[Berkyboy]

It's not uncommon to turn the rotor side of the rim down a little which makes it easier to "muscle" the tire on. I know Jeff's done that in the past, not sure if he did it for New Zealand.

If you do shave the rim down you need to be very specific which tire you are going to use as the the tire beads can vary slightly between manufacturers. Of course once you've shaved the rim down a little you absolutely have to use a rim lock.

As far as tire balls over mousse inserts go I would be a little concerned about them standing up in Greece if its going to be a rocky as they say. In Chile Fredette eventually changed over to an insert when he started to loose (puncture) 6 to 7 tire balls a day.

He actually had to switch over to a tube at one of the checks when too many tire balls went flat just to get back to the parc ferme where he switched to an insert for the rest of the event.