Seating Hetres 42mm-650B Tires…

Hertres on my Boulder Bicycle Allroad...

Getting the Grand Bois Hertres 650b tires on my bike’s Velocity Synergy rims was no problem by hand.  Later when I tried to seat them so they were even on the rim there was nothing I could do by hand to solve the problem.  If I pulled out one low spot another would form – yikes!  It was a bit maddening.  Then I remembered to ask Google who reminded me to ask Sheldon Brown what to do!

“In some cases it may be beneficial to lubricate the side of the tire. This can be done with soapy water, but I usually use spray window cleaner for this, because it doesn’t leave a soapy residue on the braking surface of the rim.” – Sheldon Brown

I followed Sheldon’s advice…sprayed windex around the beads and inflated to 80psi. Bead settled in pretty well – not perfectly, but 1000% better than my initial efforts. I’ll left ’em at 80psi overnight and then set to my riding pressure 50 & 40psi. Thanks Sheldon!

I hope a bit of riding will stretch these tires enough that any roadside flat fixing isn’t a PITA.