Are tyres & tubes really so much easier to change nowadays?

[nigelbb]

As explained on my other thread regarding tubeless tyres on our first outing with our newly converted pedelecs my partner's front wheel got a puncture & our trip was aborted. Today for the first time in probably 50 years I changed the punctured tube for a new one & found it fantastically easy. Last time I changed a bike tyre I bent my mother's spoons but this time I had bought a selection of tyre levers but didn't need any of them. It was novel to change a wheel on a bike with telescopic forks & a hydraulic disc brake but with the correct sized spanner not much had changed there however the tyre was an incredibly loose fit on the wheel rim & so was the tube. I easily fitted both with my fingers without having to put any real effort into lifting the tyre rim into the wheel rim. It's inflated now & seems to work fine. I took the opportunity to put an adapter onto those irritating Presto valves so that I can inflate the tyres with the electric pump that I use for the cars.

My question is. Are tyres normally this easy to fit? Has something changed in the design or technology? The sidewalls of the tyre did seem very flimsy compared to what I remember from years of cycling as a kid. It seemed that the tyre was almost too big for the wheel. The bike is a Trek DS 3 & the tyre is a Bontrager LT2 comp 700x38. The motor hub is labelled 700C & is the XF07 front hub fitted by Woosh http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#xf07kit

 

[soundwave]

some tyres are just a loose fit and some can be near impossible to fit on the rims it just depends on what wheel set you have.

i have super gravity tyres 1.2kg and there a right pita to fit on my mavic rims but others dont have the same problem.

 

[peter.c]

I wish try and change a Schwalbe moto x 27.5 + tyre a nightmare in a workshop impossible at the side of the road

 

[vfr400]

It's the deeper MTB rims that make it easier.

you don't need to change tubes when you get a puncture. Punctures are easy to fix when out cycling. turn the bike upside down, hook off one side of the tyre, pull out the tube, locate the hole and patch it, check whether the thorn /nail/glass is still in the tyre and remove it if necessary. Hook the tyre back on, pump up and away you go. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. Although i don't get punctures myself, I fix a load for other riders when I'm out and about.

 

[peter.c]

That would mean packing a g clamp a mallet and various other bits just to break the bead ,lucky so far with the slime tubes will have to go tube less at the next puncture or tyre removal if it says tubeless ready on the side it will really make a tight seal to the rim

 

[vfr400]

That would mean packing a g clamp a mallet and various other bits just to break the bead ,lucky so far with the slime tubes will have to go tube less at the next puncture or tyre removal if it says tubeless ready on the side it will really make a tight seal to the rim

He said he had a punctured tube, not tubeless. He has a Woosh bike with easy to remove tyres. He doesn't need all that stuff.

 

[Amoto65]

I have 3 raleigh 20s from the 70s and the tyres are a nightmare to change.....

 

[nigelbb]

It's the deeper MTB rims that make it easier.

you don't need to change tubes when you get a puncture. Punctures are easy to fix when out cycling. turn the bike upside down, hook off one side of the tyre, pull out the tube, locate the hole and patch it, check whether the thorn /nail/glass is still in the tyre and remove it if necessary. Hook the tyre back on, pump up and away you go. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. Although i don't get punctures myself, I fix a load for other riders when I'm out and about.

This particular puncture would have been impossible to fix at the roadside as there were in fact many small punctures. As the tube got punctured & deflated the tyre came off the rim & the tube popped out & presumably then suffered multiple pin pricks on the sharp gravel. When it came time to replace the tube I couldn't get it to inflate quick enough with a hand pump & had to use my electric pump that I use for blowing up car tyres. Putting the tube in the traditional washing up bowl full of water confirmed the many punctures.

 

[vfr400]

This particular puncture would have been impossible to fix at the roadside as there were in fact many small punctures. As the tube got punctured & deflated the tyre came off the rim & the tube popped out & presumably then suffered multiple pin pricks on the sharp gravel. When it came time to replace the tube I couldn't get it to inflate quick enough with a hand pump & had to use my electric pump that I use for blowing up car tyres. Putting the tube in the traditional washing up bowl full of water confirmed the many punctures.

I had six pinch flats at once on my road bike when I got run into a pothole by a family of about 10 coming the other way and not looking where they were going. The longest pair of slits were nearly 1 cm long, the next two about 5mm and the last pair just pin-pricks. All were repaired at the side of the road in about 30 minutes. I had a spare tube, but was too tight to use it. I thought I only had two slits, then I discovered the next two after fixing them, and the same with the last two. I'd probably have changed the tube, though, if I'd seen all six in the first place.

The main point is that a lot of people seem to be too scared to fix their punctures at the roadside with a normal puncture kit, which in most cases would give a very quick and simple solution. There's no need for anything complicated.

 

[soundwave]

all i do is add more sealant every 3 months just remove the valve and syringe it in job done

 

[vfr400]

all i do is add more sealant every 3 months just remove the valve and syringe it in job done

How much do your wheels weigh now then?

 

[soundwave]

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Schwalbe Magic Mary Addix MTB Tyre (SuperGravity) | Chain Reaction

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i want strong wheels for off road and no punctures

 

[vfr400]

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Mavic Deemax Pro Wheelset 2019 - Lowest Prices and FREE shipping available from The World's largest online bike store - Chain Reaction Cycles

www.chainreactioncycles.com

Schwalbe Magic Mary Addix MTB Tyre (SuperGravity) | Chain Reaction

Schwalbe Magic Mary Addix MTB Tyre (SuperGravity) - Lowest Prices and FREE shipping available from The World's largest online bike store - Chain Reaction Cycles

www.chainreactioncycles.com

i want strong wheels for off road and no punctures

I'm thinking about how many kilograms of slime are in your wheels after 1 bottle every three months.

 

[soundwave]

you dont use the hole bottle pmsl just 60ml per wheel

 

[vfr400]

Yes, but 60 ml per wheel is 120 ml, which weighs 0.12 kg, After 10 months, you've added 1.2kg. After three years, it's 4.32 kg!

 

[soundwave]

lol it does not stay in there why you have to top it up every 3 months otherwise it will run dry.

 

[soundwave]

if you use that it can turn in to a rubber ball

 

[Martin56]

I tried slime but still got punctures, they were just harder to fix as green gunk everywhere.

 

[John07]

The steps to changing the bike tube without tire levers: In the first step, you should have a deflated tire because it is much easier to squeeze its sides. The second step is to loosen the beads. Get one tire bead into the center of the rim by pushing the tire into the bike’s rim. These beads will act as the primary support to ultimately push the tire off the bike rim. Start using your thumbs to push the tire bead off the bike rim. Then, push the rest of the bike tire away. The next step is to inflate the tube. When your tube has some air inside, which will definitely help retain its roundedness and proper shape. After this step, you might Pop the Valve and Insert the New Internal Tube: lay the tube over one side of your tire and align the valve bike stem with the stem hole. Then, carefully squeeze the tire where the hole is located and put the valve stem through the valve stem hole, pull on the bike stem to ensure that most parts of it go through the hole as much as possible. Finally, push the bike tire wall back into the rim.

 

[guerney]

With some tyres, I sometimes need to use a couple of tight zipties to keep the tyre in place, before I can push the tyre wall into the rim.