Having trouble seating the bead on heidenau's k60 scouts

Now that is ingenious as all get out!!!

I was at it again with the front tire. No problem getting the tire/tube on the wheel. Warm tire, HF tire tool and some tire irons.
Just having trouble getting the bead to 'pop'.
I think I need more air pressure.

Before I head up to my friend's shop and do some show & tell, go get a bicycle tube of the appropriate size, put some air in it and use that to fill the gap. It will keep most of the compressed air from escaping, long enough anyway for the bead to seat. Hold it down there with a piece of plywood.

We always had such bicycle tubes around back then, that is until we bought a Coats 20/20 with its ring of compressed air to help keep the air coming from the valve inside the tire. Car tires maybe but same techniques.I think my grandpa and my dad's mechanics knew a thing or two about mounting tires and so did I after a while back then.

Had that trouble a week ago with the wife's 650gs twin. I put two compression straps on with the ratchets on opposite sides and left it over night. A little grease in the am and pop the magic dragon.

Probably my
Major issue was the temperature. It's been chilly here and I had no place to warm the tires.

I need a picture of that. I'm not sure what it will do?

Could take a few days...... Push the tire down onto the rim so at least one bead seals. Then the other one won't be close enough from the rim and the air will escape. Fill that gap with a bicycle tube just long enough for the compressed air to expand the tire and seat the bead.

We often had that problem on car tires back then when the wheels got wider in the seventies. So we had tubes hanging around just for that.The very difficult ones well we had the "stretcher", mostly designed to stretch and gain access and patch, but if used judiciously could help in installations. But too slow for us.

Often the problem with motorcycle tires the beads are too close from each others, then you mount and have to cinch the tire to separate them and get air in. Think about pre-stretching with some blocks if you are not in a hurry.

But then dad bought a Coats 10/10 and we still had the same problems. So he quickly traded it for a 20/20. Them 20/20s had a circular ring under the tire with holes in it. Shoots compressed air at "THE GAP" and prevents the inflation air from escaping,just long enough thus letting the tire expand and the bead seat.

Lift the tire up against the rim, hit that pedal and POP. I still could do that with my eyes closed.

That makes more sense, but it sounds more applicable to a tubeless tire.
One of the sides appears to be set as I cannot push it away from the rim. The other side looks like it is set but no 'pop' sound and when I let the air out to check I can still push it away from the rim without too much pressure(just my hand, no leverage).
Anyway, I warmed it up in the sun today, tied a ratchet strap around the circumference and filled it up to 55psi. This time I will let it sit for a day before releasing the air to check.

Polish them wheels, unless I go up there and show previous tire iron marks I had to file/clean. I am sure I'll find such on the other wheel.Darn POs. Make sure there aren't little rubber pieces left on the bead from the tire fabrication, I usually look for that and get rid of them with the torch.

Lube lube....leave it at 55 cold for a while, may eventually pop on its own in the sun. Altough I don't have a problem with 65, wasn't too unusual back then on some Akront/Metzler combos. If you are really weary throw a heavy blanket over it or work remotely with a regulated air supply, shut off valve at the compressor and inflator that stays attached to the tire valve.

I think it is a good thing that they are hard to seat, may not unseat as fast as some if you get a flat.:eek1

Ive had to go well over 55psi before, I suspect you will too.

+1 the rear 17" K60 on my DR was a PITA (and yes, the wheel was clean and lubed and everything else). Took 60 psi three or four times before it popped.

I am not looking forward to working on that tire on a ride. In fact, it might be enough to keep me away from the K60 in future.

I had a 17" k60 put on my bike at Adventure Cycleworks in Fairbanks and it had to be ran up to 55psi 3 or 4 times and bounced on the ground but finally set and he does it for a living, so I was worried about doing it on the road with my little Walmart compressor......well I got the chance 2 weeks later on the Dempster. I rode it flat for about 1/2 kilometer up to a road pull out and I had no problem what so ever setting the bead first time with my little compressor. I used Ivory liquid dish soap from the camping kit. The biggest problem was getting the tubes valve stem through the rim:huh I now carry a valve stem fishing tool.

I've run my K60 (on the back of my 950) up to 100 psi to seat the bead.

The thing to remember is that if the tire is rated to 60psi, the manufacturer has tested that tire to well over 180psi. I've run plenty of stubborn tires up as high as my compressor can push (120 or so) with no issues.

Having said that, I use a clip-on chuck (hands-free) and DO NOT stand over the tire while it's seating.

If that tire ever let go, things could get ugly quick! Good advice

The only time I've ever had a tire "let go" during installation was in the old days of rim brakes on mountain bikes. After a wet winter, the sides of older rims would be compromised from the brake pads/winter grit. I was inflating a stubborn tire for a customer (this is a BICYCLE tire now) and at around 40psi the rim side let go, catastrophically.

There were rim chunks embedded in the ceiling. I couldn't hear properly for hours. Scared the crap out of everyone in the shop. Now, even though I have no qualms about inflating a tire to insane pressures to seat them, I'm still scared of it and take the appropriate precautions.

I've seen video of truck tires exploding and have no desire to witness one in person. I heard a story once (no claims as to the veracity of this story) that had a tire tech not use the safety cage when dealing with a "split" rim off a semi when the tire exploded. According to the story, the upper half of the tech's body was catapulted into the air and landed on top of the shop's sign, leaving the lower half behind.

While I'm not sure the story is true, it certainly illustrates the amount of energy we're dealing with here.

I was having probs last time with a very stiff paddle tire. Wifey mentioned I should heat it up with hot water from the sink.

Worked like a charm.

Me: where did you learn that?
Wifey: Ice road truckers
Me: :huh

rotflmao!