As many of you know, I snapped the straight up valve stem on my rear wheel last Saturday morning, (if you install fancy aftermarket valve stem caps, make sure they have enough clearance so as not to hit the brake caliper when the wheel rotates). The result: psssst... a flat tire, therefore, my Bostrom did not make an appearance at MotoMarket's Open House (that's ok, some other guy with a Bostrom showed up, so people thought it was mine).
Although Ducati now has a free towing service, I really didn't want to have the bike towed, so I went online to look up azmctires.com. I heard this guy comes to your hosue and wiull install tires. His pricing is comparable with or slightly higher than a dealer's price, but it is more convenient. It made sense that if he changed tires, he would be able to change a valve stem. I called him that morning. He was in NH, but said he'd be in the Sudbury area around 1:00PM. (He lives in Wellesley). I told him I'd be at MM's Open House most of the day so there was not rush.
Around 1:00 Tim Moore informs me that the azmtire guy was also at the Open House and introduces us. The "tire nazi" is a very cool guy, quotes me $62.50 (an hour's worth of labor) and say's he will follow me back to my house to replace the valve stem whenever I am ready to go. I hang out at MM for another hour or so, then we leave. He has a large box truck with an air compressor, tire changing machine, and lots of tires and tools. He removed the rear wheel, removed the tire (his tools are all plastic covered and he used plastic safety guides so he didn't scratch the blue Marchesini rim), cut off the stipped aluminum vale stem with a dremel tool, replaced it with a shorter steel valve stem, reinstalled and inflateed the tire and balanced the wheel. He even took the time to thoroughly clean all the left over sticky glue from the previous weights off the rim, then reinstalled the wheel, put back on the fancy anodozided blue billet aluminum cap and checked the clearance. Perfect. We talked for about half and hour and he told me that he watched who I talked to at the open house and that I seemed to know everyone, and that everbody knew me. (hmm, guess that's good..lol) He asked me what size t-shirt I took, large, extra-large, doesn't matter. He handed me a t-shirt. I asked him what I owed him and he told me $50 was fine. Excellent. The valve stem alone was $13 according to Riverside, so this was a very good price for at-your-home service. I'd highly recommend azmctires to anyone seeking the convenience of having tires replaced at their home. He will travel all over New England. (He also does brakes, chains and sprockets). I'm not sure of the exact cost of various brands of tires -- more expensive than mail order to be sure, but definately worth consideration if you are seeking convenience or if you get a flat. Oh, speaking of flat's, the tire nazi is willing to do a seminar to teach tire repair, how to plug a tire, etc. to our club members. If people are interested I can coordinate a date with him. It's free and gives him the opportunity to pitch his services to us too. Most of his customers are the BMW, Harley crowd, he really hasn't had an "in" to the sportbike crowd. Until now. As I've told many people you do well by me, I'll do well by you. azmctires is a service I'd recommend.
Chuck
'02 Ducati 998S Bostrom 090/155
04-08-02, 11:15 AM
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