I bought a pair of Mavic "on special" at Belmont Wheelworks - about $350 w/ tires, IIRC. . I recently bought a new tire - Conti 5000 700x25. It was VERY, VERY hard to mount. I've done it twice - once in my office and once on the side of the road. Both times it took me about 30 minutes to mount the tire, working the levers in a myriad of configurations, trying to find the most effective distance between levers and levering 3 or 4 simultaneously. One lever is a yellow Pedro's.
I remember reading that 700 and 27" tires are very similar, but are not interchangeable. So I wonder if that's what's going on?
So what size are my wheels? I am not even sure what wheels they are:
- The rim is labeled Mavic Aksium Elite
- 180 degrees opposite, it's labeled Kysyrium Equipe
- As far as I can tell from the Mavic site, those are two different wheels.
- And there's a small decal = ALU S6000 - 622x1c (it's very hard to read, but I think that's correct)
I've always used Conti 4000's - is this a 5000 tire problem?
Next time, I expect I will be forced to use two metal screwdrivers, which is obviously courting disaster. I weigh 230#, my tires take lots of abuse. I have ridden 30K miles, so I've fixed a lot of flats.
Thank you for reading and your consideration.
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That said: isn't it a joy that we get to ride during this virus shutdown? I am not a social person, but I sure find the social isolation painful. Riding through Concord and Carlisle, it's a real delight to see groups of 2 or 3 kids walking (many more walkers than normal).
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MAGNIFICENT ANSWERS! THANK YOU ALL. The depth of your collective experience is a true delight.