tight tire

so I have mounted all my tires and had them balanced at a local shop for cheap so far. yesterday I dismounted the front tire off my 83 xj750 maxim and mounted the tire I bought to replace it. the new tire is a Shinko 712 100/90-19 FRONT Motorcycle Tire. it was a tight fit getting it on the rim and I cannot get it to seat the beads. I have tried a ratchet strap around it to expand the beads, but still no love.

anyone here experienced this issue before? have any tips or tricks to seat the beads?

FU

 

Go outside. Squirt some ether into the tire (for maybe 5 seconds, but more if it does not work the first time). Light it. The beads will be seated.


Did you lube the tire?

 

I've seen it done with off road truck tires using propane. Didn't want to suggest it though, because there was a big fireball!

 

A safer method. A more sane method. Take the valve core out and dump as much air into the tire as fast as you can. If you have a compressor with a large air tank you can use a rubber tipped blow gun (no relief holes) to get the job done.

 

What k-moe said. I've got an air chuck with the guts removed I use.

 

Or is the problem that it holds air but the bead doesn't climb up?

 

I thought about the propane trick, but I don't want to risk damage to the tire, the rim, or me. I also thought about the blow gun trick and just found my blow gun last night, but I have not tried it yet. micarl, I cannot get the bead to hold air. I was thinking about taking it to the tire shop and having them blast it with air.

FU

 

well the blow gun didn't work, but I walked away from it for a couple days and decided to mess with it tonight. I noticed that I didn't get the red circle lined up with the valve stem, so I decided to mess with it. I put seven zip ties on the tire and was able to spin the rim in the tire. after getting the dot lined up and removing the zip ties, I tried putting air to it without any lube (water and dish soap). what do you know, I gave it a squeeze here and there and the bead got traction and seated. now I am one very happy camper. the only thing left is balancing and I can get it back on the bike.

FU

 

Glad you got it on but the dot rarely goes by the stem. If you balance the rim without the tire you can find the real heavy point of the rim, put the dot there.
no big deal, I know your not going to change it now.

 

Hi Dave,

I used to change truck tires in another life many moons ago.

Three things

Yes, remove the valve core to make sure as much air is rushing in there as possible.

Use a ratchet strap , or I used to tie a rope around the tire with a stick through it to twist to "fatten up" the tire.

and then, once all these things are in place, trick number three is to get some heavy grease (makes a mess, but works) and put it all the way around the rim and the bead. This will hold in just enough air to get it started to seat.

Clean up the grease and you are off to the races.

Gord