Tires? Paying someone too much?
 

My curiosity was sparked by a recent thread on tire changers and I'm wondering how many of us highly skilled Superhawk riders are changing their own tires or getting ripped off having someone else do it for them.

Shops for me. Local shops here are $20-$30 a rim if you bring in the rim and a tire you bought elsewhere. Mounting is free if you buy the tires from them and bring in the rim.

I do 'em myself the good old fashioned way ,pry bars and sweat ,never had any problems .

I just starter doing them myself.... 50 bucks a tire to mount and balance was killing me... even if it was just every other year.

J.

It's free mounting and balancing if I buy the tires from them. I drop off the bike and pick it up when it's done. I just did the front tire a couple months ago and it was $135 including the cost of the tire.
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Kitchen Measures

Oh yeah, they even changed out the rear valve stem free too. Gotta love great customer service!
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Iolite Portable Butane Vaporizer

I change my own, but it helps that I got a tire machine in my garage that will do it!

I change my own with a Harbor freight tire changer. Helps to have a friend to lend an extra set of hands and to use electrical tape to cover metal clamps and pry tools.
Balance with jack stands, level, and axle. Use clip/stick-on weights and/or dynabeads.

I thought about changing my own but then I saw how dinged to hell the front rim is from the prior owner doing it himself and decided not to :shock:
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Witchcraft Forums

I would have thought the opposite. If the rim's already dinged, you don't have to worry about scratching it while you learn. I think I paid 90 bucks at harbor frght for a no frills machine.

I take the tires off myself, and then take them to a shop and let them do the rest. save a little money at least.

I have a friend who ownes a little shop called (translated) Supertires - No need to say more ;)

Bought a Coats Cycler 200 and never looked back! ;)

Funny thing... I bought tires for dirt frikken' cheap... paid to have them mounted and "balanced" Yet there are no balance weights on my wheels.

WTF, How out of balance could these tires be?

LB

Dirt tires..? for a dirt bike or dual sport?

I had to balance the rear one I just installed.

I balance them at my buddies bike shop, and do all the skinning myself.
3 tire irons and some gas.
The secret is use a small squirt bottle with gasoline, and wet the beads during removal or install.
Especially when you have to seat the bead, lube it up with gas and it will be slicker than gorilla snot. Dries clean.

they were balanced perfectly without needing additional weights, which actually happens quite frequently with good tires.
or they used dynabeads(doubtful because they're relatively expensive).
or they forgot to balance(unlikely)

you can do a little check on the front wheel by lifting the front, turn the wheel and see if it stays where you put it rather than moving to the heavy spot.

if the front wheel is out of balance you should notice it at around 50 to 60 mph on a smooth road.

that a pretty interesting suggestion i never heard of before. hopefully the gorilla doesn't smoke, huh?

i clicked do it myself, does it count if i work at motorcycle shop and have the machine? ha

I just started doing it myself - I got so pissed off at how much I paid for the last set I had the local dealer mount that I said "never again!". I built a bead breaker out of 2x4s (crude but effective!). Balancing is still an issue, I really need to get a good balancing stand, but I'm too poor right now. With two bikes, and commuting from April-October, I go through at least one set of tires a year.

I'm figuring out what my approach will be having switched coasts, West to East. On the West Coast it was easy to get good prices on tires and free mounting. Here in NYC it's a different thing - it seems all services are by-the-hour, regardless if it's a diagnostic thing or something discrete, like changing tires.

I haven't changed tires myself since the days of tube tires. I thought that with tubeless tires the process was hell, but I'm reconsidering. If there are any NYC area riders out there with suggestions for good shops (meaning reasonably priced and good customer service) I'd appreciate hearing about them.

balancing is not a problem. you can use two jack stands(or make one from 2x4's) as holders for a pipe or axle. set the stands next to each other, set a level across to make sure they're sitting level, use a piece a piece of pipe or the bike's axle and you can balance easily. spin the wheel slowly and when the wheel stops, mark the wheel at the bottom. Spin again and it should stop at the same position and not back up. Once you've determined the heavy spot(the bottom), mark the spot at the opposite part of the wheel and place small weight there with tape spin again and the wheel should stop randomly with no heavy spot making the wheel stop at the same place.

OR you can check the wheel to see how out of balance it is(shouldn't be if you aligned the spot with the valve stem). If it is signifcantly out of balance, make sure the bead is equadistant all the way around and on both sides of the rim. If it is okay, then you can deflate the tire and turn it 180 degrees and try to balance again.

OR,another method: if the wheel is close to balance, you can pull the valve stem and insert dynabeads which maintain balance dynamically(as the wheel spins the beads through centrifical force assimilate at the light spot(balance point).

either weights or dynabeads are easy balancing mechanisms.

It's worth it to have a shop spin balance the wheels/tires. When you do it mechanically you will likely only identify the primary imbalance (heaviest point in the tire). When you balance out this point there will likely be another heavy spot and before you know it there's a bunch of lead on the rim.

I just started doing it myself, bought a nomar changer. not cheap but slick and easy to use. most of us have a few close riding buddies and going in on something together for joint use makes it pay for itself quickly. It is really amazing how simple it makes the process. THey sell another line called cycle hill that is less expensive but keep the same principles I believe as well. Worth checking into if you have garage space. As for balancing, I think you can do a good job with a good balancer - a lot of shops do not spin balance bike tires. Doing it yourself I'd bet you get at least as good if not better result, at least from the work I've seen at most shops. Nobody cares more about your own stuff.

The poll doesn't offer a proper answer for me. I buy my tires on sale at Cycle Gear. When they have a sale the prices are about as good as can be had. When I bring in the wheels they pull the old tire, mount the new one and balance the wheels for $20 each. I don't think that's ridiculous, I think it's very reasonable.

I do it myself, I have a tire changer and balancer in my garage. I also do my friends tires too.

Hmmm, maybe I could figure a ride to Illinois into this summer's activities. :lol:

I can snap a tubeless motorcycle tire on a rim with only a squirt bottle of gas and my bare hands.
both beads.
air , pop, and balance.
That is only putting the tire on.
Taking it off can be a pain sometimes without a bead breaker.
A large vise, 2 peices of wood and the flat blade of a pickaxe makes a great bead breaker.

I was talking to my brother the other day, asking him how business was (NoMar Tire Changers www.nomartirechanger.com). He says that his business is UP 30% from last year despite the economy. Seems more folks are buying their own tools and doing work themselves to save money in the long run rather than get serviced/raped from the dealer. Online tire purchasing is THE way to go. No offense to the local dealers, but if they can't learn to be competitive in this age (and my local dealer actually sells part for HIGHER than MSRP!!) then screw 'em. They deserve to go under.

Along the same line (sorta), people are fixing their old cars vice just going out and buying new ones. That means that even though dealership sales are way down, the service and parts departments are overloaded with business. I'm fairly confident that most of the parts stores (Napa, Auto Zone, Advance Auto, Pep Boys, etc) have insane profits right now.