Fitting a tyre the easy way?

[JoeCrow]

I'll take your word for it as I have no idea why a Brompton with Sun CR18 rim fitted with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, other than the small size, should be any different.

 

[saneagle]

I'll take your word for it as I have no idea why a Brompton with Sun CR18 rim fitted with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, other than the small size, should be any different.

It's because there's no well to give the tyre the clearance you need. A few other guys on the forum had said how difficult it was, but I thought I knew better.

Like you, I never have to use tyre levers to get a tyre on, and I can often get them off too with just my hands, but I couldn't get the Brompton one on with 9" motorbike tyre levers. In the end I took it to a bike shop to see if they could help. The guy tutted at me, then tried to work his magic with small bike tyre levers. He didn't even get close, and he was just about to give up, when he had an idea. He went round the back of his shop and came out with a 3 ft lever. I've never seen one so long before nor since. He still needed all his strength to get the tyre over the rim. It was a lot of work for a fiver.