Continental's Competition tubular tires—the 22C can be mounted on a wheel straight out of the box.
(Though that's because I'm the one doing it;
for beginners, the small inner diameter is pretty tough)
But with the 19C, that's not really the case.
There's variation between individual tires—some with a larger inner diameter can be mounted straight from the box,
but in most cases, even I can't mount them as-is from the factory.
With tubular tape, struggling to get it seated isn't a problem,
but with rim cement, your hands, the tire sidewall, and the rim sidewall
all end up covered in cement—it's pretty rough to look at.
Still, there's a relatively easy way to do it, which the instructions actually describe.
Sort of in the form of "don't do it like this" (laughs).
The instructions say "mount on the rim, pump to 10 psi, and leave for 3 days,"
but the thing is, it won't actually seat on the rim in the first place.
It's like locking your house key inside the safe.
If I'm willing to use a method that's not exactly elegant—something I'd never show a customer—
then I wouldn't have built something like the Stretcher Y.
Considering the demand and frequency, I figured this was the easiest approach.
I'm comparing a Competition 19 that's been stretched with the Stretcher Y at 10 psi for 3 days against a brand new one.
I tied them with tape so the slack wouldn't develop unevenly on either side.
↑When you line up the valve end
↑the difference on the other end is this dramatic.
That's a significant gap. Looking at the text position and where the fold occurs,
you can see the fold point is at the same location—this tells you the whole tire has stretched.
So I shipped it out to a customer, but
even like this, it's still tighter than a brand new 22C straight from the factory.
If you have a spare wheel or rim, you can mount it and let it sit to prevent it from shrinking back.
(Though that's because I'm the one doing it;
for beginners, the small inner diameter is pretty tough)
But with the 19C, that's not really the case.
There's variation between individual tires—some with a larger inner diameter can be mounted straight from the box,
but in most cases, even I can't mount them as-is from the factory.
With tubular tape, struggling to get it seated isn't a problem,
but with rim cement, your hands, the tire sidewall, and the rim sidewall
all end up covered in cement—it's pretty rough to look at.
Still, there's a relatively easy way to do it, which the instructions actually describe.
Sort of in the form of "don't do it like this" (laughs).
The instructions say "mount on the rim, pump to 10 psi, and leave for 3 days,"
but the thing is, it won't actually seat on the rim in the first place.
It's like locking your house key inside the safe.
If I'm willing to use a method that's not exactly elegant—something I'd never show a customer—
then I wouldn't have built something like the Stretcher Y.
Considering the demand and frequency, I figured this was the easiest approach.
I'm comparing a Competition 19 that's been stretched with the Stretcher Y at 10 psi for 3 days against a brand new one.
I tied them with tape so the slack wouldn't develop unevenly on either side.
↑When you line up the valve end
↑the difference on the other end is this dramatic.
That's a significant gap. Looking at the text position and where the fold occurs,
you can see the fold point is at the same location—this tells you the whole tire has stretched.
So I shipped it out to a customer, but
even like this, it's still tighter than a brand new 22C straight from the factory.
If you have a spare wheel or rim, you can mount it and let it sit to prevent it from shrinking back.