Originally Posted by
mattm
Is it A Thing that "tubeless ready" rims are SUPER f-ing hard to mount non-tubeless tires on to?
Anyway anyone have experience with these? Or mounting regular tires on "tubeless ready" rims in general?
OMG yes. I almost broke the rim...yes, the rim, of a wheel trying to get Schwalbe Pro Ones on once...it was terrible. It was equally hard getting them off. I almost just cut them off with tin snips.
I've since switched to a handful of tubeless compatible (instead of tubeless ready; WTF is there a distinction there?) wheels and mounting has been much easier, if I can't do it by hand, a bead jack makes it simple/quick.
The soap and water recommendation I thought is usually for 'seating' rather than mounting.
I bought one of those AirShot things. It works surprisingly well with the 6 Hutchinson Road tubeless and 2 WTB 650b tires I've seated.
Coat bead with soapy water, mount tires, pour a little bit of soapy water on the rim bed, just enough to lubricate, then remove core, attach Airshot (pre-pumped to 120+psi), hit the switch, and boom. Seated.
Remove airshot carefully, add sealant, replace core, pump with regular floor pump. The shake the crap out of it and do the normal tubeless dance of letting it sit horizontal on each side for a bit.