Flat tire, losing mind

[Lise]

Lise, you are NOT crazy, a moron, or even mildly unsure of how to change a tire!

Campy wheels are NOTORIOUS for being a complete pain in the a$$ to change. Numerous threads on bikeforums.net of big, beefy guys who struggle with them. THEY'RE REALLY HARD TO CHANGE! I spent a good hour trying to remove my first tire, and a good 30 minutes trying to put it back on. Speed levers will crumble instantly with these wheels. I can only use steel or Pedro's stubby yellow levers. They're the only ones that you can really get enough strength behind them to get the bead off/on. I just have to use more power than you would ever imagine.

It's not you! Trust me on this!

Edit: It gets easier as the tires stretch out!

Thank you SO MUCH for telling me that!!! That will help me sleep tonight. I was on the verge of doing it all over again to figure out what was wrong, but my thumbs are so sore from lifting that last 6" of tire back on to the rim that common sense over came me, and I stopped. It was like my entire triathlon career was on the line. Lise vs. Tire. I will be interested to see what the problem is. Tire valve? Dunno. In the meantime, I am glad this happened at home, and NOT on the road. I must have the tools to do this on the road. These little plastic tire levers are not sufficient. One just snapped. The other two held, and I did get the tire off and back on again...imagine the frustration when, after all that, the tire gauge on the pump reads "120 psi", and the tire is still completely flat. I'll bring the update tomorrow post-LBS.

Thanks you guys. L.

[KnottedYet]

Soma makes steel-skeleton tire irons. www.somafab.com

Remind me not to get Campy tires... I have enough swear-words with my Kona Cheapos and my Speed Lever!

[jobob]

This past Saturday my husband Lee & I went on the metric century graduation ride for our club's road riding academy. We hung in back with the newer riders.

One of the riders got a flat. She was having a hard time getting the tire off the rim so Lee offered to help. Mind you, he's very good at changing flats.

After several minutes of sweating and grunting and one plastic lever broken, he still didn't have the tire off the rim.

I then pulled out my trusty Crank Brothers Speed Lever and innocently asked, "Sweetie, would you like to try this???"
(you see, if I had offered it right off the bat he would have refused it. After 17 years of marriage I have learned a thing or two).

"Sure, why not?" he grumbles.

Click. Zip. Plunk. Tire off in 10 seconds.

"Hey, this is great!!!" he says.

Putting the tire back on again, I let Lee struggle for a few moments and then I innocently piped up "um, the Speed Lever is really good for putting tires back on the rim too..."

Click. Zip. Plunk. Tire back on in 10 seconds.

"Hey, this is great!!!" he says again.


A couple of lessons learned:

Some tires really are a pain to get off the rim. It's definitely not you !!!

Crank Bros. Speed Levers work really well (er, can't say I've tried them on Campy wheels though).

[Lise]

Thanks for the story, jb! I'll ask the LBS guys what they think of the speed tool. I want to ask them why they didn't WARN me about these wheels! Again, glad to learn the lesson in my dining room, and not on the road.

Night, all--L.

[Grog]

I don't know about Campy wheels, but the tricks described here will certainly help you, no matter what.
http://www.teamestrogen.com/articles/asa_levers.asp

I follow these guidelines and only use the levers when I feel lazy, only to pull the tire off, only with one lever, only after I've nicely loosened up the tire and taken one bit out of the rim. I'll then insert the lever and zip down.

I've never used a lever to put the tire on (actually I have no idea how I would do that).

Park Tool blue plastic levers are pretty good at not breaking, from what I've heard, but I have no experience with others...

By the ways I love those Rubino tires, and they're rather easy to take off, so I'd totally blame the wheel. There also might be something wrong with the pump....

Now that I think about it: I think you already had that pump for your other bike, which probably had Shraeder valves, right? Did you change the configuration of the pump to adapt to presta?? You probably did that already, but just in case, that could help...

[Eden]

By the ways I love those Rubino tires, and they're rather easy to take off, so I'd totally blame the wheel. There also might be something wrong with the pump....

Hmmmm I don't know if its a Rubino or not, but I have one Vittoria tire that I got as a door prize and used this winter. Let's just say that I am really really glad its a tough tire and it never got a flat because it was so tight that it took both my husband and myself pushing and pulling on the thing to get it onto the rim. I think that tires can vary in size a little bit and sometimes you can get a tight one.

[DebW]

Reading this thread made me glad that I ride sewups. Common practice for mounting a sewup, which may possibly be useful here (not really sure but maybe worth a try) is to stretch the tire first. Either put your foot on it and pull up, or put it behind your back, grab it from both sides with your hands, and rotate your shoulders forward.

[Grog]

Hmmmm I don't know if its a Rubino or not, but I have one Vittoria tire that I got as a door prize and used this winter. Let's just say that I am really really glad its a tough tire and it never got a flat because it was so tight that it took both my husband and myself pushing and pulling on the thing to get it onto the rim. I think that tires can vary in size a little bit and sometimes you can get a tight one.

Mine was indeed a Vittoria Rubino Pro, sorry you have had trouble. I agree with Deb, stretching it might help.

But that thing IS tough. What mesmerizes me about this tire is how it can accumulate dents but never actually be pierced by sharp objects. When cleaning my bike after a rainy ride the other day I closely inspected my tires and noticed how many cuts there were in it, yet I don't remember getting a flat on that wheel (I have a Rubino on my front wheel only right now). The very first ride of this year I rode over a broken bottle. I was going to my first training ride and I was scared I'd have to change a flat in a hurry before we went riding together, so I stopped about a kilometer after rolling over the glass, thinking I'd inspect the tire just in case. Well there WAS a nicely sharp piece of glass gently protruding right in the middle of the rolling band. It took me at least 3 minutes to pry it out of there. I can still see the cut, but it wasn't deep enough to cut the tube.

So anyway, just had to say I was happy about that tire. I just ordered a pair of the thing so I can get my two wheels to look the same!!

So, Lise, how are you doing with that celestial flat?