10-14-2020, 07:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2020, 07:15 PM by Duccrazydave.)
This has been my experience, John. The Roadsmart 3 & 4, both have similar mounting challenges, but still typical of a heavier carcass sport touring tire. The first priority is making sure the Cam & Dog blocks are dry and free from any prior lube or spray and indexed correctly so that it takes some force when locking the Cam block. This gives the best chance of the wheel not rotating during the process.
I have used straps before. But only to keep the wheel in place when breaking a stubborn bead (as I mentioned about my brother’s ZX14).
When removing the tire, I use a generous amount of spray lube and also spray the demounting tip. The XtraHand clamps are very useful at keeping the bead closer to the drop center. I use 2 of those.
When mounting I use the paste lube exactly like No Mar suggests. Any rubber to rim contact point that’s dry can ramp up the effort quickly. This means I’ve been successful in pushing on the first bead every 17” tire I’ve installed. Obviously the second bead is where the challenge starts. This is also where the tools in the pic come into play. The Yellow Thing bead keeper is the first step at keeping the bead close to drop center. I continue, clockwise, pushing down the bead as far around as possible before inserting the mount tips. Holding the tire with one hand and the bar in the other, while pushing the bar with my hip gets a little further around. Since the carcass is stiff, the beads keep wanting to migrate to their final resting place-the rim seat. Which is not where you want them. This is where I’ll resort to the rim protectors and tire irons to finish the job. If the tire is really determined to make me regret my DIY choice, I break out the HD zip ties and make the beads come together to, again, keep them close to the drop center and give the best chance for success. Rather wordy, but I hope this helps you in some way
![[Image: e52059d02f688339478468cda6d0b1d5.jpg]](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201015/e52059d02f688339478468cda6d0b1d5.jpg)
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I have used straps before. But only to keep the wheel in place when breaking a stubborn bead (as I mentioned about my brother’s ZX14).
When removing the tire, I use a generous amount of spray lube and also spray the demounting tip. The XtraHand clamps are very useful at keeping the bead closer to the drop center. I use 2 of those.
When mounting I use the paste lube exactly like No Mar suggests. Any rubber to rim contact point that’s dry can ramp up the effort quickly. This means I’ve been successful in pushing on the first bead every 17” tire I’ve installed. Obviously the second bead is where the challenge starts. This is also where the tools in the pic come into play. The Yellow Thing bead keeper is the first step at keeping the bead close to drop center. I continue, clockwise, pushing down the bead as far around as possible before inserting the mount tips. Holding the tire with one hand and the bar in the other, while pushing the bar with my hip gets a little further around. Since the carcass is stiff, the beads keep wanting to migrate to their final resting place-the rim seat. Which is not where you want them. This is where I’ll resort to the rim protectors and tire irons to finish the job. If the tire is really determined to make me regret my DIY choice, I break out the HD zip ties and make the beads come together to, again, keep them close to the drop center and give the best chance for success. Rather wordy, but I hope this helps you in some way
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk