i bought a new 150 pilot for the rear of my 91 katana (my first bike, now for the girlfriend to try), but cant seem to get the bead to seat. i've only changed a few bike tires and this driving my crazy. i have air flowing into it, bead sealer goop on tire and rim and i even built a bead sealer using a 10L propane tank and a 1 1/4" ball valve but no success. i do change alot of car tires and i have my own tire machine and balancer so i'm feeling a little defeated about this.
i dont know how much experience anyone here has with tire installs but it feels good to vent

Steve

 

Im not sure why your using a bead sealer...

However, on stubborn tires, you can take a blanket, fold it over several times and lay it on the ground. take your wheel and tire, and lay it on the brake rotor side, with the other side facing up. The blanket has to be puffy enough for the tire and rim to press into the blanket. What your doing is using the blanket to seal off the other end of the tire, so air can't escape from that side. Now, you only have to worry about the top side leaking air. You can push on the tire in the spots that are leaking bad. But most of the time, just stopping the air escaping from one side is enough to get the tire to pop on the rim.

Also, Im not sure how you changed the tire. But if you did it with a set of spoons, you have to be very careful that you didnt ruin the bead. inspect the bead and make sure you don't see any kinks in the bead area of the tire. If there are, you may end up having to replace the tire.

 

i will try the blanket, i was using the bead sealer to force air into the tire, works well on car/truck tires. i used a tire machine to install the tire, the same thing you would see at your local tire shop.

thanks for the idea, i had no issues when i did the tires for my cbr, dam katana always giving me hassle

Steve

 

I usually bounce the tire to get the bead to seat better, then air it up. Use spray from No-Mar to slicken the bead seat area.

 

Two ways to work around a stubborn bike tire. If the tire is already mounted, take a racheting belt and run it all the way around the center of the tire and tighten it up. This will often puff out the sidewalls enough to seat.

If that doesn't work, then remove the tire, cut 6 2X4's about 3-5" wider than the rim. Place them in the tire and let it sit out in the sun for an hour or so. When you mount the tire the sidewalls will be your friend.

Never tried the blanket method. Sounds like it's worth a shot.

 

well i tried two ratchets, bounced it , ether, air blaster, and in the end i pulled the tire back off the rim added a little goop put it back on found the sweet spot and it seated, about 4 hours of my life i'll never get back. good thing it wasn't a customers

Steve