No bicyclist likes a flat tire. Fixing them on the side of the road is at the bottom of most rider’s list of fun things to do. Mounting tires for the ST600 was difficult enough that I don’t want to try it on the road. Of course the first long ride will probably result in a flat, and at the point I’m farthest from home. Karma, you know. Well, a cell phone rescue call isn’t my first choice as I’d rather be more self-sufficient while out riding. So, I need to try to make tire removal/installation easier.
Mounting tires on my Boyd wheels on the Merckx took less time than powdering the tube, so maybe I’m just spoiled. Box section rims can be more difficult due to a shallow (or nonexistent) channel for the bead to rest in while mounting.
Pro tip: Always mount tires with the label over the valve stem hole. Since you know how the tire was oriented, and you know where the patch was applied, you’ll be able to check the inside of the casing before remounting the tire to be sure there’s nothing in there waiting to cause another flat. The little wires from steel belted auto tires (a common cause of flats) are hard to see but it helps to be checking in the right spot.
I used Velox tape, as I have always used in the past, but for this rim, the combination is simply too tight. I’ve just ordered some Kapton tape 16mm wide and I’m going to go through the work of removing the tire and tape, and then try the Kapton tape. It’s significantly thinner than the Velox tape and hopefully will make mounting the tire an easier job.
I’m not looking forward to removing the tire, but better to do that at home than at the side of the road in pouring rain. Hey, if i’m going to get a flat it will probably be the trifecta – a hole in the tube, a REALLY hard to remove tire, and pouring rain all at the same time. Not that I haven’t beaten the odds before, but why make it so easy for Murphy to assert himself?