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I'm trying to fit a new Mavic Yksion UST tyre to a Cosmic Pro rim. The old tyre (identical) came off easily but I can't get the second bead of the replacement onto the rim.
Mavic are adamant that it *must* be done by hand to prevent damaging the rim. I've been at it for nearly two hours now and still have about six inches of bead left. I think that even with a tyre lever it wouldn't make any difference, it's that tight.
I've tried leaving it to warm up in the sun; generous quantities of washing up liquid, gently stretching it, aggressively stretching it; stretching it while rolling it onto the rim - pretty much everything bar tools.
I don't think I'm particularly incompetent and have reasonably wrong fingers (now bruised and cut) from climbing. Mavic customer service doesn't exist any more since they went bust. Has anyone had a similar experience and found a fix?
That is strange, I have never experienced issues with multiple road UST set ups.
Are you making sure that the tyre bead is in the central well of the rim.
I confess that I use tyre levers to complete the fit and I am still alive! Maybe use plastic levers with only small force?
Make sure the seated bead is in the middle of the central groove in the rim. And the partly seated one is pushed to the middle as much as poss. Then get the tyre levers on it.
They all say levers will damage the bead, but they don't.
Alternatively, get one of the "I can fit any tyre to any rim using just my tongue" heroes on here to pop round and show you how it's done.
ps. Schwalbe levers that have the bit to hold the seated tyre in place while you get that last bit on are great for this
Yksion on Open Pro was all fingers job xD
Cheers!
I.
Thanks all. Bead squished into the middle of the rim and tyre lever applied = success. Mavic answered the phone eventually and the guy there told me that they've changed their guidance and tyre levers are allowed after all. They also have a YouTube video showing how to do it, including the use of a tyre lever...
*thumps head on table*
Moral of the story? Don't read the instructions that come with the tyre.
👍 🙂
Did it make sir SWEAT? Did it sir, did sir get all sweaty??
My suspicion is that they have said not to use tyre levers to stop particularly ham fisted users going through the wall or bed of the rim with a big honking metal DH tyre level. If you use plastic levers you'll be fine.
*edit - bit slow. Glad you've managed!
TLDR - Is your rim tape thick? Have you tried a thinner rim tape?
My personal experience based on a relatively small set of rims, tyres and rim tape is there is a difference in fit depending on their combination.
For example, I found on a Bontrager Aeolus Hutchinson fusion were really easy to fit, but too loose to inflate easily and I had to do lots of fiddling around getting a big enough blast of air to get them to seal.
Whereas Schwalbe one tubeless I found utterly impossible to fit, I had to replace the rim tape with something thinner just to be able to squeeze them on, however, they really easy to inflate just with a normal track pump.
EDIT - I'm even laterer, but now I've written it perhaps the info would be useful for others 🙂
I had to use levers to get a new Yksion onto my Kysrium Elites. Nowhere near getting it on with just my hands.