Has anybody here tried using wire ties to help them get both tires beads on or off the rim at the same time? Yesterday I tried to use 24" long wire ties to get a Battlewing 502G off my Wee's rear rim. After 20-25 minutes I gave up, cut the zip ties off and used my tires irons. Another 2-3 minutes the tire was off the rim.

There are many videos on YouTube showing how to get a tire off the rim and also a new tire back on the rim. After my failure to get the tire off the rim using zip ties, I just used my tire irons to spoon a new tire on the rim. Maybe I did not use enough zip ties?

Me and a buddy tried it "did not work", we will not be wasting our time like that ever again. That is my 2 cents.........

I tried it and it didn't work for me.

Thanks for your feedback. The videos that I had seen on Youtube involved lower profile tires which almost feel off the rim when zip tied. Perhaps our size tires are too "deep". They are not even close to falling off the rim. The inner diameter of the zip tied tires are way smaller than the rim diameter.

Have the zip ties, new tire came in yesterday. Just need to get motivated. Bad weather forecasts for the next 7 days. :beatnik:

The best friend I have for a tire change is hot pavement and the Sun. I hate trying to change a cold tire. Maybe the zip tie method would work better that way?

I'm off to Youtube to look at it

Ok I looked at it. I was using straps to help collapse mine. While I don't think I can get a wheel off this way I will be using this on my tire changer to force the sidewalls to the inside from now on. I believe it will make my tire changer much more effecient.

I wish you luck with zip ties. I had no luck with them at all.

I agree with you, it is much more difficult to change a tire on a cold day. I had keep my tire indoors overnight, then put it in my car with the windows rolled up until mid-afternoon. It felt a bit warm when I went to install it yesterday, but it still was stiff on a day that where the temperature reached the mid-fifties.

Yeah but it was a cold 50. I know I'm right next door

FWIW, the accounts I've seen of the zip tie method usually use at least twice that many zip ties.

I can't imagine how it would save any time or effort. If you have any idea at all what you're doing with tire irons, you can have the whole job done long before someone futzing with zip ties will have the tire off.

Same with a No Mar or similar tire changers -- they're very fast once you finally get the wheel clamped into place, but it usually takes 20 minutes of farting around with the clamps (and the wheel popping out over and over and over and over) before you can commence.

This goes a little faster if you only work on bikes where the wheel diameter is the same. On bikes with different front and rear diameters, there's a good chance someone with a little tire iron experience will be done while the No-Mar team is still cursing at the rim clamps.

I agree with everything you said. Many years ago I bought a Harbor Freight motorcycle tire changer. The only thing I use that for now is for breaking the bead. Other than that I can change a tire faster with just tire irons. I do find that No Mar's Yellow Thing helps hold the bead in place and makes the job of installing the new tire faster and easier. YellowThing Tire Tool