I'm one who likes to have fresh tires on my bikes rather than run them til they're going bald. But with 3 bikes in the household, it seems I end up changing tires quite often. Am I fast at it? No, but I've learned that it pays to be smarter than the tire. As most of you already know when mounting a new tire, lubing up the bead certainly helps, but here in the desert it seems that the lube (generally soapy water or WD-40) dries before I'm finished. What I've found that works much better is the lube that electricians use for pulling wire thru conduit. It's thick so it doesn't make a huge mess and stays where you want it, doesn't dry too fast, but it does dry, it's water soluble, is cheap, and can be found at the big box hardware stores as well as at the electrical supply outlets. Or maybe you have a friend who's an electrician that you can mooch some from.
Make it a bit easier to get that new tire on
Started by Red Dog, Aug 22 2011 12:52 PM
No replies to this topic
Posted 22 August 2011 - 12:52 PM
I'm one who likes to have fresh tires on my bikes rather than run them til they're going bald. But with 3 bikes in the household, it seems I end up changing tires quite often. Am I fast at it? No, but I've learned that it pays to be smarter than the tire. As most of you already know when mounting a new tire, lubing up the bead certainly helps, but here in the desert it seems that the lube (generally soapy water or WD-40) dries before I'm finished. What I've found that works much better is the lube that electricians use for pulling wire thru conduit. It's thick so it doesn't make a huge mess and stays where you want it, doesn't dry too fast, but it does dry, it's water soluble, is cheap, and can be found at the big box hardware stores as well as at the electrical supply outlets. Or maybe you have a friend who's an electrician that you can mooch some from.
