Hi all,

Having watched a load of videos and read some online instructions, I tried to change my first inner tube on my XR250 Tornado and couldn´t get the tire off the rim, but will buy another spoon tomorrow and try again. I was also wondering a few things:-

a) If the tire inflates, have I basically done everything right?

b) The first time I inflated it, I noticed that part of of the tire seemed to sit ´deeper´than the rest in the rim, or in other words, there is a little line that runs around the rim on the tire, it is about a 1cm wide I´d say, the line sort of disappeared into the rim, and then came back up again around 15cm afterward. I deflated the tire and bounced it gently around, and then inflated, now the line is consistant throughout and on both sides. Does this sound familiar? Is this the thing to indiciate when the tire sits on the rim properly?

c) I read a lot of people inflating their tires to very high PSI, is this more for tubeless tires than tubed? Is this because they failed to sit the tire in the rim proplery? Should I be doing the same?

d) I read online that you shouldn´t tie the valve stem nut to the rim, is this true or not? Should it be snug against the rim?

e) What is the little rubber ´nipple´for that sits on my rim? I could pull it out with my fingers, and then put it back in again. What´s that all about?

Many thanks for any help - obviously I´m keen not to make any mistakes as front tire failure could be bad news.

Cheers!

Rtw

a) Probably. The tube could still be twisted or you could have pinched the tube while fitting it and caused a slow leak. Both these will be obvious. Also the valve stem is best pointing straight out of its hole and not at an angle.

b) You noticed this and it is important. The bead needs to be seated correctly. It can be difficult and take a lot of pressure to have the tyre bead seat. Some tyres are easier, other more difficult. For future reference, to have the bead seat correctly it might take some soap or detergent and a lot of air pressure to seat. Don't use grease as it will keep the rim and tyre lubricated, while soap or detergent will eventually dry. I have taken hours to seat a bead in the past - frustrating work.

c) pressure depends on a lot of things. All i can suggest is googleing what others do and experiment a bit.

d) I have read that too and it is probably best practice. The rim and tube might slide a bit, and if the nut is not at the base, against the rim, then you will notice this (as it allow the valve stem to tilt at an angle) and then you are supposed to do something about it.

e) not sure what you mean. a pic might help

all the best

E) The hole is for a rimlock. A rimlock is a sort of clamp wich prefents the tire from moving on the rim when riding offroad with low tire pressures ( like below 1 bar).

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