I love kevlar bead tires since you can fold them up and carry them easiy on a long unsupported ride or tour, but when they are new they can be so damn tight and require such a fight that it's not ususal for me to ruin a couple of tubes trying to get a new kevlar bead tire mounted the 1st time.
A trick a learned from an old hand when mounting a HP bike tire to try and cut down on bead lifts is to inflate, then deflate almost all the way (to where you can squeeze the tire in by hand, and reset the bead all the way around - then reinflate.