Changing motard tires at home? How hard?

[Kurlon]

Doh I meant can you fill the tube with high enough pressure to seat a tire bead? I know on sport bikes they inflate it to like 40-45 to seat the bead so I assume it takes high pressure to seat?

Lube helps. On my TT-R I'm shoving a 110/80-R17 tubeless tire onto a 1.4" wide rim. Fat guy in a little coat jokes are appropriate. Using Windex, WD40, Silicone grease, etc it will not fully bead up, there is always on spot on each side where the bead stays sucked in slightly. Ever bounce a wheel around with 130psi in the tube? Ru-Glide and it beaded up perfect at 30psi. On my full size motard wheels I only needed around 40psi with Windex to get a full bead using tubes.

[e30addict]

Low pressure high volume is best. Just lube the bead and start filling the tube. It will pop into place.

[reks95]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8MFXZr36hs

Ratchet strap for the desperate?

[Degsy]

This thread is scary.
You have a balancer, right?

[xxaarraa]

This thread is scary.
You have a balancer, right?

I don't have anything Derek. The whole motivation to try and do this by myself is due to condo nazis. They make me put away the trailer/tools/bikes in a very specific way, even for a short while. Which makes a short trip to you/Scottys a whole ordeal of packing and unpacking.

[ilikenapalm]

If you need a balancer, this one works well.... Amazon.com: Pit Posse PP1727 Motorcycle Bike Rim Tire Wheel Balancer Balancing Spin Static Truing Stand: Automotive

[tsorfas]

This thread is scary.

Yet so entertaining

[nhbubba]

You guys are working too hard. You can break a bead with a kickstand if you want.

How you do this? How do you lever the bike/kickstand onto the sidewall once the wheel is off the bike?

[Kurlon]

How you do this? How do you lever the bike/kickstand onto the sidewall once the wheel is off the bike?

You just need a couple guys to lift it.

[nhbubba]

Some of you are just spoiled with $x0,000 tire machines. Not all of us have those luxuries. Nothing unsafe or insane about changing your own tires.

Personally I like a 4x4 carpet remnant and a set of motion pro irons. Use a couple wood blocks of wood to hold the tire in the dish of the wheel. Done.

I bought a HF changing setup. In my opinion it is nearly useless without something like this mojolever and the blocks too. Adds a lot to the cost of the setup, but makes it pretty slick and easy to use. Without it, I'd really rather just use irons. In fact I still do the tubed wheels with irons.

I've stopped balancing my motorcycle tires. Haven't died in fire yet.

I've used a large c-clamp to break beads.

Realize race tires (which are soft) are easy as hell to mount. Sport touring rubber is harder. Dual sport rubber isn't that easy either. Ice tires are a fucking nightmare I would not wish on the biggest ass-hat here. Especially when you try to install them in the middle of January.

[e30addict]

How you do this? How do you lever the bike/kickstand onto the sidewall once the wheel is off the bike?

Best (safer) to use another bike, but yeah you lever the kickstand onto the bead. I've seen it done on the side of the road before when we were in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn't want to do it with the bike that needed the roadside repair, but it can be done.

[nhbubba]

Okay. That looks like a great way to fuck up a wheel and put a machine on the ground.

With a 2nd bike makes more sense. I'd still wind up bending the shit out the wheel though. But that's me.

I'm utterly fucked if I ever screw a tire on the road or trail.

[Mr. Kurtz]

The last time I needed tire schanged, and didn't have my machine at home, I paid a dealer $60 to do two tires; and did it with a smile. All this zip tie, wood blocks, tire lever talk is making me exhausted.

[Degsy]

The scared comment had nothing to do with what equipment is used. It was in response to the "can you seat a bead with an inner tube" question. I'm not sure how else you would seat the bead.

BUT, now I'm scared at your "I don't balance my tires" comment. That's plain stupid and dangerous. You have lucked out I guess but anyone who has lost wheel weights can tell you it can be very very scary going into a corner at 160 and having the front end try to shake itself to bits. Rear tire? Who cares, but you're rolling the dice not balancing the front.

[nhbubba]

Ha. I've never been 160 on a motorcycle. Nor would I even think of trying. So maybe that's step one.
For my riding, I cannot tell the difference. My motorcycles do not seem very sensitive to wheel balance.
YMMV, as with everything.

[Kurlon]

I can tell when I hit 45mph on the Katooom. The front, it gets BOUNCY. I've got to pick up some lead solder so I can balance it.

[e30addict]

I just dump these in. Seem to balance fine.

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p...m=dyna%20beads

[tsorfas]

^ Doveeeeeeeeee

[Degsy]

Ha. I've never been 160 on a motorcycle. Nor would I even think of trying. So maybe that's step one.
For my riding, I cannot tell the difference. My motorcycles do not seem very sensitive to wheel balance.
YMMV, as with everything.

What have I told you about breaking the laws of physics? Go to your room!!

[Degsy]

I just dump these in. Seem to balance fine.

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p...m=dyna%20beads

I can't get my head around those things working on a bike. The balance of a wheel is a very exact adjustment. It doesn't change with rotation. How the fuck are they possibly going to stay in the same place under heavy acceleration or braking? Not to mention how much of them things do you pour in?
My gut feeling (im not a physicist) is that they will settle an incorrect amount of weight to the FURTHEST part of the carcass from the center (not the lightest) at a constant speed and when you are braking heavily (when tire balance is most critical) those little balls are just going to pick up gyroscopic forces and start spinning around inside the tire, throwing the balance all over the place. Also, they fall out everywhere when changing a tire and piss off your tire mounting guy.

It takes 30 seconds to balance a wheel with weights.

They were developed for huge truck tires I think.

[Degsy]

I just went to that link.
"Eliminates tire cupping" bullshit.

"Not recommended for racing." Might as well say "this shit doesn't really work, so don't trust it for going fast or braking hard."
Yeah, stick them in your goldwing or electra-hydra-dyna-fat-wide-bob glide, but not on your bike that's expected to perform in any kind of sporty capacity.

YMMV.

[xxaarraa]

I am loving degsy being back! This thread is very entertaining.

And after carefully evaluating the scientific discourse in this thread, I have decided to do what Degsy has been telling me to do all along - let him change my tires!

[cdovego]

Dyna beads are the devil. Degsy is smarter than you, bubba but you're too silly to digest the advice. Sav is getting off on this thread. Someone needs to add the ether trick videos from youtube to this thread.

I could've turned that into a haiku but I'm too lazy.

[csmutty]

I've mounted and balanced quite a few tires. Bubba, you've gotten lucky thus far.

[nhbubba]

..bubba but you're too silly to digest the advice.

Ain't that the truth.

History says I'm more dumb than lucky.