Tag Archives: hans dampf

How to fit a Schwalbe Marathon Plus

How to fit a Schwalbe Marathon Plus

Ok you’ve found this page because you’ve just spent several hours trying to mount a Schwalbe Marathon Plus onto your bicycle wheel and this seemingly simple 10 minute job has left you exhausted, possibly bleeding and probably a little hoarse from screaming “GET ON YOU FUDGING BAR STEWARD, MOTHER LOVING SACK OF SUGAR” at an inanimate object.

What you may have found on embarking on this endeavour is that you get the bead of the tyre onto 90% of the rim and then spend the next two hours chasing the last 10% of the tyre around the rim bending your tyre levers on the way. Before you jump up and down on your wheel or march back to your local bike shop and shout at a spotty teenager for selling you the wrong size tyre, I have two words for you.

Cable Tie

cable-tie

You may know this trick, but if you don’t it works very well with Schwalbe Tyres, some of which are an absolute pig to get onto a rim, Hans Dampf I’m talking about you. Here are the steps:

  • Get one side of the bead of the tyre on the rim. Ensure you have the arrow pointing in the direction of travel.
  • Put the inner tube in, inflate it a bit if this helps you.
  • Get as much of the other side of the bead on as possible and then wrap a cable tie around the rim a and the tyre keeping it in place.
  • Working the rest of the bead onto the rim towards the cable tie. You’re done.

Hope this tip saves you some time and energy.