Just bought a wire bead for the front....what a PITA. Using 12" long steel levers, it was still nearly impossible without bending the rim. I should have quit and just thrown the tire in the trash. This is the second time I've had this prob. with wire beads. Well, it's on now....but there would be absolutely no way to fix it on the trail if I got a flat. Wondering if maybe I should just cut this tire off, and start over with a heavy duty folding tire. Any tips or tricks I may be missing? Why would anyone, for any reason, other than racing, ever run a wire bead? I'm banking on the fact that I've never had a flat front tire. WBs suck.
You need to make sure you push the tire into the center channel allowing the tire to clear the rim on the other side easier.
I agree with mfoga. Let's say you have the last bit of the tire bead to get on the rim...and let's say that part of the tire is at 12 o'clock. Pinch the bead (starting at 1 o'clock, then moving to 2 o'clock, then 3, etc.) all the way around the tire so that sits in the channel of the rim, and do that until you've come back to the part of the tire that is not yet on the rim. This will give you that last extra bit of play to get the tire on the rim. With some manufacturers, it's a bit harder to get a tire on that others.
I've mounted a bunch of dirt bike tires before and the cheap hard-compound ones are especially difficult. They will pretty much always go on after a bunch of work. If you are forcing it or bending something, you are doing it wrong. Here are a couple of tricks: 1. Use baby powder on the beads to get them to slip on. Apply liberally everywhere. 2. Leave the tire in your car in the sun to heat up for a couple of hours, this makes them easier to work with Watch this video. He's installing a dirt bike tire, but the same principles apply: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJXE73rGvk&feature=fvwrel
Some people might say this is bad, but for the really tough dh tires I'll heat them up real quick with a heat gun Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
