I successfully mounted new folding tires on my bike for the first time last night. In the past, I've had a little assistance (or a lot) from my friends at my LBS. But since I buy my tires online, I felt that I really needed to do it by myself this time around. I don't have the strongest hands in the word so the hardest part was getting the old tire off and the last few inches of the new tire into the rim. But I did it.

The folding tire itself was easy enought to mount. When you first take it out of the box, it will not really look like a tire exactly since it has no real shape. Don't fret, however. After removing the old tire and tube, I put one side of the tire into the rim first. The tire started to take shape at that point. Then I put a little air in the tube and mounted it, making sure that it was seated properly on the rim. From there, I put the other side of the tire into the rim. The last few inches were a bit tricky. I had to use a tire lever and hope that I didn't pinch the tube, but I got it in after working the tire a bit. The entire process took about 10-15 minutes.

It was a minor victory, but still a proud moment!