Thanks for all the input on the tired subject. I'll comment to your comments and if you buy the last few of my Boyaux 'Liberty' tire kits you will have made my Valentines Day. Actually my wife did that with some marzipan but that's off topic.
I did make a slight anatomic miscalculation on holding the rim when getting to the bottom and stretching it over the last few inches. Instead of putting your hands on your knees, you actually put the wheel on your knees and thigh and let the wheel slide towards your tummy and then pop the tire over the edge of the rim with your thumbs. I prefer to bend over and then use the wheel thigh position to get the tire into position. I tried the prehensile technique, but couldn't find my tail to use as a fulcrum, so gave it up. I never could stretch the tire enough from bottom to top to make that work.
A few things came to mind after I posted, but I let it go to see if anyone would supplement the subject, but I suspect you were being kind to my lapse of memory. Instead of an addendum, seeing as this is about tires, you'll allow me a Bibendum or so.
I forgot to mention putting a spare on while out on a ride.The glues are of a mastic nature, and will stay sticky for at least one or two tire changes, before a thin coat of refresher glue is needed. After one uses sewups for a while, the spares get older and they get you home. Most of the riders will change the tire after the rideand put a thin coat of glue on the rim and have a fresh tire ready for the next day. The glues are designed to stay tacky for at least a year, but I would reglue my tires at the beginning of the new season.
It is not necessary to remove old glue, the nicer the bed the better it holds. If you want to clean it up or even it out use acetone to soften and smear the glue even and apply a new coat. You will notice that the acetone will make the old glue sticky. If you have enough glue on the rim, put a little on the glue, give it a new lease on life and stick tire on. Hah!
People ask about the various glues and mixing different brands. It seems that if you use similar color The formulas are similar and they blend, dry, and stick well. Sometimes the compositions are so incompatible that the glues don't mix and they don't dry properly so the tire stays loose and slides. Please be careful.
We carry our spares strapped under the rear of our saddles, unless you have one of those nifty stainless Nitto rectangular sew up tire holders that fit on your bike like a water bottle cage. Style man points, but the real riders wrap their tires in some newspaper and use a toe strap to hold it on under the saddle. Benefit: if you break a strap, you have a spare. Put tire in jersey pocket. If you gotta go, use newspaper behind bush. Remember the tire gets shoved in pocket.
If you don't get many punctures, take off spare and refold every month or so, so the folds don't become creases and damage tire. Your monologue may sound like a muleskinner's when you put your spare on and it doesn't hold air.
When we seal the base tape, we see how wide the rim is and eyeball the application. It's usually fairly close to the basetape width. A long time ago some of the mastics loosened the basetape, but that hasn't happened in over twenty years. Probably a spin-off of landing on the moon.
The ageing has indeed been a topic for discussion. We feel the tires need to be aged and "cured'. The fresh materials seem to settle and hold up better. Some of the new synthetic material tires are less influenced by ageing, but the higher end tires with more natural materials seem to need the process for better durability and life.
We used to coat the rubber strips with vineger. Household vinegar is about 4-5 % acetic acid, and the butadiene rubber of the tire strips would take on an accelerated cure. A chemistry prof told us the acetic acid shrunk or drew the molecules of the strip closer together, in effect making the rubber denser and more impervious to punctures. The old timers used to do this, so we checked it out and it seems not just to be an old wive's tale. Pure acid would go through the tire and maybe the rim too, so vinegar was just right. Careful not to get it on the casing, not the best, it stinks like h..., so do it outside or in the garage with door open when significant other is away for a while. Again, this ritual seems intense, but when one does it as long as I have, it just gets done as part of the job. It's a lifestyle, and we like it! Please add to my tips, It's fun to share and learn in return. Ted Ernst Palos Verdes Estates,CA
> Ted:
>
> Well said! Not much new for us life-long devotees but some of the
> experience has been hard won. I'll have to try the masked section for ease
> of removal. You are correct in stating the more aggressive nature of
> today's adhesives.
>
> A tip that I received on the list some time ago was to use one's toes to
> hold a rim while pulling the top half of the tire over onto the glue bed.
> What a revelation! Bare or thin stocking clad feet in the workshop can
> have their place. Would that I'd learned or discovered that trick years
> ago. My mounting jobs are a lot cleaner as a result.
>
> On a tubular with bare cotton base tape, do you (or other listmembers)
> coat the entire width of the base tape? I do so in the hope that it might
> retard base tape separation from the tire casing. At least they get a
> little less grimy in service with the cement coating.
>
> Thanks for the excellent distillation,
>
> Charlie Young
> Honey Brook, PA