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I’m scheduled to go for a ride on paved trails today around 2pm, so yesterday I spent some time putting the Continental TravelContact 26 x 1.75″ tires back on my bike. While this isn’t normally too difficult, the combination of the steel wire in the bead, the rubber, and the anodized aluminum sometimes makes it a bit difficult to do. I’ve also run into problems with getting certain tires seated properly in the bead during inflation, which I’d normally solve by inflating the tire near the max, and rolling it with my hands or going for a short ride to work it into place.
Normally I was just able to muscle the tire over the rim or finesse it into the bead, but I wanted something easier. I’d read that applying things like soapy water or Schwable Easy Fit to the rim and tire make everything slide into place more easily, but I didn’t want to worry about mixing the soapy water correctly (and having to wash it off) or finding another product.
In the Seating the Tire portion of Sheldon Brown’s article on Flat Tires he mentions that he uses spray window cleaner for lubricating the bead. I grabbed my old bottle of Target’s blue glass cleaner, spritzed a bit in between the rim and the bead, and started inflating the tire. At around 25 psi I looked at the bead and noticed that part of the bead wasn’t in the rim properly. I kept inflating, and just below 55 psi (these tires are recommended for 55 psi with a maximum of 85 psi) I felt a little thump in the tire and it’d wholly seated itself, no manual coaxing required.
I also tried using some window / glass cleaner when fitting the tire over the rim and although the extra slipperyness was a bit of a hassle at times, it helped. Then after the wheel was put back together I just grabbed a cloth and wiped off the extra cleaner, using it to clean up the rim.
I’d definitely suggest that others give this a try if they need a bit of help seating a tire. Also, if you have an interest in bikes and haven’t given them a read yet, check out Sheldon Brown’s articles on tires and flat tires.