Removing tyres

[mike9009]

I am a little ashamed of myself, having professed I can fix anything on my bikes, but......I cannot get the tyres off my new bike.

I have a Giant Fathom E+3 and I suspect the tyres are tubeless. Never taken tubeless off before, but what a PITA. The tyres are Maxxis Rekon. There is absolutely no way tyre levers will fit between the tyre and the rim. No way I can get the tyre bead to part from the rim despite yanking and levering by hand.

How does everyone else cope with these? YouTube videos I have found, have suggested using a bench vice to nip the tyre walls together or standing on opposing tyre walls to get the bead to snap from the rim. Both methods seem quite brutal to me.i don't have a bench vice, so I was tempted to use mole grips.....

Any tips??

[BoRED S2upid]

Take to a bike shop and let them ruin their nuckles for very little cost.

[Driver101]

You'll have even more fun trying to blow the tyre back up again.

[frisbee]

Have you broken the bead all the way around on both sides and pushed the tyre into the centre channel?

[Bilkob]

frisbee said:

Have you broken the bead all the way around on both sides and pushed the tyre into the centre channel?

Absolute this. But still a thumb wreaking st show. Progress eh……

[mike9009]

frisbee said:

Have you broken the bead all the way around on both sides and pushed the tyre into the centre channel?

I cannot break the bead on any section of the tyre/ rim. Tyres are fully deflated. Cannot get tyre levers in, cannot physically pull the tyre bead from the rim. Hence I might try mole grips to pinch the bead into the middle. Seems absolutely daft, as I would never be able to remove the tyre if out on a trail.....

[defblade]

I use a spade for bead breaking on motorbike tyres, but that may be overkill for push bikes
However, I still reckon getting some bodyweight involved will help - support the rim from below, and then lean in to the bead with something edgy and appropriate - maybe a 2-3 inch cold chisel?

Google says: stand on it (in the correct way)

[leyorkie]

I had some tubeless that I couldn’t get to seal until they had so much sealant in that the sides got stuck to the rim.
I ended up using a Stanley knife around the edge then sprayed WD40 into the crack to dissolve the sealant and after all that the tyre came off.
Thought I was going to have cut the tyre off at one point but got there in the end

[GravelBen]

Thats an odd one, never had a tyre anything like that stubborn with tubeless.

Worst I've had was snapping weak tyre levers trying to get a particularly tight one onto the rim.

[olo tation]

I have had this issue on my bontrager mtb tubeless rims which the beads are incredibly difficult to break. My solution is to place the tyre between two old pieces of granite kitchen worktop almost up to the rim and then stand on the granite. Luckily I've not had to do this out on a trail yet as its not really practical to be carrying two lumps of rock round with me.

[Trif]

Having the same problem yesterday with UST tyres on my road bike. The bead won't move a mm.

[river_rat]

Driver101 said:

You'll have even more fun trying to blow the tyre back up again.

Not if you use a 'proper' pump, like an Airshot - it's then very easy (usually)!

[Master Bean]

I uses a flathead screwdriver for this. Carbon rim and tubeless tyre that wouldn't unseat.

[mike9009]

Master Bean said:

I uses a flathead screwdriver for this. Carbon rim and tubeless tyre that wouldn't unseat.

This would be my normal approach, but really worried about damaging the rim ( or tyre?) some that it won't seal again properly.

[Andrew D]

Had with with my new Grade. Standing on them worked; I put some cardboard under the other side to protect the rim then stood on the sidewall. Didn't do much to start but once I worked my way round it quickly shifted.

Then push them into the inner channel all the way round to give enough play for the levers to get them off.

[gmackay2]

just had this issue with a WTB Cross Boss TLE tyre and Bonty tubeless rim. Ended up smearing some fairy liquid all round the inside of the rim bead and viola tyre came off quite easily!

So give the fairy liquid trick a try and save your thumbs and knuckles

[Trif]

Trif said:

Having the same problem yesterday with UST tyres on my road bike. The bead won't move a mm.

I cut mine off... There was a tube in there too, but still the bead was impossible to move, even with inappropriate tools.


Now for the fun of fitting the new tyre, but now need valves... Unless tubeless is amazing, I will highly consider just using tubes in future.

[BOR]

I think with some wheel/tyre combinations, you're now pretty much forced to go tubeless, because you simply won't be able to remove the tyre trailside/roadside to replace a tube.

At least with tubeless, you have a fighting chance of avoiding a deflation or being able to limp home.

[mike9009]

Just to give some closure to this.

Tyres successfully changed now. It was easy when I found the right technique. With the wheel on the floor, stand on the tyre close to the rim in two places. In one place, pull the rim up and voila the tyre bead pops off the rim. Then removal is easy. Can be easily done on a trail.

Thanks for the help.......

Now let's see how the new tyres perform.....

[Andrew D]

So I'm sharing this because I think you guys will empathise with, and perhaps even enjoy, the fun times I had last night with my tubeless rims.

WTB i23's, from which I (with much difficultly) removed 40mm gravel tyres a while back. At least with 40mm you can stand on the sidewalls... not so with 25mm slicks. Decided to upsize to 32mm. Once I'd wrecked my thumbs getting the 25's off, I proceeded to lunch three tubes trying to get the new tyres back on. One had a single repairable pinch-flat but the others had four each so went in the bin.

BOR said:

I think with some wheel/tyre combinations, you're now pretty much forced to go tubeless, because you simply won't be able to remove the tyre trailside/roadside to replace a tube.

^Exactly this. Also, good luck relying on one shot of CO2 if you need to put in a tube.