Zaskar

My Cannondale Hollowgram wheels are a &$%*@ to mount tires on.

Note: Every time I mention this, I get the helpful tips, e.g. start at the top, start at the bottom, pinch the tire all around to make sure it's in the center... All correct... but not enough. I've been mounting tires for (gulp) 45 years. I had a pro tech mount one and it went something like "All you have to do is... jus... uhhg... son. of. a... Damn." I have to use a bead jack.

Before I throw these wheels in the trash (they are nice carbon wheels after all), I want to try one more set of tires. I've tried Conti 4000s and Schwalbe Pro Ones.

Any recommendations on a tubeless tire that's known to be easier to mount than others?

Thanks!

WhyFi

Which Pro One did you use? The Pro One Evo Addix are among the easiest that I've ever mounted, but I don't have any experience with the first gen Pro One TLE. Supposedly, the POEA are made to the (as of yet unofficial) ETRTO road tubeless standard, so any others also built to that standard should have the same bead diameter.

phrantic09

Second the Pro One TLE addix- cake to mount and inflated with a track pump

Zaskar

Oooh... this is good news. I have the older Pro Ones.

Sy Reene

What width tire are you wanting to use? Ease of mounting can vary within a brand even by the width.
FYI, I don't the GP4000s were ever tubeless.

popeye

Does easy to mount mean easy to burp?

WhyFi

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That's not really a thing with road tires.

ericcox

I don't have a lot of experience, but on my rims, GP5000s are incredibly difficult to mount, requiring a bead jack and lots of profanity. In contrast, Pirelli Pzero TLRs were quite easy - standard tire levers for one, just thumbs on the other. Also popped the bead on with a standard floor pump. The continentals required a co2 blast to seat.

Zaskar

I initially mounted a GP 4000 (tubed) and it was so difficult to mount, I bailed - didn't mount the other tire, pulled the mounted 4000 back off (which was an equal nightmare) and bought the Schwalbes. The thinking was - if the roadside repair is going to be impossible or next to impossible, at least tubeless will reduce the likelihood. That worked. I had one flat in two years (I ride other bikes) and was able to fix the hole (too big for the Stans to seal) with a plug.

Sy Reene

This likely won't help much unless you wanna go for some Gatorskins , but you could take a look thru the limited dataset that LB shows, and choose the rim size that might be closest to whatever you have.
Fairly universally, and could be another topic for discussion, 25mm TL seems to always be harder to mount than 28mm for a given tire model. Not sure why that would be.
https://www.lightbicycle.com/newslet...th-Charts.html

Zaskar

Sy Reene that is interesting. Their experience shows the Schwalbes as relatively easy, but does note that the 28 is easier than the 25. However, they showed a huge difference in two sizes with the Contis.

Sy Reene

Interesting huh? I don't know what to make of this stuff though. Here's 2 examples for the Schwalbe's, one is a relatively narrow rim (18c internal), the other on a wide rim (23c internal). How is it possible that results flop the opposite way for one rim width vs. the other, for the same tires? (the top 2 rows are the wide rim ratings)

oldwinger14

Pro One TLE were relatively easy to mount on my Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels. They might have gone on even easier & quicker if I had more experience, but it was my first time mounting bicycle tires of any type.

Branko D

Vittoria corsa speed was trivial for me to fit. It's a TT tire and delicate, though. However, I got Vittoria's tubeless installation kit with their airliner foam inserts. Those contain a set of plastic clips aa well as pliers which double as extra strong levers.

The clips in particular make even GP5000s a breeze. They hold the already inside parts of the bead where it is so you can just lever the last bit on. Even with the foam inserts.
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merlinextraligh

This is an unanswerable question. Rims have a spec’d dimension and a tolerance plus or minus that dimension. Tires have a dimension, with a tolerance plus or minus.

Rim manufacturers will tend to err on the high side of the tolerance. Tire manufacturers will tend to err on the small side.

How any particular rim and tire fits, depends on those two specific tire and rim. you could have a tire to the small side of spec and a rim to the large size,or vice versa.
One person’s experience with a particular brand tire and rim, only tells you how that exact tire and rim matched up. It tells you little about how another tire and rim from the same manufacturers would match up.

Zaskar

Thanks ericcox - bought a couple of these

To give you an idea how tight the new Pzero was - I had to use two tire levers to get the first side on. Worse, I used a few zip ties to keep the bead from coming off as I worked the other part of that bead. Again, to get the first side of the tire on. The zip tie thing worked really well. They allowed me to reposition my hands, check that the bead was still centered, etc.

With one side of the bead on, the tire jack worked its magic and the tire was on. All in, it took about 5 min. to mount the tire. It was MUCH easier and quicker than the Schwalbes. But this could absolutely be attributed to what merlinextraligh eluded to - that a rim on the larger end of the manufacturing tolerance meeting a tire on the smaller end... boom. Also, I jumped to 28s from 25s. That alone could be the reason.

On the plus side - the tire seated, sealed and aired up almost like it was tubed.

eduskator

I second that! My Pro Ones also also really easy to mount. Even when they got out the box folded, they mounted on the first try. I'm pretty sure they can be installed on rims without an air compressor.

ericcox

That does sound way harder to get them on the rim than they were for me, though it sounds like you've found a good method. I'm glad they seated and aired up so well. It's impressive to me how well they hold air versus my GP5000s. I hope you enjoy them.

bruce19

Sy Reene

Nice, but OP is looking for a tire, not a whole new system. Besides, go to 46" into that video.. sorry, but I can't pump that fast to seal a bead.

bruce19

I've done it and I'm no physical specimen at age 75.

DaveSSS 

I had no problems mounting the four 28mm michelin tubeless that I have in use on fulcrum racing 3 wheels. I have a big air compressor, so bead seating was also easy. Orange seal endurance works great. When new, the sidewalls can leak air, but the orange seal fixed that. They hold air as well as a tubed tire. The ride beats any clincher I've owned, since I can run pressures in the sixties and not have to worry about pinch flats.

Bald Paul

Boyd wheels actually posted a WARNING about trying to mount GP5000 tubeless on their carbon wheels:
A word of warning regarding Continental GP5000 TL tires. – Boyd Cycling

ericcox

Wow - that's really interesting. My next set of tires will be Pirellis again (they're waiting on a shelf). I'm avoiding the Continentals.

Sy Reene

It is interesting, and far from the only anecdotal problem with GP5K TL mounting. That said, the wording of the Boyd memo is interesting given that they wrote it about 1.5+ years after the 5KTL tire was on the market. IOW, who's engineering in the tight fit? Chicken or the Egg