Bontrager Race Lite's won't seat... HELP! _____ (2 pictures, too)

[willmtbike4food]

well, i needed new road tires, so i went with 700x25 Bontrager Race Lite's.

the rear went on fine, absolutely no problems. the front though, is a different story.

the tires have a small ridge that is to help prevent pinch flats. the ridge acts very similarly to the double bead on the .243 tires.


well, in some places on the wheel, the true bead is seated just fine. in other places, the 2nd bead is seated, instead of the true. this is only the case on one side of the tire.

it is not the rim. i have checked for imperfections, and i can get hutchinson carbon comps, as well as trek iso tech's to seat just fine on the rim.

i don't believe it is the tire. i measured the inside circumferences of both sides of the tire, and they were identical. the numbers matched up with the other bonty race lite that i own. the 2nd bead is the same distance from the inside of the tire all the way around. same deal with the true bead.


i just can't get it to seat.






for the pictures:
green = good; seated
orange = transition from good to bad
red = bad; 2nd bead seated




any ideas on what i should try to get it to seat?? i've been going at it for just over 1 hour and 40 mins now...

[willmtbike4food]

here's the second one. i can email the full size pictures to anyone that is interested in seeing it better, they're 2048x1532 (or whatever the 15__ number is).

thanks

[willmtbike4food]

here's the bike they're going on:

[BAC5.2]

deflate the tube all the way, squeeze the beads into the center ridge of the rim. Inflate the tire.

[Shmoe]

If Bac's method still doesn't solve the problem, Inflate the tire to about 20-30psi over recomendation (sound sketchy, but if no weight is on it it should be fine). After this, slowly deflate the tire and every 15 or so psi try to reseat it by hand. Eventually it will 'pop' into place. Its sort of hard to explain, I have done this dozens of times with road tires before and it does work.

[BAC5.2]

Almost every road tire says 110 max PSI, but almost all can go up to around 140 or 145 unweighted :)

[willmtbike4food]

thanks for the advice guys. i'm new to the road game, and didn't want to risk ruining the tire - tearing it apart at the bead would be devastating, especially since its brand new...

and bac5.2 - i'd already tried your first suggestion multiple times. and, tried setting the bead in 20psi increments, going up (but not going down...). i'd tried water, baby powder, the "bouncing" method, etc. i gave Hall Bicycle (my lbs) a call, and they didn't have any idea - they said they hadn't heard of problems, and if i couldn't get it by tomorow, they can swap me tires, free of charge, but, i just want to get it to work...