wolfchild

I see assistance from tire levers, this goes against what you were saying earlier on, that all it takes is a special mindset and bare hands and no tools.

2_i 

I advocate training to get a feel and understanding for the tires. I have zero interest in haggling and happily evacuate myself from this thread and this forum I think too at least for a good while. Happy haggling with others.

Buglady

Full time bike mechanic in Calgary since 2012 (and year round rider since 2007) - I have mounted hundreds if not thousands of studded tires on a wide variety of rims. Certain tire brands *are* stiff to mount the first few times, and yes, certain rims (particularly those with a very square profile) can also make it difficult to mount tires.

I have a variety of tools I use to persuade tires into place, and that's in a heated bike shop. I cannot get tires on/off with my bare hands, and I am not going to set myself up for injury by trying. (That is not a realistic goal for a pro mechanic these days, however much of a point of pride it may have been decades ago, and I already have arthritis in my hands).

It will not be possible to get some tires perfectly mounted in the field, but practicing at home with your particular tire, rim, and tools is a good idea in my opinion. That gives you a chance to find the trick for that particular combination, and it may get the tire a bit more pliable.

That being said, I've had two flat tires in the last 3 years, both in winter, and I did not even attempt to fix it on the spot; I walked the bike to a warm place, but I'm riding in a city.

2manybikes

Don't use steel or Titanium tire levers on aluminum rims, they will dent the aluminum. Like my nice Ksyriums.

I'd give away my Ti levers but they could ruin a rim. Plastic levers only. So carry more if you need to. The plastic levers do get brittle in the cold. If your hands get too cold, put your mittens under your coat while you work. Then you can take a little break if you need to warm the hands. in the 20f range I need to warm up my hands sometimes when fixing a flat Or whatever..

2manybikes

Both the Nokian and the Schwalbe studded tires I own have Kevlar beads. only had one flat on a studded tire in 20-25 years. Only real problem was cold hands.

Jeff of Vt

Some beads are indeed tighter. The Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro and the Continental GP5000 to name a couple. Yet it doesn't take me any longer to mount them. I use a Pedro plastic tire lever to give that last stubborn eighth or less of tire bead a bit of an assist and on they go. I don't mount my Ice Spikers in warm conditions, quite the opposite. I can do a pair in 10 minutes. The Pedros are quite tough and they don't get brittle even in sub-zero weather.

The key with tire lever mounting is to continue to pull on the tire while giving the slightest leverage on the lever. The lever "hook" should be against the outer edge of the rim under the bead. It doesn't take much leverage and you work from the outermost edge of the stubborn bead. Do this a few times and it will become second nature.

Miele Man

Well, if Pedro's tire levers don't get brittle I must wonder why mine broke here in my apartment. Perhaps it was age? Doesn't really matter though; the thing is they broke trying to mount a tight tire and I no longer have those broken levers.

Cheers

rumrunn6

mounted up a 2nd set for this winter. this time used used 3 levers including a "speedier lever" & 3 straps! easy peasy. but just realized I mounted the front backwards. I could swear I checked the rotation arrow twice. how could I have messed that up? ugh. no mood to redo it after cleaning up but got it turned around the next day

sweeks

I've found this to be true, but only for punctures from road debris. What can cause flats with studded tires is the studs themselves. This may not be a universal problem, but in my experience riding in Chicago, where streets are liberally salted during the winter, they are predictable and I fear inevitable unless certain precautions are taken.

The specific conditions are: 20" Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires on a folding commuter bike. When the tires are new, they are essentially flat-proof. However, after one or two winter seasons, the studs begin to wear through the carcass of the tire, and can be seen perforating into the domain of the inner tube. Once this starts to happen, a flat isn't far behind. It happens sooner on the rear wheel than on the front.

What I think happens is the following. The studs are made of tungsten carbide, which does not suffer much if any corrosion. However, the studs are held in the tire by small steel structures resembling top hats, with the tungsten carbide part sticking out of the top of the "hat". The "brim" of the hat holds the stud in the tire. The steel corrodes in the salty environment, producing an abrasive rusty paste which sits between the base the stud holder and the carcass. Each time the stud hits the pavement, there is a little "sanding" action between the stud and the carcass. Eventually, this wears through the kevlar belts into the inside of the tire, resulting in a flat.

I've had good luck placing a "Mr. Tuffy" tire liner in my tires after the first season of use, and inspecting the carcass after each winter, discarding the tire when entire stud bases can be seen inside the tire. I haven't had a stud-puncture flat since adopting this protocol, and I'm typically getting three winters on the rear tire and four or five on the front.


Side view of a corroded stud

Bottom view of a corroded stud

2_i 

Thanks for this analysis. The failure mode of the studs penetrating to the inside of a tire seems to be particular for Marathon Winters, see the threads:

Concerning Winter Marathons' Durability

Safety Info About Studded Tires

sweeks

The second link didn't work for me. The first one had some familiar observations expressed. As I mentioned, the tire liners have worked well at extending the reliability of the Marathon Winters.

I don't know if this is a problem specific to the Schwalbe studded tire. I have a pair of Nokian studded tires that I use on my mountain bike. They are about 8 years old and have held up very well. Of course, I only ride on trails with them, and not very often, as opposed to the Marathon Winters that see street duty 5 days a week.

All things considered, I feel I get good value from the tires, considering the comparison with the co-pay for a hip replacement!

EDIT: I notice that Schwalbe now seems to have a Marathon Winter with the same sort of flat protection as the Marathon Plus. Anybody know about that?

2_i 

Sorry about the link - it presumably requires joining the Google group. In any case, the second thread referred to the PJW page, where there are two passages of note, somewhere in the second half of the page. One of them discusses the problem of studs penetrating to the inside and the other to Marathon Winters being replaced by Marathon Winters Plus.

The Nokian/Suomis I ride on stem from the time when there were no studded bike tires imported into US, except for Alaska, even by PJW - I got them from Europe. They still ride fine.

sweeks

Thanks! Sounds like I need to look for the "Plus" version of the Marathon Winter.