How to mount tires without tire levers?

Question

Videos like this give the impression that mounting a tire with your hands only is stupidly easy. Now during my life I've mounted quite a few tires myself (probably ten times at least), always trying to make it without tire levers and always failing. Not only that, I always ended up needing quite some force even with tire levers to get that last bit over the edge (even broke a plastic lever once).

Now I'm wondering, is this normal, and all the videos that are trying to tell you how easy it is are just using especially loose combinations of tire and rim? Or might I be missing anything?

Answer 1

That video is of a relatively supple tire going on easy. It's pretty blasé about the difficulties that can be encountered. He does end at the valve, which is good because advice to do the contrary is one of the most parroted falsehoods in cycling, but he doesn't talk about why.

There is a universal truth of difficult clincher tire mounting situations, and it's simple. You get the last part of the bead to go over easiest when on the whole rest of the wheel, but especially 180° away, the two beads are pinched together down into the well of the rim and kissing each other. And you must finish at the valve, because the valve is the spot on the wheel where the beads can sink into the rim well the least.

You can use force, tools, water, soap, pastes, and thinner rim strips to help accomplish this. Sometimes even strong, skilled mechanics need or choose to employ some or all of those. It is true that oftentimes brains and dexterity are enough, but not always, and not always on an average time expenditure basis either. But the point is that if you want your maximum chance of doing it with hands alone, you have to focus your efforts on the above principle. It's how clincher tires work and there is no trick that's anything but a rephrasing or play on it.

A side note: Sometimes you hear cyclists and mechanics advising against finishing the job with tire levers or using them for installation at all. The basis for this is that doing it carelessly is a good way to ruin tubes and sometimes tires. Tubes when the tube is being reefed on directly by the lever without the user noticing or caring, and tires when excess force is applied when the beads haven't been properly sunk into the rim well, as above, and instead are stuck and won't simply be coaxed in with force. These situations are avoidable, although some tires don't make it easy. I install a lot of 25, 28, and 32mm Marathon Pluses and I usually finish with a tire lever because on balance I find things go smoother that way, but it requires being very careful that I'm not committing the above mistakes.

Answer 2

One technique is to use the "well" or valley in the rim. The tyre wants to sit in the bead, so you have to actively squeeze the tyre bead together and make it sit in the lowest part of the rim. This gives you slack which can be used at the other side to get the tyre over the rim.

Check out How can I fit Schwalbe Marathon Plus 28-622 tires on a 622-16 rim? for an existing answer that documents this more fully.

Answer 3

First of all, some tires are much easier to mount than others. It just depends on how "tight" they are.

Secondly, some people have much stronger hands and fingers than I do. I've seen others take a tire that I've been unable to mount and simply "roll" it onto the rim.

My take is if you need a lever, use it rather than kill yourself trying to get it on without them. There is no shame in that!

Answer 4

I think it might be one of those skills you can't fully demonstrate in a video. You've got some great answers already from the usual suspects, but I think another aspect is that it's much about the feel of it under your fingers, and where exactly your hands go to get the leverage on that particular combination of tyre and rim.

I struggled myself until I got a puncture on a ride with someone experienced who showed me.

Hopefully you know someone who can show you, if not a decent mechanic in an LBS might take a minute to show you, it will probably encourage them if you spend a bit of money in the LBS.

Answer 5

With the advent of tubeless ready rims they have made things much harder, even when using a non tubeless tire. I have learned to make sure the rest of the tire that has both beads over the rim is in the center channel, and finish at the value, which is opposite of the old school. By finishing at the value you can put the opposite side beads inside the channel and you can push in the stem to make the tube seats up inside the tire and less likely to get caught under the bead if you let the air out of tube for the final part. I have also tried a new tool called Tyre Glider. It works quite well if you buy the blue one. There is a red on by another company that doesn't fit on my rims. I bought on Amazon for about $16. I tried it on my wife's wheels. It took me 20 minutes on a cold day to get the tire back on after a flat. The Tyre Glider tool took 60 seconds but it did require a lot of force. I am almost 75 years old so I needed all the tricks I can.

Answer 6

You need to use the tire that is easy to mount on that rim.

For instance, my bicycle came with Schürmann Yak25 rim and Continental Contact Cruiser 27.5x2.40"E-25 SafetySys tires. I can put these tires on that rim without levers with some effort (never tried to remove without tools). At the same time, Schwalbe Nobby Nic that is a very good tire otherwise needs levers for me, not difficult to put just needs levers. And I do not know what kind of rim was installed at rear on my older bicycle but real hell to put any tire on it, even with levers.

I still do not fully understand what makes these differences. This answer claims that wire bead tires may be both very easy (you need these of course) or very difficult to mount while folding tires differ much less and are all somewhat moderately difficult.

Answer 7

I keep saying it is possible without tools but if you need tools to get the tyre on get the right tool for it.
That is not a lever but one of several tyre mounting tools, at least one of which also includes a lever function.

One I find (commercial sites so no links) is called BBB cycling easytire tire changing tool. The other Rehook tyre glider. Likely there are more and if your online bike parts shop is like the one I looked at all available will be listed together or as links on the same page.

I do not have personal experience with either/any but someone I know has tested the glider on 20" and 26" wheels and was happy to recommend it.