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I've got a pair of wheels that are really difficult to get tyres to seat on. Even at over 100psi, there will often be a small section of the bead that won't quite seat. A bit of water or washing up liquid on the bead does sort it, but it's a nuisance particularly on the rare occasion that I need to sort a puncture on the road.
I've had the issue with multiple different tyres now (GP4000 and GP5000) so it's not a one off.
Any recommendations for thin slippery rim tape? Or long lasting bead lube or similar?
Are they tubeless rims with thick tape on? If you're using tubes the tape is only to prevent the tubes bulging into the rim cavity and puncturing on the spoke ends. You could try tape that's not wide enough to cover the bead.
Non-tubeless rims, with the standard tape that came with them originally. I should have said, I've had these rims for years, but it seems to have become more of a problem over time. I've considered replacing with some of the Tesa tape I've got, but I'm a bit worried it may not be strong enough for high pressure.
Lube your bead.
I had a similar issue a couple of weeks ago getting a 25mm Conti onto an Ambrosio P20 rim it just wouldn't seat all the way round, I ended up lubricating the bead with baby lotion (happened to have some spare) you could use washing up liquid or similar.
I still had to put ~90psi in to get it seated first time...
Same issue here. I carry a tiny 10ml bottle of washing up liquid in my jersey pocket and when I needed it I used juice from my drinks bottle to lube up the rim
Only an issue with one set of my rims luckily, a set of giant slr 1