setting the bead at 100 psi

I got new tires for Mrs Gunners INT 650 and installed them on Saturday, and that turned into include Sunday. While the front tire, which I did first, was pretty much trouble free, after I got the rear on I couldn't get it to seat.  I tried all the ideas deemed sage and safe by the intertubes and I gave up short of the fire trick because that's purportedly only for tubeless tires and wheels and Mrs. Gunner kindly took the wheel to a local moto shop to get it done for me today. 

When I called the place I was told he was backed up and she'd have to drop it off, that was no problem.  The YouTube gurus said to NEVER air it up above 40 psi to seat because bad things can happen.  I took it to 60 and it still didn't seat. This guy told my wife he took it to 100 psi to finally get it to seat, so thats neat. Also, he did it right when she got there and for free so I already have my seated rear wheel back. Shoutout to Spokes Garage in Ozark MO.

Hundo is what it takes sometimes.   40 is what the machines all say but high performance tires rarely seat at 40.

I hate having to use high pressure to seat bike tires; gives me the heebie-jeebies for sure!

I have no idea what I'm doing, but if I have to go a little above recommendations, I always take the valve core out, and the split second the bead snaps into place, pull the chuck off and let the excess whoosh out before replacing the core, and then re-air to proper inflation pressure. I usually struggle for quite a while first before getting to that point, using lots of lube, some air pressure plus prying, bouncing, rolling, etc, which sometimes works, but not always. If it is a tubed tire, I talc the inside of the tire/outside of the tube before installing to keep things happy. YMMV

My last dirt bike front tire refused to seat on the bead. Talc'd the hell out of the tube and the rim brought it up to 40psi and beat the side of the tire while on the bike where it wouldn't seat. Once it seated I realigned the front then brought it back down to its usual 12 psi for playing in the sand and mud. 
 

hasn't budged since. 

RonnieFnD said:

Hundo is what it takes sometimes.   40 is what the machines all say but high performance tires rarely seat at 40.

That feels scary.  The highest I've gone is 60 for a Dunlop on my friend's Aprilia.

mfennell said:

RonnieFnD said:

Hundo is what it takes sometimes.   40 is what the machines all say but high performance tires rarely seat at 40.

That feels scary.  The highest I've gone is 60 for a Dunlop on my friend's Aprilia.

It's terrifying lol.  Alfa Romeo wheels hate accepting new tires so I've gotten used to it but it still sucks.

I almost always have to go to 100 psi on the MX bikes. 

Peabody said:

I almost always have to go to 100 psi on the MX bikes. 

I knew I should have come here first. I would have been done Sunday. LOL

Done it many times.

Sometimes won't pop even at 100.

Leave the 100psi in it and put it in the furnace room until it goes ping.

I've left them out in the sun on a hot day too.

Welp. I got to try it myself after all on the front tire. What I thought was a balance issue was actually an issue where the bead didnt seat on a part of one side of the tire and it was proud against the rim causing a bump I didnt see until I was spinning the wheel on the bike after rebalancing it. at about 95 psi the tube blew up ripping the sidewall of the tire where the bead is in two places. I ordered a new tire and tube from revzilla. should be here by Wednesday.  Yay.

Silicone spray on the tire bead helps. I've gone a touch over 60 a few times, I always hook up the filler and set the wheel outside while I stand inside and slowly crank the pressure regulator up until I hear the ping on high pressure ones. That much stored energy makes me nervous.

Corroded rims get some aggressive wire brush action to clean them up first.

Dirt bike tires usually don't have this issue because the rims are more or less smooth from the drop center out to the bead. Street legal rims have a "safety bead" on the inside that traps the tire bead between it and the outer bead to reduce the risk of completely losing the tire if you get a flat on the road. That's what always causes issues for me. If you run a tubed tire on a tubeless rim with a safety bead, it's a huge pain because the tire beads are shaped slightly differently.

In reply to gearheadE30 :

The most annoying thing for me is I knew that about the rim vs tire yet the only tires I could find for that size were tubeless. At least that helps explain my difficulty. Im 3 for 3 on tubeless tires on tubeless rims but 0 for 2 on tubeless tires on tube rims.

Soap the beads.  I was a tire changer in high school and we had a little bottle of soapy water with a brush right by the tire changing machine.   

I contacted Bridgestone about a set of RE71s that wouldn't seat right after I bought my machines. Their response was it was fairly common to require 2+ times the rated pressure to seat the bead on a high-performance tire. The highest I've seen is 90 psi and when the bead seats it sounds like a shotgun. 

In reply to jharry3 :

I did, liberally. I tried silicone spray lube on the rear wheel before I gave up on it as well. In the aftermath I put three more big squirts of dawn liquid in the spray bottle to help next time. Ive been contemplating rubbing straight dawn soap onto the rim to get it to seat but Ive not seen that done so Im curious if that would be detrimental afterward.

In reply to Toyman! :

I had guessed I messed up when initially seating the front because it popped for one side but I kept adding pressure and did not hear the other side pop. In the moment I thought "I'm sure its fine.." even though I knew better. It 'looked' ok so I went with it, of course to discover later that it indeed did not seat. I won't take a tire above 90 psi again, even if I have to take it to a shop to get it finished.