Mavic MA40 rim problems

I have had another experience this afternoon wrestling tyres on and off of my old (red label) Mavic MA40 rims.

Ended up cutting one tyre off plus gash in thumb for my troubles.

They seem really difficult to get Continental or Michelin 23 -25mm tyres on and off using tyre levers, loads of talc. etc

Any suggestions for a tyre that is a bit looser on these rims please.

The hooks seem deeper than open pros.

I know the problem - best tyre levers to help seem to be the `Park` blue ones. I have had some Hutchinson tyres on whih made life easier - 23mm but not sure of exact model - might be worth a look.

The 700x23 Vittoria Open Corsa are a loose fit on my Mavic MA2 rims (silver version of the MA40), loose enough to fit and remove without any tools but not too loose so they blow off the rims.

The tyres I have are the older version; black tread and natural amber sidewalls (on-topic), which is not made anymore. It's been replaced by a black side wall version (ugly) but I gather it has the same fit on rims.

I've never liked the blue Park levers, I find the part that goes under the tyre is too thick.

Yer rims are fine it's those bloody tyres! I've never looked back since getting me Park tyre levers and ( odd how this worked ) Bontrager long valve 18-23mm innertubes.
Tell us how you get on dude.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I think that maybe the issue here is that when G40s and the later MA40s were introduced this was before clincher tyres came in the folding variety.

Is this true?

I have in the dim distant past fitted rigid tyres of the same size with alot less hassle onto these rims.

Is there a chance these were made looser as the rigid steel beads had less 'work to do'. Now I use folding tyres exclusively they are tighter in general.

My own experience of park tyre levers is that they are a strange shape and bend under extreme pressure so I dont use them!

Anyway I have a tyre on each rim now.

I was looking at Vittoria Evo Paves tubulars for a sprint build so I maybe I can get some open versions for a good comparative exercise when funds permit.

Try using washing up liquid for lube. MA40s werent around when folding tyres were invented. The first folding tyre was the Michelin Bib TS in 1983. That was before the MA2/40 if I recall correctly.

Some rim/tyre combos seem to be particularly hard work, and I always seem to end up buying them. :cry:

Due to my experiences I have made a few observations on the subject. The most significant is that you should make sure you use good thin tapes, fat tapes will make this problem a lot worse, as will rim tapes that are too wide. With folding tyres I have found that, when possible, deflating the tyre working it a bit on the rim and then leaving it for a few hours will aid removal.Finally if the well of your rim is deep use a tyre lever to work the bead into the well on the opposite side to where you are starting the removal process.

My final observation is that tolerances in tyre manufacturing are perhaps not as good as they could be as I have had tyres that slipped on and off my rims with no trouble and replaced them with supposedly identical tyres only to find them almost impossible to fit.