Any cunning advice for getting off a Conti 5000TR 28mm with a Vittoria tyre liner (Size M) from carbon rims (Parcours Ronde).
I managed to mount the tyres fine and indeed, managed to take off the back tyre and replace it, but was not happy with the valve after replacement and wanted to demount and clean up before reinstalling.
The Conti was tight to get on and for the first time in my life, I have failed to take a tyre off a rim. I am using the Vittoria tools and tyre squeezer thingy, but the bead will not separate itself sufficient enough from the rim to get a tyre lever in. I have quite a strong grip and cannot squeeze enough. I even tried putting it in the jaws of my bike maintenance stand.
I was due to replace the front tyre as well and ended up cutting that off as it was so tight (without damaging the liner) as the tyre was worn out.
I don’t want to cut the rear as it has only had one ride and was the new replacement.
The tyre inserts appear excellent at doing their job and giving a level of safety for a sudden flat tyre, but it is doing too much of a good job holding it on the rim. If I have to cut the tyre off every time, I think I’m going to have to ditch using them.
The trouble is, they are on my son’s bike used for racing and I wanted the extra security for him/me/mum.
Does anyone have any extra special advice/tips/magic? I’ve ordered a pack of 5 one handed G Clamps online to try next.
Sorry, I don’t have any useful advice. I had the exact same experience in that I’ve had to cut off all the tires I’ve used with inserts. After 3 tires, 2 of them almost brand new (< 200km) with punctures that wouldn’t seal (I would have loved to patch them), I’ve given up on the inserts.
I gave up on inserts too… just now…
(In fact, I’ve never tried them, and never been tempted to. OrangeSeal Endurance hasn’t failed me, nor have my Continental GPs of any version; I realize that’s not everyone’s experience.)
The saying “no pain, no gain” might better be stated, “More pain, uncertain gain, maybe I should refrain,” at least, in this case.
Sooo, the problem was I used the Vittoria sealant that came with the pack and it had coated the beads/rim interface and had stuck quite hard. That was why it was difficult to use the Vittoria tyre squeezer spanner to squeeze the bead away from the rim to get some tyre levers in there. The problem was applying enough pressure to break the seal.
So, plastic G clamps arrived yesterday evening and like an excited little boy on his birthday with a new toy I rushed down to the garage. I applied four G clamps in a row gradually increasing the pressure over a large area and used the Vittoria squeezer as well. It broke the seal. Woopwoop. I could then break the seal all the way round the tyre with the Vittoria tool and get tyre levers in. Still took a bit of getting off and broke a tyre lever, but they were cheap ones. New heavy duty ones ordered and coming today.
TOP tip for the future. Stretch the tyres on an old rim. When I originally mounted them I had done that overnight. I think it may be beneficial to do that for a day or two even, keeping the tyres around maximum pressure. I didn’t do that with the rear replacement and it was tight getting on so it would be reasonable to assume it would be tight getting it off, so stretching the tyres is necessary.
For information, testing a 5000 TR 28mm on a Giant PR2 tubeless wheel with 22mm internal, it takes 160psi to blow it off the rim!!! I was getting angry at the whole process and needed to vent!!
I will persist with the liners for now as they are on my son’s race bike and it may save him from crashing. I’d feel such a bad dad if I didn’t, so some emotional pressure there for continuing. If it was for me only, I wouldn’t. But with my new found technique I feel I could do the job easier in the future.
I’m sure sponsored pro teams just cut it off 'cos they get it all free. I was put onto the liners by my son’s coach who is a continental pro and they had saved his neck before now.
I still love tubeless, but this has tested my patience and mechanical abilities. Still, it was a challenge that I rose to.
I now need time to ride my bike and Suffer instead of spannering away fixing bikes.
If you are not racing and your neck isn’t on the line, then don’t do it, it is really a pain. Although less so with my G-clamp solution. I’m going to invest in a puncture proof tyre for winter - maybe Vittoria ride armour or the Pirelli cinturato and a bucket load of sealant when speed isn’t needed.
I completely sympathise and wouldn’t use them if it was just for me. Especially for the price of the liners which is extortionate for a piece of foam. Just patched my own tyre last night - without insert. I have a workable solution with the G clamps for liners and will try a different sealant that will hopefully not glue the tyre to the rim - not vittoria. Not sure what sealant to use next having tried Milkit, Dynamic and Vittoria!! But it was a painful experience learning. Literally.
Actually, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH sealant. Orange Seal recommended 60ml for a 28 mm tyre. I went over that. What I ended up with was sealant everywhere and a tyre that wouldn’t seat. Drained all the sealant and dry mounted the tyre. Dropped pressure and then debeaded one side and added sealant. Rebeaded the tyre and brought it up to max pressure on the tyre. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then reset to my comfortable tyre pressure. No issues with punctures sealing and no major drifts in tyre pressure.
Interesting… I have a couple of those clamps. Never thought of using them for this (haven’t needed to, either, thankfully.)
I like my OrangeSeal Endurance, but honestly, I suspect any sealant will do this eventually, especially if you just add more when it gets dry (which I pretty much always do. Though I HAVE once or twice broken the seal free and opened one side, stripped out the skin of dry sealant, and started fresh.) But I wouldn’t say that OrangeSeal is as difficult to break loose as the problem you had; It’s a bit of a pain, but once you get that bead pushed away a bit, you really only need to puncture or cut it a bit to get started and then it starts peeling away without too much trouble.
But with the liners, I’m sure that’s also a different story!
I decided early on that I’d rather have too much than too little, especially with a new tire. It IS going to dry out over time, and I want some cushion in that regard.
I never had problems getting the tire seated, but I generally only add through the valve after removing the core, and the tire is pretty much already seated at that point, having inflated with a compressor a couple of times first to pop the tire out to the bead/lip connection. At least in my case, even if the tire doesn’t want to stay pushed out all the way to the wheel lip, it still fits snug enough that it holds air anyway.
This is with Bontrager AEOLUS Pro 3V wheels, Conti GP5000S TR (and previous) tires, and I do use the provided plastic rim strip that comes with the AEOLUS, which might help also, I don’t know.
In any case, they haven’t been any real trouble setting up. I haven’t been terribly methodical about measuring out the OrangeSeal, but I’m sure I use at least 2oz/60ml, probably more like 75ml or more. (But these are 32mm width tires, so maybe still on target with those recommendations.
Vittoria sealant is not good. I had only just replaced the tyre on my son’s back wheel a week or so ago, so for it to dry/adhere the bead to the rim was disappointing. On further inspection that is what it had done. And it had clogged the 2-way valve after just over a week.
Pair of brand new Continental 5000TR 28mm fitting. Initial fitting to spare wheel was much easier with the new pair. Clearly the older batch (I bought about a year ago as a spare set) that had been fitted had a different tolerance/mould or whatever because the new ones were not as tight as the old. Concerning that a brand leader such as Continental could have such wide tolerances.
A further top tip is to mount the tyres at least overnight/24 hours at the maximum tyre pressure (not over). This gives just the tiniest bit of stretch and makes fitting much easier when the liner/sealant is inserted.
I’ve ordered Peaty’s Holeshot Biofibre sealant as I’ve seen a couple of good reviews saying it is good at high pressure. So we will see!!
