doctor j

My old Mavic Aksium rear wheel, a 24-spoke, gave up the ghost (cracked rim) after about 12,000 miles. I bought one of the new Aksium wheels, a 20-spoke, that comes with the tire

After about 1,000 miles, I had a flat on the new tire/wheel. No big deal. I've had flats before. Wrong. It was very difficult to get one side of this tire off the rim to remove the old tube. I could not get a tire lever under the bead of the Mavic tire. I've used this same set of levers for a long time with various brands of tires and have never had a problem like this before. I had to use the flat screw driver blade from a multi-tool to get under the bead so that I could get my tire lever under the bead. Then I had a hard time getting the replacement tube under the bead so that the tire/tube would seat properly in the rim.

Has anyone had a similar experience with the "new" Aksium rim/tire combination?

The Mavic tire rolled well, and I was pleased with its performance.

Given that the flat was more of a cut than a puncture, I took the tire, Maxxis Re-Fuse, off the dead Aksium and replaced the Mavic tire on the new wheel. I had a hard time getting the Mavic tire off, even at home, to replace it with the Re-Fuse. Had to use a screw driver again.

Any knowledge, wisdom, tips, experiences will be appreciated.

Perrico

I have the exact same problem. Well, not anymore cuz I am ditching these tires. My bike came with the Aksium wheels and Aksion tires. I went for a ride on crappy roads and they threw out both wheels. I took them to my bike shop to get them trued and I decided to remove the tires for their convenience.
I decided to use my metal core tire levers. These tires were the tightest tires I've EVER had. I was in a rush cuz the shop was closing in a half hour. In my haste, I BENT MY RIM cuz the tires were so tight. I didn't realize til I got to the shop and the owner pointed it out.
Getting the tires back on was just as tough. I was extra careful not to bent metal again.
I've had Michelins, Contis, Specialized, Schwalbe, Gommitalia, Vittoria, etc. None of them have given such a tough time. I can usually start with a couple levers and then finish bare handed. I can even install without levers. But the Mavic Aksions were ridiculously tight and difficult to get on.
WTF? What's the need for such a tight fit? I farted several times during the removal process. I almost crapped my shorts from the effort.
I decided I didn't wanna be on the road and get a flat with them so I am ditching these tires. No noticeable difference in performance so why keep a difficult product.

AnkleWork

Hilarious.

dddd

At first I thought, "no way, the OP must not know how".
I can't believe the problem is with these rims.

Then I considered the tires. What kind of bead are these? Sounds dreadful.

I had Conti wired-on tires on Super Champion Gent81 rims a few years back and what a struggle trying to get those off!

If the new tires are still difficult then a thinner rim tape will help.

Also of course assuming that the beads are being pushed to the center of the rim before lifting/prying them off(?).
I'll even work the bead toward the center of the rim (all the way around the hoop) while prying, to get all the available slack to where the lever is trying to lift the bead, then use a sliding action to get the bead to the outside of the rim cavity.

Kevlar-bead tires can be very tight also until they've been inflated for a good while.

Perrico

I assume these are a kevlar bead. The tire is a foldable. I put on my Gommitalia Calypsos instead. Installed by hand - no problem. I even removed to double check and it took my normal effort. It's the Aksiums. For some weird reason Mavic made a VERY tight fit for these.

FBinNY 

Some time in the last 30 or so years, tire and rim makers, especially rim makers lost sight of the principle that makes tires mountable. Since the bead can't stretch, since that would cause blow off, and the rim flange diameter obviously has larger than the bead diameter, the only way tires can be mounted or removed is by producing some slack someplace.

This is done via a smaller diameter well in the middle of the rim which allows the tire to move inward (radially) so there's slack elsewhere. It's analogous to if you stack two quarters, then move one sideways a bit so one edge is beyond the other.

This principle is central to tire mounting and has been applied successfully for a century or so, but makers feel free to disregard it. Part of the reason is that having the outer wall as far out as possible, and as flat as possible confers a strength and manufacturing advantage. I understand and accept that, but wish rim makers would use their own products (and hopefully get a flat on a cold rainy night) so they'd understand the problems their designs create.

I've never measured exactly how small the bottom of well diameter needs to be, and simply eyeball the depth when I choose rims, avoiding any of the shallow well models. But maybe it would help if someone started publishing the well diameters of rims so users could avoid the tight ones. Hopefully, a noticeable drop in sales might motivate rim makers to think about their ultimate customers when designing their rim's profiles. I don't hold out for miracles, though, since the vast bulk of rims go to OEMs, and end up getting sold to people who don't know enough to shun tight rims.

BTW- it's not only the rims at fault, some tires are tighter than others, and the pairing on a tight tire on a tight rim is the real killer.

BTW- for those shopping rims, you can predict mounting tightness by using a flat piece of metal and a ruler to measure the drop from the outer edge of the rim flange to the bottom of the center well. Lay, the flat across the flanges, and measure down. As I said, I don't know the minimum depth needed, but if you already have a rim, use that as a basis of comparison to predict if the new rim will be tighter or looser.

dddd

Absolutely I would try for a warranty claim.

I once got a pair of Hutchinson tires that I at first thought must be 650c-sized, but were so crazily tight that I didn't even come close to getting them on any of several 700c rims.
I've installed thousands of tires and these were like 615mm, not 622mm as shown on the tire. The tires got replaced free, but what I wanted more was an explanation, as in "was this a joke?".

Perrico

Thanks for the recommendation. I will try for warranty if it's not too inconvenient. Otherwise I'll throw onto Kijiji. They are still in new condition and have less than 700 km.

Apulmusson

I'm havin the same problem as we speak. I'm trying to get an Yksium tyre off a Mavic Cosmic pro carbon wheels. It's as if they're welded. I managed to get one side of the tyre off, but not the other. There's not enough gap to get the lever in and I don't want to use a scewdriver on a carbon wheel. I'm filing down a plastic lever. If that doesn't work I'll have to cut the tyre off. Then I'm fitting Conti 5000s. I'll buy a Stans Dart tyre repair tool. Hopefuly I'll never have to do a repair on the road that requires me to take the tyre off.

Perrico

Before you cut the tires, there are some levers made for hard to deal with tires. I got them just in case I ever run into the same situation on a different tire.
Crank Bros Speedier Tire Lever
Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack
ANother one as well - can't recall the name. A single lever with extensions that connects down to the hub so you can rotate the lever along the tire/ rim to make removal a bit easier.

Drew Eckhardt 

Use two wraps of 5/8" (16mm) wide 1 mil Kapton tape to get more slack for tire removal and installation.

That gives you an additional 3/32" of excess bead length to work with which is significant.

Push the beads towards the middle of the rim starting and milk the slack around for removal.

Install in the same way except start 180 degrees from the stem and flip the second bead on instead of off.

JohnDThompson 

The reinforced plastic, carbon-friendly tire levers are often considerably thicker than metal levers, which can make it difficult to insert the lever between the bead and the rim. Perhaps try thinning the end of one of your levers to make it easier to slide between the bead and the rim?

Apulmusson

The problem with the Mavic UST (Tubeless Ready) wheels is tat they have filled the centre channel with airtight plastic material. Better than tape, but it leaves very little channel for the tyres.

easyupbug 

If you have arthritis in your hands you know to watch for this when selecting rims, be they Mavic, Shimano, etc.