DIY, motorcycle tire changing. a question or two.
 

i think i am going to do it. i looked and motorcycle tire irons look just like the ones i use on my bicycles. but bigger and more robust. i see travel irons, but screw that, i will buy regular sized ones and drop them in my bags.

i think i can do it. my friend does track days and seems to change tires monthly. i shouldnt have a shortage of practice.

what about balancing? my friend has a balancer, but what about roadside? i imagine you dont move the rotation if i am fixing a tube leak. so balance wont be off? what about a tire change? i know my buddy has a balancer.

The Harbor Freight one works pretty good with a few modifications. Just a tip if you get a tire changer all of your buddy's that have a bike will suddenly become your best friend needing their tire changed out.

For a while I had three bikes and lots of buddy's with bikes so I changed out tires it seemed like every other month for somebody.

The No-mar tire changer tool is the way to go. https://www.nomartirechanger.com/Mount_Demount_Bar_p/tc-mdbar.htm

Dave

I use Dynabeads in my bikes with great success. Takes the balance issue away. Pour in and go, however all mine are tubeless.

https://www.harborfreight.com/manual-tire-changer-69686.html

It pretty much depends entirely what wheels/tires you have. Tubeless can be tough to break the bead on a tire without the right tool. Can be hard work to get the bead on some tires over the rim.

I have been chainging tires with levers for years. I even did it that way for a race team one season.

Balancing was using an axles across two jack stands.

These are my new favourite levers. (really makes the bead braking exercise much easier)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCdWTP7Uphk

Motion tire levers

can this all be done without that stand? like sit my fatass on it while i pry?

I just get an old mat and sit the wheel on that on the ground

Also, be sure to take advantage of the deep well in the centre of the rim.


Break the bead on one side, then break the bead on the other and push the tire sideways until one bead falls in to the well, then start leveraging the tire off the rim (or, at least as you start priying it up and over the edge of the rim allow the other side to fall into the well otherwise the bead will be very tight to pull over the lip.)

This is probably where modern motorcycle tire technique differs most from bicycles.

...and don't forget to use lube ;)

I find my 18" and 21" dirt bike tires to be a piece of cake, and do all of my own with simple tire irons on a tire stand. I don't bother to balance them because, well, dirt bike.

My 18" and 19" vintage Harley tires are almost as easy. I do them myself about half the time, and get lazy and bring the rims in to my local shop about half the time. They mount for free if you bring them just the rims and buy the tire there.

My 17" rims on my Ducati are very difficult to do at home. I made a bead breaker by nailing a 2x4 cleat to a post in the garage, about 18" off the floor. I put the end of an 8' long 2x4 under that cleat, with a 12" long piece of 2x4 attached to it with a hinge about a foot from the end. Lay the tire on the floor, put that hanging bit of 2x4 on the bead, and pull down on the long end of the 8' 2x4. This is the easiest way I've found to break those beads. But, even with both beads broken and down in that center well, it is a real mofo getting the beads out over the rim. It's been a long time since I have tried. Did I mention my local shop that changes tires for free if you buy theirs and bring in your rims? A lot of shops do this. See if you can find one nearby. Your'e welcome...

Just do it. Get some lube on hand too. You’ll need it. My Ural tires have very stiff sidewalls...worked up a sweat doing those. BTW, a large C-clamp makes a fine bead breaker.

Balancing is easy and kind of fun. An axle or a modestly priced balancer (Amazon) bar across jack stands is all you need. With a bit of practice, you’ll wonder why you ever trusted others to do it for you.

I gave this one away 1 year after buying it. Of course my physical limits played a part in that, but it was a rather wobbly piece of kit.

Get 3 large C-Clamps.....

That doesn't make any sense until:

You have the tire 1/2 on and can get the 2nd bead on because the you can't compress a stiff tire down into the V of the rim......Trust me.......Also, use rim protectors or your tire irons will chew up you nice rim...

I mount my own and do 5 or 6 every year.......UPS guy sez if he has a mc tire, he knows were to go........

I posted in the motorcycle tire thread but one of the biggest pain in the ass tire changes I have ever done was on my kids little CRF 50 dirt bike followed by my 4 wheeler.

I do it on my big dirt bike when needed and it’s not tough, I’d be worried about damaging the rims on the 900SS and Harley.

Don't use those little 4" tire irons you carry on the bike. The Ural came with 2 16" irons in the tool roll. They get it done.

I learned, back in the 80s, that I have better things to do then manually swap tires. What cured me was trying to get a rear tire off of a sport bike. I ended up using a car lift at the dealership I ran to break the bead loose.

I will damn near build a motorcycle from scratch but I will not swap tires. My local dealer will mount and balance them for about 10 bucks a wheel, well worth it. No damage to the tire or wheel, no cussing, no Band-Aids needed.

Your sense of adventure may direct you down this path, but you will be back.

Did that with a car on the lift and a vertically placed 4 x 4 ramming down on the rubber. Pop, then rotate wheel. The customer read you can use that approach. I would never have thought of that.

You only want to try it once, then you say **** it and find a better way.

Won't waste my time doing this anymore.

I like balancing though, especially after I'm done and can take the bike up to a higher speed with zero vibration. There are some people that say don't bother balancing motorcycle tires & rims, but they must just be cruisers. Get any bike going at speed and you can immediately tell.

I just to try it in case I get a flat in the boonies. My bike has spoked wheels, do it runs tubes. Complications

Interesting at the least.