Small rims are much harder than large ones. You gave yourself a challenge right off the hop.
I wondered about that.
I have used c-clamps or zip ties around the tire on the other side to help keep it in the drop centre
If you mean zip-tieing the sides together so that they're narrower and sit in the centre more easily - I tried that. It made it nearly impossible to spoon any part of the tire onto the rim at all. Maybe it would work better with a bigger tire. I also tried the C-clamp as well as a bar clamp to squeeze the sides together, they ended up getting in the way and slipping a lot. Again, maybe it would work with a bigger tire with more flat to register against.
The C-clamp did work to break the bead on one tire.
Or did you mean get the sides into the drop centre and then zip tie the tire to the rim to hold it?
What kind of tire changer do you use?
To break the bead on the front tire, I just used tire irons. Worked surprisingly well. For the rear, it didn't work so well. I used the most expensive bead breaker I could lay my hands on. I drove our SUV over the tire. That didn't work. Then I put our emergency car jack under our trailer hitch and did that. My SUV wheels were almost off the ground before the bead broke.
As for getting the tires ON... I used tire irons to get the new front tire on, to ruin my new rear tire, and to get the old rear tire back on.
Heating up the tire will also help with the pliability - use a hair dryer or space heater, but also laying it out in the sun for a while.
That may have been part of my problem. The front tire was easy to get off and on, but I did that in the heat of Sunday. I was hoping to ride home Monday AM, so I started work on the rear around 6 PM. I did try heating it up with a heat gun, but it may have been too late.
Interestingly, although I could not manage to get both beads onto the rim at the same time, I managed this morning to get the beads ON OPPOSITE EXTERIOR SIDES OF THE WHEEL. Explain that to me. I was ready to use a Sawzall to try and cut the damn tire in half, I was so frustrated.
And the whole time I was thinking I was being smart... trying to use the tire irons in such a way as to protect the rims on the side where the cast spokes lie, thinking the rim on the other side wouldn't show. As soon as I put the wheel back on, I realized how stupid that was.
So far I've spent $130 on a new tire and a day of swearing to save myself $50. Although, it's good to know exactly why guys do not like to change their own tires. And it's good to know what's involved in case I really had to do it. I don't know if I'm going to try again when my new tire comes in.
