Fitting a clincher on Campagnolo Shamals

[aussienick]

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a new new set of Campagnolo Shamal two-way fit wheels from a mate for 6 months. I went to fit a new set of Conti GP4000s tyres I had and after a fair bit of swearing and some blisters I gave up. It was 11pm so I can inside and started researching the problem.

It appears that due to the coldness of the shed, the tyres wouldn't stretch as they normally would. So I took the wheels and tyres to work, left them in my boot in the warmth all day and in the afternoon, easily finished the fit.

Moral to the story - don't fit campy wheels in cold conditions!

Hopefully this saves a few people some time of the future

[trailgumby]

Most Conti tyres seem to be tight. If you reckon 4000s are tough, try wire bead Sport Contact 26x1.3s! Used to skin my knuckles *every* time I mounted one, pinch-flat the tube half the time to boot. Awesome commuter tyres though for the mtb brigade

Got a Conti Vertical Pro 26x2.3 UST from the LBS cheapie NOS bin to fit to my son's bike ... and gave up. Couldn't get one side over, let alone two. And that was with Michelin tyre levers... was never gonna happen.

I think I might turn it into a belt to hold up my jeans when my current (and recently purchased) compound "leather" dress belt dies, which shouldn't be long, judging by the cracks it is already developing.