Currently trying to get some of these Chinese beauties off a 26" rim. I've tried gripping the tyre in a vice and pushing the opposite side of the wheel away (the tyre just slips in the vice), I've got them warm with a hair dryer (doesn't seem to help much tbh)...
I've not tried introducing any lubricant but am a little dubious as this will no doubt kill my grip on the tyre too.. I know I could cut the tyres off, but am not 100% sure of the rim's compatability with normal tyres so want to keep my options open if possible.
Help!
UPDATE: Panic over / diminished / postponed - managed to get one tyre off with application of heat over maybe a 8" section of its circumference until it was bordering on too hot to touch, then rolling the tyre away from the rim at this point.
I was expecting full engagement between a continual bead on the tyre and the rim, with much of the fit coming from the tyre's circuferential elasticity. What I found was a series of interrupted beads, separated by barbed plastic mounts that pushed into the tyre at one end and snapped over the lip in the rim at the other; these presumably being a more significant means of retention than circumeferential tyre stretch.
Even after separating the initial section the tyre still needed heat to come free as I worked around it rolling it off the rim, but this was a lot more straightforward than starting it off.
I've left the 2nd tyre fitted for now while I await the (hopeful) arrival of the replacement rubber tomorrow so I can check new tyre fitment before burning any more bridges. Finger's crossed it'll be OK - looks like a standard clincher rim to me but better safe than sorry!
I've not tried introducing any lubricant but am a little dubious as this will no doubt kill my grip on the tyre too.. I know I could cut the tyres off, but am not 100% sure of the rim's compatability with normal tyres so want to keep my options open if possible.
Help!
UPDATE: Panic over / diminished / postponed - managed to get one tyre off with application of heat over maybe a 8" section of its circumference until it was bordering on too hot to touch, then rolling the tyre away from the rim at this point.
I was expecting full engagement between a continual bead on the tyre and the rim, with much of the fit coming from the tyre's circuferential elasticity. What I found was a series of interrupted beads, separated by barbed plastic mounts that pushed into the tyre at one end and snapped over the lip in the rim at the other; these presumably being a more significant means of retention than circumeferential tyre stretch.
Even after separating the initial section the tyre still needed heat to come free as I worked around it rolling it off the rim, but this was a lot more straightforward than starting it off.
I've left the 2nd tyre fitted for now while I await the (hopeful) arrival of the replacement rubber tomorrow so I can check new tyre fitment before burning any more bridges. Finger's crossed it'll be OK - looks like a standard clincher rim to me but better safe than sorry!
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