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I had a revelation after struggling with a particularly nasty tyre / rim combination where I found that simply removing the rim strip made it possible to actually get the tyres on, albeit still needing tyre levers rather than just thumbs. This presumably allowed the bead to get that tiny bit further into the central channel so there was a bit more give. However that would mean no protection for the inner tube from bulging into the spoke holes, so I'm after some very very thin rim tape or an alternative. I have tried just electrical tape but it's not really much better than the rim strip was.
Any suggestions? I do have some Tesa tape for tubeless but it's too wide for these rims and I only need it to cover the holes in any case. could cut it lengthways in half I expect but that sounds a complete faff.
Would kitchen cling film work? 🤣
you can get plastic plugs that just sit on the spoke holes but I don't know what the overall effect of 32 or so of those would be - if the rim bed is wide enough you might be able to avoid them almost completely I suppose
Two wraps of electric tape will do it for mtb. You might need more for road. Electric tape's not ideal in some ways, it's a bit too easy to move around so when you change tyres it can get pushed off or damaged, but as long as the tyre's on, it's perfect. And yep on a wider rim you can go with a narrow strip that only really covers the holes (though again this can cause tyre removal damage- if the tape is entirely in the "well" it works great, but if it comes out of the well and onto the flat of the rim, but ALSO it doesn't go under the tyre when it's fitted, then it'll get pushed off when you remove the tyre pretty much every time)
Cutting tesa is possible but as you say a faff.
Thanks all, had another go with the rim that had the electrical tape but this time did the extra soapy water thing on tape, bead and rim which felt OTT but in the end I was able to get the tyres on without pinching the tube. Still needed levers but at least it got there. I think the tape just had that little bit more friction than Tesa or some rim strips do which stopped the bead really pushing into the middle 100% of the way round. Could make changing tubes if I puncture interesting; I'll just have to make sure I have plenty of water on me to lube things.
Yeah it will have been added friction or it had stuck to the outer bed but not gone flush with the centre channel. Otherwise pretty much all proper rim tape is wafer thin anyway.
I've had a running battle the last couple of weeks doing something very similar - Bontrager XR4 tyres on Stans Crest rims, with tubes. The last 10cm or so of the bead will not go over the rim when putting the tyre back on, and ends up needing metal levers to get it on (at the cost of scratching the rim). It's an absolute pig, and it'd be an absolute ride-ender if I got a flat mid-ride.
I've found electrical tape decent enough to cover the spoke holes, but yeah it can shift about with the soapy water. Planning to go tubeless next, to try to avoid having to do this again
Electrical tape works, the only issue is it's a bit thin and stretchy so runs the risk of a hole rubbing through the tube in the spoke holes.
Some cheap (ali express) tubeless tapes are great for this though. Stans is relatively thick and some others thicker again. The cheap stuff is like sellotape thick (but stretchy).
yep I went down a rabbit hole of looking at the thickness and elongation of various Tesa tapes (4289 is 144 µm / 35% 'elongation at break' if you're interested) to see what best to order if I really needed something thinner but not overly stretchy. e.g. https://www.tesa.com/en-gb/industry/tesa-4289.html
Think I'm good for now though. One rim with electrical tape, the other with mini-1cm wide strips of 25mm Tesa 4289 over each individual spoke hole as an experiment (yes, a faff but actually only took 2 mins). lying along and only in the channel rather than across the whole rim bed if that makes sense.
The last 10cm or so of the bead will not go over the rim when putting the tyre back on, and ends up needing metal levers to get it on (at the cost of scratching the rim).
I had similar grief last week fitting 35mm GP5000ASTRs to a new set of carbon wheels. I couldn't get it close with thumbs, switched to a plastic tyre lever which broke so then switched to plastic coated metal core levers which did the job but I've got no chance of fixing that at the side of the road (although I'm running them tubeless so hopefully that will be a bit less likely). I was half expecting the rim to crack but it held up well.