lyle.coop

I replaced some patched up tubes with new ones on my road bike. I checked the tire and rim for imperfections. Tire was fine. The rim tape was slightly sticking out (crumpled up) in 2-3 spots. I scratched out the imperfections with my nails. The tire (Continental GP500) is slightly tough to get back on. I used the Park tool blue plastic levers and a Pedros downhill tire lever (pictured below). I checked to make sure the tube wasn't under the tire bead and pumped both tires up to 90 PSI. I came back this morning. Rear wheel was fine. Front wheel developed a leak overnight. 4mm wide cut in the tube. I replaced that with another brand new tube and I really had to lever the tire back hard. The tube wouldn't even pump up. Turns out to be another 5mm cut. Am I ripping the tube with the levers? I've been replacing tubes and working on bikes for 25 years. Never had an issue like this. I'm kind of embarrassed to ask, but what the heck is going on?

Polaris OBark

It could be the tube itself, but I would blame the levers. Double-check for anything obvious, re-mount one bead of the tire, inflate the tube slightly, put the valve stem through the hole and put on the lock-nut, and then center the rest of the tube in the rim. Starting from the valve stem, work the tire in carefully, using bare hands as much as possible, and when you can get no further, let some of the air out of the tube, and repeat. If you really cannot get the last bit of the bead over the rim, use a tire jack, not levers.

Iride01 

GP 5000 doesn't need any tool to get if over the rim. They can be tricky though for rims that don't have much of a spoke channel. But that second side of the tire should be almost if not as easy as the first side of the tire to get over the rim if you do it right.

Many rims only have room in the center spoke channel for one bead. So when you put that other side on, you have to push the first side out of the way. Don't just pinch both sides of the tire together thinking that both have room in that spoke channel. They don't, remember there is a tube competing for space too. And if you are in the habit of inflating it, then let some or most of the air out when working on that second side if those wheels always give you grief. If they don't give you grief, then inflating the tube some does help. But since you are having issues, then don't inflate it.

So no tools needed. That eliminates one cause of damaging the tube while installing the tire. The other cause might be that the tube is getting caught between the tire and rim as you roll the tire bead over the rim. So look. Look twice. And maybe a third time, because it can sometimes be hard to see. Especially with old eyes in poor light.

I had a rash of flats from such a while back when I thought I knew all there was about changing tires. Oh how wrong I was. Now I can get that GP5000 tire off the rim without levers. Just fingers. And I've done it on at least four different rim types.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, it's the tools. I did that once myself, many years ago. Not everyone has the thumbs for tire mounting. A tire jack is the answer if that's the case. It it had been the tube caught under the bead, it would have gone boom either while pumping or soon after. That leaves a longer slit in the tube. Done that, too.

rm -rf

Ha, there's no way I could get the new GP5000 tires on or off without tools.
What works for me:
I have HED rims, "tubeless ready" so the bead snaps into the aluminum rim channel with a loud pop.
28mm GP5000 standard tires.
19-25mm lightweight tubes. This smaller size tucks up into the tire, far away from the bead. That's much easier. Lately, I've been trying latex tubes, but it's quite difficult to keep these larger, very flexible tubes out of the way of the bead -- but at least, they are pink, so I can see them easily.

Installing:
The smaller tube, inflated enough to hold it's shape.
Pedro levers. I tried Park Tool levers years ago, they just didn't work at all for me.
Only one lever to mount the tire. I have about 6-8 inches of final bead to get over the edge of the rim:

From an old thread. These rims were even harder to use, with very shallow center wells -- even with just a single bead in the center, and no tube installed yet, the tire wouldn't slide around to line up the label with the valve hole.
These were Continental levers, similar in profile to Pedro.

The key is lifting less than an inch of bead, sliding the lever over a bit, and repeating. It's easy and effective. The Pedro levers avoid damaging the tube, but the tube must not be pinched under the bead at all.



Removing: I need two levers to get the initial bead over the rim. Lately, I've had to use a hair dryer to warm the tire if I'm changing at home -- otherwise I can't push the bead out of the tubeless ready channel. (This used to be quite easy on older GP4000 and GP5000 tires.)

~~~
This style Park Tool lever won't work at all with this method.



The Pedro lever profile and blunt end is much better:

chaadster

lyle.coop are you using lightweight butyl tubes, perhaps? They may be very fragile, and are getting compromised by even brief pinching between tire bead and rim. I mean, you’re a vet, so you know what you’re doing; it seems more likely there’s a change in the equipment causing a mismatch in technique rather than you suddenly losing your skills for no reason. There has also been suggestion at times around here on BF that tubes can have quality control problems on occasion, so maybe that’s an explanation.

wheelreason

Yes.

lyle.coop

Sorry for the late response, I dislocated my shoulder mountain biking 6 weeks ago.

I finally got around to installing the tube. I used the park levers (and not the metal pedros lever.) I put the rim on top a large plastic garbage can which helped me use downward weight getting the bead on. I also sprayed the tire with soapy water to help the installation. Pumped it up and it's holding fine.

I used Continental tubes.... they didn't feel cheap.

Thanks for the help guys.

eduskator

GP5k, that's what's going on! Lots of riders tell me they are tight as hell.

Metal levers may have a greater risk to pinch the tube. I'd use the plastic ones.

choddo

They are. Had a 2 hour fight with one of their TLs once. This is after happily putting on GP4000s for 10 years with bare thumbs. Not bought one since, although have also improved technique and tools (love the tyreglider) since so wouldn’t be as bad now I suspect.

eduskator

Not surprised to read this! This is one of the reasons (first being the price) why I avoid them. For what it's worth, my Schwalbe Pro Ones have been easy on me in this regard for the past 5 years.

Calsun

I learned from watching a youtube video how to replace a tube and remount a tire with only my hands. It is actually not that difficult and no worries about damaging the tube.

For most of my cycling years I road on tubulars and so no need for tire levers. Going to clinchers meant learning a new skill.

I do use this tire lever to break the bead and remove the first side of a tire to remove the tube. It cost me $5.50 and is much better than regular tire levers. I use it on my road bike and my mountain bike tires.

SoSmellyAir

I start at a point opposite to and end near the valve stem. The valve stem prevents the beads from coming together and sitting within the center channel of the rim. Thus, starting at the opposite side allows the beads to sit deeper within the center channel, which creates more slack on the valve stem side of the tire to be pulled over the edge of the rim. That said, the illustrated tire jack is a lifesaver.

Chandne

Start at opposite the valve, push the tire beads close to the middle channel. Also, when I used tubes, I coated them well with talcum powder. That kept the tubes slippery to where they did not get pinched. Never had an issue that way. I also inflated the tube just a touch by mouth first so it has a little structure and does not simply lay flat when installed. After pushing it in, I'd inflate it slightly more but I checked the tire bead on both side to ensure the tube wasn't trapped.

Paradox77

Did you also have spray some soapy water when you slide the lever around? I found that it gives too much friction if I don't.

Chandne

I usually have a small cup with enough Dawn and water and dip the tire lever into it. Now that I use tubeless only, I actually wipe the entire tire and trim bead with that solution and install the tire. That makes it super easy.

Paradox77

Yeah I just tried it out, the soapy water helps a ton...couldn't of gotten my tire off the rim without it.