I’m hoping I’ve maxxed out my “flat insurance”, with the purchase of a “Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack” (sorry about the spelling).
This little device now sits in my Brompton bag, ready for service to assist with reinstalling Marathon tyres. I’ve frequently posted about the difficulty of installing any tyre onto Ralph-e’s Alfine 11-speed rear wheel, having a Sun CR18 rim. The rim well is very flat & leaves little space for centreing a tyre while easing a tyre bead over the rim. I believe a Velocity Aeroheat rim resolves the issue but I’ve been slow to obtain one (& then rebuild the wheel). Noting that Ben Cooper at Kinetics regularly produces Rohloff & Alfine-equipped Bromptons with the CR18 rim, I wondered why he didn’t use the Velocity rim. To my surprise, he claimed to not have any trouble fitting tyres – but then confessed that, “I cheat! There’s a gadget called a Simson Tyre Mate (now branded Kool-Stop) which makes it easy…”!