For DH tires with cushcore: unfold the tire and put it into a hot car along with the cushcore for an hour or so, install right after you take it out of the car and it’s a lot more maluable.
I come from the motorcycle side of things. In that world, when changing tires you must put the tire out in the sunlight for 1.3 hours, polish your tire spoons and 12mm wrench, use lots of lube, preferably have a cheerleader and a wellness coach keeping you calm, build a small fire, and sacrifice a live chicken at the altar of the tire gods.
For bicycles, I break the bead and rip the tire off with my bare hands and often do the same to put a new one on. (I have some plastic Bell levers that came in a patch kit that I'll use if I need a little bit of leverage.) I always use the block-style tubeless valves, not the cone-shaped ones. My rims came pre-taped, but one ones I've had to do myself, I used Gorilla tape.
If you hate loud air compressors: California air tools make super quiet ones. I can leave mine plugged in and turned on in the garage and it doesn’t bother anyone. Makes a difference not having to mess with it every time. Being always ready, you can then use it for daily inflation and not just seating tires. So the value proposition is better. Problem is, because they are cheap, they are kind of shitty, had to spend quite a bit of time resolving small leaks in the compressors manifold.
I don’t use a floor pump anymore. It’s kind of nice. When my neighbor needed help with her bike tires she was very impressed 🤣
Put a tube in at high pressure for 15 min right after taping a new rim. It pushes the tape flush into the bed, seals the edges, and squeezes out air bubbles.
An old car tire works great as a soft, grippy floor platform so you don't scratch up your rims or rotors while working on them.
Using a Makita DMP181 or similar cordless pump isn't cheating if you already have the batteries lying around anyway.
My setup in the photo: Cut-down car tire, a sealant syringe with some PU tubing from the farm section of a local hardware store (3,00 euros), Pedro's tire levers, and a couple of Schwalbe Clik Valve / Lezyne chuck adapters.
For DH tires with cushcore: unfold the tire and put it into a hot car along with the cushcore for an hour or so, install right after you take it out of the car and it’s a lot more maluable.
I come from the motorcycle side of things. In that world, when changing tires you must put the tire out in the sunlight for 1.3 hours, polish your tire spoons and 12mm wrench, use lots of lube, preferably have a cheerleader and a wellness coach keeping you calm, build a small fire, and sacrifice a live chicken at the altar of the tire gods.
For bicycles, I break the bead and rip the tire off with my bare hands and often do the same to put a new one on. (I have some plastic Bell levers that came in a patch kit that I'll use if I need a little bit of leverage.) I always use the block-style tubeless valves, not the cone-shaped ones. My rims came pre-taped, but one ones I've had to do myself, I used Gorilla tape.
If you hate loud air compressors: California air tools make super quiet ones. I can leave mine plugged in and turned on in the garage and it doesn’t bother anyone. Makes a difference not having to mess with it every time. Being always ready, you can then use it for daily inflation and not just seating tires. So the value proposition is better. Problem is, because they are cheap, they are kind of shitty, had to spend quite a bit of time resolving small leaks in the compressors manifold.
I don’t use a floor pump anymore. It’s kind of nice. When my neighbor needed help with her bike tires she was very impressed 🤣
My setup in the photo: Cut-down car tire, a sealant syringe with some PU tubing from the farm section of a local hardware store (3,00 euros), Pedro's tire levers, and a couple of Schwalbe Clik Valve / Lezyne chuck adapters.
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