlashUNC]

my experience with challenge tires is that, while they are a pain to get on, once they are on the rim and stretched in the sun, riding for a few hundred miles, etc. they really do stretch a bit and become easier on/off.

That's been my experience as well. But when you're caving your forehead in trying to get them on the first time...

There's other tire options out there.

Their road tubulars aren't any better. I can see why they'd be in such demand for cyclocross, impossible to roll tires that mount that tightly.