Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Bicycle Mechanics
Reload this Page >

Cannot get tire to let go of rim

Notices
Bicycle Mechanics Broken bottom bracket? Tacoed wheel? If you're having problems with your bicycle, or just need help fixing a flat, drop in here for the latest on bicycle mechanics & bicycle maintenance.

Cannot get tire to let go of rim

Old 02-02-23, 10:38 AM
  #51  
Telkwa
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 176
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 30 Post(s)
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Yeah, only took me 66 years...
Better late than never I suppose. My blind spot was thinking that I'd been doing this since I was a kid so there was nothing to improve upon.

Going back to the original reason for starting this thread. Getting the bead off the shoulder of the rim. I think that lots of soap & water, and pushing the tire away from the rim while working around and around until the bead lets go will do it next time. I don't think the sealant had much to do with the tire being stuck on the shoulder but I do think the hard plastic Bontrager rim strip contributed to the problem. Just a guess based on very little experience...
Telkwa is offline  
Old 02-02-23, 03:47 PM
  #52  
Lombard
Sock Puppet
 
Lombard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 1,701

Bikes: 2014 Cannondale Synapse Carbon, 2017 Jamis Renegade Exploit and too many others to mention.

Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1031 Post(s)
Liked 863 Times in 573 Posts
Originally Posted by Telkwa
Yeah, only took me 66 years...
Better late than never I suppose. My blind spot was thinking that I'd been doing this since I was a kid so there was nothing to improve upon.
This reminds me of a club ride I was on once. Someone was changing a flat and was having a hard time mounting the tire back on the rim. I went to help him, but just when I was handed the wheel, this other rider grabbed it out of my hand and said "I've been doing this for over 30 years". Well he struggled for about 10 minutes, then handed the wheel to me in frustration. I mounted the tire in less than a minute, handed it back to him and said "Mabe you need another 30 years". His expression was priceless.

To be clear, he had an older bike with older non-tubeless compatible wheels. Clearly he never had to deal with the bead in the channel trick.
Lombard is offline  
Old 02-03-23, 11:01 AM
  #53  
Telkwa
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 176
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 30 Post(s)
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Sick burn there, Lombard.

I did a little research (google) on the Bontrager rim strips. According to Trek website there are two different versions. White for carbon fiber rims, and black for everything else. When I bought the rim strips a coupla years ago the salesperson at the Trek store sold me the white ones. He made no mention of black version.

I'm guessing the white ones work in non-carbon fiber applications?

Anyway, Trek's website says you can't remove them and use them again and I see why. The two rim strips I pulled out of my wheels when I gave up on t/l are all wavy and deformed along the thin edges. It takes a lot of prying to get them back off the wheel and by the time I was done they were toast. So I'll experiment with the DT Swiss rim tape I bought.

If I decide to go back to the Bontrager rim strips I'll make sure to buy the black ones.

I found a couple of places to buy what appear to be aftermarket copies of the Bontrager strips but I'm not gonna take that chance.
Telkwa is offline  
Old 02-12-23, 12:21 AM
  #54  
Camilo
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 6,760
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1107 Post(s)
Liked 1,197 Times in 758 Posts
Originally Posted by Telkwa
I feel like an idiot for not googling, but apparently there are some tools that might help with this.
Such as this Bikehand gizmo.
It's plastic so who knows if it'll hold up. I think I'm gonna give it a try. There are other strange little tools like the Rehook Tire Glider. Anyone have any experience with these alternatives to plain old levers?
I like the idea of a clamping device like the Bikehand. Seems like a person could keep some pressure on the Bikehand while using the other hand to check that the far side of the tire is in the channel.

Camilo, I used two of these to squeeze the tire off the bead. Worked OK. Gripping the tire, then pulling away from the rim and twisting seemed to help break the death grip.
I have one of those bikehand tire lever type tools and haven't had any luck at all with it for getting a difficult tire off. Fortuntately, I also have two other wheelsets that, for whatever reason, aren't as difficult, even with the same tires.

Hmm, I'll have to look into the box of rarely used tools I have to see if I have one of those C-Clamp type vice grips. They might be just the ticket! Although, not for on-road flats.

The most difficult rim I have are 650B Raceface rims I originally put on my wife's gravel bike. At the time I had Boyd 700C rims on mine and they were much easier to get tires off of (same make and model of tire). So I bought a set of Boyd 650B rims to replace hers and sure enough, they're easier to work with by quite a bit (hand strength works). I am using the difficult 650B rims for my second set and will just deal with them. They do seem a bit easier with the tires I put on them for my bike. I've read that different tire/rim combos work better or worse than others. But to me this is worthless knowledge because who would experiment randomly with different tires just to discover the one that works with any particular rim?

Last edited by Camilo; 02-12-23 at 12:29 AM.
Camilo is offline  
Old 02-13-23, 11:41 AM
  #55  
Telkwa
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 176
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 30 Post(s)
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Camilo
I've read that different tire/rim combos work better or worse than others. But to me this is worthless knowledge because who would experiment randomly with different tires just to discover the one that works with any particular rim?
Exactly. It's helpful on a theoretical basis to know that there are easy combinations of rim/tire and very hard combinations. But most of us are just rolling the dice.

So, after discussing things on this forum and watching several YouTube videos, I swapped my rear tire back to tubeless. 622X22 Bontrager Duster Elite rim and a Conti Protect Cross King tire that's been on the rim for a year but hasn't seen a lot of miles. DT Swiss 25mm tape and 44mm Muc-off valve stem. New bottle of Stan's sealant. Also used one of those FSA offset rim washers.

Some YouTube videos said to start taping near the rim weld, others say to start near the valve stem hole. I have no idea why some would say at the weld. I elected to overlap at the valve stem. Went around twice. I pulled the tape some, but #1 priority was to get the tape right down there in the rim channel. Air bubbles were easily squeezed out to the nearest spoke hole on the first round. Harder to avoid bubbles on the second round because the spoke holes were covered. I don't recall anyone mentioning that detail.

The Muc-off stems come with 3 different rubber feet. To me, the rectangular one fit best. The rectangular foot has a thin sleeve that's supposed to fill the space between the stem and the hole in the rim. Until I VERY CAREFULLY removed all the rim tape from the opening, the sleeve bunched up at the opening and the foot wouldn't settle properly into the channel. I used a pair of tweezers and medical scissors to trim out most of the excess tape, then a small chainsaw file to clean it up. As soon as the sleeve went into the hole instead of bunching I stopped. I like the Muc-off's because the bottom of the Muc-off is keyed for an Allen wrench. You can push downward on the valve stem while tightening the ring nut, and keep the valve from twisting.

I used all the tire removal/installation tools mentioned above to get the tire off and back on the rim. Extra care to keep the tire in the channel of course! I thought all the tools were useful, but the tire went on relatively easily so none of these tools were really put to the test. The big priority was to avoid damaging the rim tape with tire levers.

I have an air compressor. With the valve core removed, I used a rubber-tipped clean-out wand to fill the tire. BANG BANG and the tire was seated. Poured Stan's sealant in thru the valve stem, using a big syringe I'd bought at the feed store as a funnel. Installed the valve core, filled the tire back up, sloshed the sealant around for a day, went riding yesterday.

I'm feeling MUCH better about tubeless now that I've made most of the mistakes that can be made and worked through them. Thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions.

Last edited by Telkwa; 02-14-23 at 11:44 AM.
Telkwa is offline  
Likes For Telkwa:
Old 02-15-23, 08:56 PM
  #56  
Gresp15C
Senior Member
 
Gresp15C's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,893
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1062 Post(s)
Liked 665 Times in 421 Posts
Just as an amusing aside, this patent shows that stubborn tires and clever gadgets for changing them are neither new nor unique to bikes:

https://patentimages.storage.googlea.../US1122599.pdf

The tool confronts a problem that seems quite similar to modern tubeless-ready rims and tires.
Gresp15C is offline  
Old 08-18-23, 11:31 AM
  #57  
skookum
cyclotourist
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: calgary, canada
Posts: 1,470
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 443 Post(s)
Liked 205 Times in 130 Posts
I bought a used Rocky Mountain Blizzard fat bike, it came with Wrathchild 26x4” studded tires on sun Ringle Mulefut rims. I didn’t have too much trouble getting the tires off, I had to stand on them to get the bead out of the groove. It was hard to find 26x4” tires, so I ended up ordering Chao Yang non-studded tires online. When I installed them I noticed the beads were very tight and had I had to use tire irons to get them on. Skip a couple of months until winter and it’s time to put the studs back on. Can i get the tires off? No way. I spent hours tried every method on forums or you tube without success. I couldn’t get a tire iron in there, I tried a butter knife, I could get it in, but I just bent the tip. Finally got them off with my big shop vise, but even that was tricky.

Come spring, I decided to take the studs off and I ordered some different non studded tires, Kenda Juggernaut Sport.
I was riding down the tramline trail at Lake Louise (which is Parks Canada’s recommended bicycle route between the village and the lake, but that’s another rant) and I ran over a three inch nail. I had my tools with me, but I decided to walk the bike out, it was only a couple of kms. Turned out to be the right choice, as once again I had to use a vise to get the bead out of the groove.

I have this bike set up for off road expedition touring, but I am afraid to take it anywhere because I can’t change a flat! If somebody designed the right tire iron, thin but strong and stiff, it might work.

Maybe I should carry those vise grip clamps that the OP recommended. Or maybe switch to tubeless?

Last edited by skookum; 08-18-23 at 11:44 AM.
skookum is offline  
Old 08-18-23, 12:10 PM
  #58  
Trakhak
Senior Member
 
Trakhak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 5,340
Mentioned: 15 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2430 Post(s)
Liked 2,889 Times in 1,646 Posts
Originally Posted by Gresp15C
Just as an amusing aside, this patent shows that stubborn tires and clever gadgets for changing them are neither new nor unique to bikes:

https://patentimages.storage.googlea.../US1122599.pdf

The tool confronts a problem that seems quite similar to modern tubeless-ready rims and tires.
Great find. Thank you.

Note, by the way, that the cross-section of the tire shows that there are no wires embedded at the bottom edges of the tire. Thus, that is a true clincher tire. The tires we call clinchers are more properly described as wired-on tires.
Trakhak is offline  
Likes For Trakhak:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.