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.
I don't usually mess up tape when I install tires using tire levers... but when I do, it's almost always a dh casing tire with an insert and I don't realize it until there is already 6oz of sealant in the tire.
Lots of good advice here and I don't have much to add. It's all about being hyper focused on the bead being in the rim channel. Most tires are easy peasy for me... except for conti's. First mount on conti-dh tires sucks pretty bad.
What I've learned: Lug a 55 gallon trash can around to all races in your car/truck/mega-van Suck sealant into a hose & squeeze it out into a tiny little de-cored valve stem Live someplace sunny & warm at all times of day, week, month Have some form of fast DC charging air appliance nearby Purchase the perfect rim & tire combo at all times. Cost be damned
Or.....: Make a Pepsi bottle air cannon Dump sealant in the side Use Gorilla Tape but don't tell your judgy friend. Buy any and everything on sale Keep frothy beverages on hand to draw helpers in like moths to the beer flame
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.
I don't usually mess up tape when I install tires using tire levers... but when I do, it's almost always a dh casing tire with an insert and I don't realize it until there is already 6oz of sealant in the tire.
Lots of good advice here and I don't have much to add. It's all about being hyper focused on the bead being in the rim channel. Most tires are easy peasy for me... except for conti's. First mount on conti-dh tires sucks pretty bad.
I dont think anyone mentioned pulling the valve core. Simple but sometimes that extra air flow is needed.
99% of the time it goes smoothly but that 1% is usually memorable.
Buddy of mine installing a new Maxxis DH casing tire with a Cush Core on a rim in under 3 minutes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DY-kj3AygFd/?hl=en
What I've learned:
Lug a 55 gallon trash can around to all races in your car/truck/mega-van
Suck sealant into a hose & squeeze it out into a tiny little de-cored valve stem
Live someplace sunny & warm at all times of day, week, month
Have some form of fast DC charging air appliance nearby
Purchase the perfect rim & tire combo at all times. Cost be damned
Or.....:
Make a Pepsi bottle air cannon
Dump sealant in the side
Use Gorilla Tape but don't tell your judgy friend.
Buy any and everything on sale
Keep frothy beverages on hand to draw helpers in like moths to the beer flame
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