Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond
Breaking the bead can be next to impossible on some tyre / rim combinations. The Michelin Desert + Excel rim on the back of my CCM took me a day and a half just to break the bead last time I changed it - and that was in my garage. I came very close to taking an angle grinder to it. There's no way at all it would come off at the side of the road with one person and two 8" levers. And it's not just lack of experience - I've been changing my own tyres for 40yrs and can do "normal" ones in about 20-30 mins.
The worst part is it now needs changing again ..... 
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I've never done a Michelin desert but have done a Michelin Baja which is probably similar construction while I remember it as a stiff tire I don't remember any problem breaking the bead... I worked as a mechanic at a small bike shop a couple yrs back and we did a lot of tires.. It was all done by hand with tire spoons as the owner was too cheap to buy a tire machine.. He built a fulcrum bead breaker out of a long 2x6 that fit into a jig on the workbench.. He was a street bike guy taking the tire off all on one side and had never seen the method of dropping the rim inside the tire that I use..
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