Mountain Bike Inner Tube and Tire Installation
Mountain bike inner tubes and tires are very easy to install onto the rims but you still should use couple of tire levers to make the job easier. Don’t rush the job, otherwise you risk pinching the tube and getting pinch flats. If you have never changed a tire, practice doing it a few times before hitting the trail. You don’t want to be learning to change a flat when you are miles from home and the sun is setting.
New Plastic Rim Tapes
The rims that came with the 2001 Marin Palisades Trail partial bike didn’t come with rim tapes or strips so I installed new ones. Before putting the tape on the rims, I inspect each rim cavity to make sure that there are no sharp edges around the spoke holes or protruding spoke nipples.
The rim tape covers the holes and spoke nipples to lessen the chance of them making holes in the inner tube when the tube is inflated. The strips that I used are red plastic. Strips also come in cloth and rubber, which are a bit more expensive that the plastic ones.
The inner tubes I am using have the Schrader or American type valve stem, which is one of two types of valve stems used on bicycle tubes. It’s the type used on cars and motorcycle tires. The other type is the presta or French type.
I am using the Schrader type because the valve holes on the rims are drilled for Schrader valves. A Schrader valve stem has a larger diameter that a presta valve stem. The rim valve hole should match the valve of the tube. I could have used a tube with a presta valve in a rim drilled for the larger Schrader valve by using an adapter sleeve. I have a set of wheels set up that way. But the adapter sleeve is not really needed. I have also drilled larger holes in a set of wheels intended for presta valve tubes to accept Schrader valve stems.
After I checked the rim cavity for sharp edges and put the tape on the rim and lined up the valve hole cut out in the tape to the valve hole in the rim, I am ready to install the inner tube and the wheel onto the rim.
WTB Velociraptor with Wilderness Trail Bikes Tread Design
The tires that I am using (WTB Velociraptor with Wilderness Trail Bikes Tread Design) are front and back specific so I have to put the front tire on the front wheel and the back tire on the back wheel. In additional to being front/back specific, the tires are also directional specific, like on some high performance car tires. Directional arrows (cross-country/dry and downhill/mud) are printed on the sidewalls of the tires to indicate the direction of rotation.
I than inflate the tube just enough for tube to hold its shape. I then install the tube inside tire. This may not be too important to some people, but I always install the tube valve by the air pressure recommendations printed on tire sidewall.
Next, with the tube still in the tire, I put the tube valve through the rim valve hole, making sure that the valve stem points straight toward the hub. I don’t want to put extra pressure on the valve stem by putting it in crooked and ripping the stem from the tube.I place the wheel flat on the ground and work in one bead at a time onto the rim.
Getting the Tire Bead Over the Rim Sidewall with Tire levers
The tire bead goes right over the rim with just finger pressure. The other tire bead is tougher and I used tire levers to help me. I make sure that the levers don’t rip the inner tube.
Once the whole tire is inside the rim cavity, I go around the rim and make sure that the inner tube is not sticking out and that the tire beads are not pinching the tube.
Once I am satisfied that the inner tube is not being pinched, I inflate the inner tube to about 10 psi and inspect the bead again on both sides to make sure the beads are sitting evenly inside the rim and that the inner tube is not sticking out.
I then inflate the tube to about 20 psi and do the inspection again. If everything looks okay, I then inflect the inner tube to the recommended maximum pressure (35-60 psi), reinstalled the valve cap and put the wheel on the mountain bike.
Check out pictures of the headset installation on the Marin Palisades Trail Frame
Check out the Manitou Bulge FS Ti fork installation on a Marin Palisades Trail Frame
Check out the star nut installation on the Manitou Bulge FS Ti fork a Marin Palisades Trail Frame
Check out the bottom bracket installation on a Marin Palisades Trail Frame
Here is a picture of the built up 2001 Marin Palisades Trail mountain bike
