Challenge Parigi-Robaix tire mounting

[Marc Schwartz]

Tried mounting some 700c Challenge Parigi Robaix clincher tires on my Heron Tourer/ Rando. Mavic MA3 and A719 rims. Well, peeple, I tugged and I pulled and I levered and I groaned and I cussed and I huffed and I puffed and I blew the house down and .......no que le vamos! I gave up and put the Jack Brown blues back on. Anyone else have issues with these? Any Tips?

Thanks,
Marc

[Jay]

Save your groaning, cussing anf huffing for climbing hills.
Get one of a Kool Stop tire bead jack, one of these
http://sheldonbrown.com/flats.html#tirelevers
Works great, 11 buck, Amazon has them.

Jay

[William]

The key to mounting a super tight tire without using levers at all is getting down into the rim well.  Some of the uber stiff Schwalbes and Continentals can be really challenging. 

Theres another video out there where he uses toe straps a few times around the tire to hold the bead down in the well until he gets the last bit on.  All that said, there are rim+tire combos that are really snuggy-dee-williams

[Minh]

this guy helped me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4

[Aaron Thomas]

Yes, I had difficulty mounting my first pair of Parigi-Roubaix. I even broke a steel-core tire lever in the process. But the struggle was worth it. They're awesome tires!

[Bob]

A few drops of dish soap in a few tablespoons of water, spread around
the bead, never hurt nuthin.

[Bill M.]

The guy in the video misses one trick - it totally matters where you
start. You want the very LAST bit of the bead you pull over the rim
to be AT THE VALVE. The worst case is to finish opposite the valve,
because that will prevent the bead from dropping into the 'well' of
the rim. Start just left of the valve and proceed around to the left,
finishing back at the valve letting air out of the tube as needed.
When you can go no further, let all the air out of the tube, and
starting opposite the valve push the bead into the center of the rim
well, and pull it tight in both directions towards the valve. That
gives you as much slack as possible to pop the last bit of bead over
the rim. Just as the bead goes over the rim, push the valve stem up
to allow the tire bead to drop in under the valve without pinching the
tube.

With that procedure pretty much any tire can be mounted without
tools.

Bill

[cyclotourist]

Bill, that may be the best trick I've heard of.  For the last 30 years I've always finished opposite the valve, usually w/out problem, but occasionally a few curses.  Will give it a try next time out!
 
THANKS!

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Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

[Jay]

Great tips here. I too always finish opposite the valve.
Just to be clear, the Kool Stop thing is not a lever. It's a ...
something else, designed specifically to mount tires without damaging
anything.
The link I posted above has a picture and a better explaination.

Jay

[Stuart Fletcher]

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 09:37:14PM -0800, Jay wrote:
> Just to be clear, the Kool Stop thing is not a lever. It's a ...
> something else, designed specifically to mount tires without damaging
> anything.

The Kool Stop tool is called a bead jack (I think). VAR makes a similar
tool that has the advantage of being smaller (if you want/need to take
it with you). Here's a picture and a post about the VAR tool:

http://randonneurextra.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-life-easier-var-tire-lever.html

or: http://goo.gl/6t3V3

Not my blog, and I've never seen it before today, but the write up rings
true to me.

There are people who insist you can mount any tire on any rim without
tools... I'm sure the insist-or is right, for him/herself. But jeez...
Torelli Master rims -- a rim with a notoriously shallow "well". I've
spent waaaaay too long trying to get a tire mounted on a Master in the
past. It's supremely frustrating. I know the tricks, but the tricks
don't always do the trick. The VAR lever/jack (and presumably the Kool
Stop jack) makes mounting tough tire/rim combinations easy. I prefer
riding to fighting with my tires, so for me it was worth $15 and giving
up the idea of "no tools, all the time" as concerns mounting tires. Not
all rim/tire combinations are created equal.

Sorry for the rant -- if you're one who can mount any tire without
tools, that's great! I envy you!

Stuart Fletcher
West Seattle, WA

[EricP]

The VAR is a good tool, but somewhat fragile. Broke mine trying to
dismount a studded tire a couple of winters ago. Wasn't that cold.
Below freezing, but above zero. Good tool, but the plastic didn't
like the cold.

Would like another one someday. Really was good at getting the tires
on in fall and off in spring.

Eric Platt
St. Paul, MN

On Nov 12, 11:33 am, Stuart Fletcher <stuart.fletc...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 09:37:14PM -0800, Jay wrote:
> > Just to be clear, the Kool Stop thing is not a lever. It's a ...
> > something else, designed specifically to mount tires without damaging
> > anything.
>
> The Kool Stop tool is called a bead jack (I think).  VAR makes a similar
> tool that has the advantage of being smaller (if you want/need to take
> it with you).  Here's a picture and a post about the VAR tool:
>

> http://randonneurextra.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-life-easier-var-ti...

[Philip Williamson]

I just bought one of these, on the advice of my LBS, after I broke
some Pedro's levers mounting my wife's 590s. I generally lose a lever
every time I mount those tires, and the bead jack really helps. Two
more flats, and it'll have paid for itself...
I always start at the valve, but my technique has flaws, judging by
the number of pinched tubes in my garage with six-inch blowouts.

Philip

Philip Williamson
www.biketinker.com

[Bill Lucas]

Marc,

I have these tires. They where some of the hardest to mount that I
have ever worked with.

I didn't see anyone discussing rim strip. Make sure that the rim
strips is as thin as possible, no fold backs, no laying on the bead
seat. I use plastic rim strips because they are the thinnest. There
are also plugs for the spoke holes by Velocity.

The tires do loosen up after being at pressure. I can now easily
remove them.

Regards,
Bill

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

A thin rimstrip can make a HUGE difference with tight tyres. The Stan's NoTubes rim tape is a thin nylon material. These have become my go-to rim tape, both for thin-ness and light-ness. One roll will do four 700C wheels (I think), so it works out to be an economical solution, too. They aren't available in thinner dimensions, unfortunately - wide-ish rims only.

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

The Manou and Newbaum rim tape is some of the thickest, by the way.

[Bill M.]

The thinnest rim tape is probably no tape at all. I installed a set
of Velocity Veloplugs on my latest set of home-built wheels (A23 rims
on White Industries hubs). No issues with them so far, and they can
easily be removed and reinstalled if ever needed.

http://veloplug.com/

Bill

On Nov 14, 9:33 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Ron Mc]

I pulled this old thread up because I've become a huge fan of these tires, both tubular and clincher.  Velomine has a huge inventory of these now and is selling them for about 2/3 of retail if you call them.  They have good buys listed on ebay, but will beat that on the phone.  

[Esteban]

What did Grant tell me once when discussing a rack-mounting issue with bling brakes? "High-class parts provide high-class problems." This being said while I stretch out some Eroica tires half-mounted on a wheelset...

[Ron Mc]

I've mounted some of each (clinchers and tubulars), but have found that pre-stretching them between hands and bare feet- kind of walking around the tire and stretching it a little here and there and everywhere - makes a huge difference in getting these on the rim.  

[Ron Mc]

and btw, Velomine's price right now is $40/tire for the clinchers.  

[Patrick Moore]

I wish I had a spare $80! But sales come around again ...

Of which speaking: can anyone compare the Grand Bois tires -- Cerf,
the Extra Legeres -- to the PRs in rolling feel, puncture resistance
(or liability), and tread life?

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[cyclotourist]

I've found the GB Cerf to be an amazingly low rolling resistance tire.
It's almost like there wasn't any resistance at all. The PRs have more
rolling resistance, and are a PITA to install (really, a three day
process to get tires on?). But, they are much more durable. My first
set of GBs basically fell apart on me, and the replacements punctured
within a few days of installation. I have had NO problems with the PRs
once installed, although am scared to death of having to make a field
repair if I ever do puncture.

YMMV of course.

Cheers,
David

"it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride." - Seth Vidal

[cyclotourist]

Correction: My tires were the GB Cypres, not Cerf.

[Patrick Moore]

Wow, the PR is a tough tire compared to the Cerf? I had huge flat
problems until I installed Stan's.

Do others have the same experience with the Cerfs?

On the other side of the equation: if the Cerf rolls so much better
than the PR, it must be a very nice rolling tire indeed!

Thanks.

[Patrick Moore]

Noted.

FWIW: my PRs came to me having been mounted and ridden 20 miles by the
previous owner. I was very pleased to see how easily they mounted on
my Open Pro rims. After using them for a few miles I found I can
easily remove and replace them without using tire levers or even
getting sore thumbs.

I guess YMMV.

[Metin Uz]

It's hard to generalize from a few rides. When I started using PR's, I got a flat on my very first ride (300K), then 4 flats on a 600K. I judged that all but one of the flats would have happened with most tires. I then continued to ride the tires for hundreds of miles without a flat, including a 600K and a 1200K.

I recently bought GB Cypres tires from a friend who gave up on them, having flatted on the very first training ride. I rode them on many mixed terrain rides, totaling over 700 miles without a flat. BTW, both Challenge and Grand Bois tires roll fast and feel great.

--Metin