Tyre trouble

[RizzoTheRat]

I put a new rear tyre on my hybrid last night, same size as the one that came off (37-622), but I cant get it seated quite right, at one point the bead seems to sit a couple of mm lower down in to the wheel than the rest of the way around. I tried deflating it again and pulling it about a bit, but so far only succeeded in moving the low point to a different part of the wheel.

Is this normal? Have I got a dodgy tyre (it's an el cheapo from Decathlon) or am I doing something wrong fitting it?

[lufbramatt]

Could try spraying some soapy water on the tyre bead and then inflating it to the max psi on the tyre. should pop the bead into the right place.

[ALawson]

I remember Yellowjack having a similar problem with a Planet X tyre. In summary they were seconds and the radii was incorrect.

I assume there is no other way to cross check rim compatibility with the tyre.

[yellowjack]

ALawson said:

I remember Yellowjack having a similar problem with a Planet X tyre. In summary they were seconds and the radii was incorrect.

I assume there is no other way to cross check rim compatibility with the tyre.

It was two bloomin' Planet X supplied tyres (possibly Panaracer Gravel King? I forget now), and I had to pay the darned postage to send 'em back. Grrrr! Tried 'em on four different rims too, and they were nowhere near getting the second bead over the rim, let alone seating them correctly. Replaced by a couple of Bontrager CX tyres from a proper shop, and they went straight on no problem.

I've bought tyres from Decathlon, lower end but brand name (Vittoria, possibly) for my eldest son's bike. They went on OK but my goodness, they've worn a lot faster than the Continental 26" 'road' tyres they replaced. In short, cheap tyres are cheap for a reason, so I'm saving my pocket money for some nice new Continental Grand Prix 5000s for my road bike.

Not sure I can advise the OP though. In my experience, tyres either fit of they don't. Now and then there'll be a couple of inches of the bead not sat right that can be seated properly with maximum (or slightly high) inflation before letting air out to your preferred pressure, but if the bead is way off meeting the rim correctly, those particular tyres are just not going to fit on those particular rims...

[RizzoTheRat]

It went on easy enough and it's only sitting a couple of mm low in one spot so hopefully not as bad as YellowJack's problem. I'll try soaping it up and see if that helps.

This is a Vittoria so we'll see how long it lasts (assuming I can get it to fit). Plenty of other bike shops around to go for a better brand next time if it turns out to be crap, but the old one had started to delaminate and was showing canvas in places by the time I changed it so just went for what was available in a hurry. I should make a note of what the old one is though, as they were excellent in the snow.

[Mr Ted]

I wonder if there are counterfeit products out there? I bought a SRAM 1X11 rear mech online last year and it arrived in a plain box with none of the usual SRAM paperwork, it didn't have a serial number either so I returned it and got my LBS to get me one. You could tell from the difference in quality that the first one was a counterfeit.

[GOATever]

It sounds like a spot on the tyre hasn’t seated properly, which is a pretty common occurrence. With the tube deflated, make sure it’s pushed up into the tyre properly by the valve ( push it up and down a couple of times ). Then really hoof the first bit of pressure into it with a track pump. You should hear a ‘muted ping / snap’ noise ( for want of a better description ) as the bead pops into position. If it’s still stuck, with the tyre at about half the pressure you’ll be using routinely, work around the circumference, with your thumbs pushing the tyre up, by the side wall. If it’s still stuck, gently bounce the wheel and half inflated tyre, on a solid surface, and rotate it, then repeat, and keep repeating until it pings into position, then whack the pressure up to its maximum, and check to see that it’s seated, with no bulges anywhere.