Rider RSS Rabaconda Street Tire Changer Review

[the Ferret]

$25 is a great price... Dealer prices are crazy and that was a few years ago... likely worse. Even if I could get them done for $25 the convenience is worth it for me.

My dealer has gotten stupid expensive on changing tires. I think last time he charged me $240 on the bike and I think he gets $60 a wheel off the bike. I just found an independent shop that said they will do them for $40 off the bike, but have no idea if they are competent (ie: won't scratch the rim, balance them properly etc) or not..

 

[Erdoc48]

The last time I took mine to the shop, I asked them (nicely) to please be careful (as at the time in 2018, I had just had the wheels on the 94 powder coated and didn’t want to see any scratches)- they did fine at the time, but I would say the issue is likely that the shop won’t clean the leftover rubber grit on the inside of the wheel…sometimes that can result in a slow leak. I just want to dread doing tires as I have in the past it becomes sometimes an all day affair, lots of swearing, and I’m getting too old to destroy my back- hopefully this will avoid all of that (and yes, sometimes it is poor technique by my own action).

 

[Daboo]

For years, like from 2007 till 2020 or so, I could find local dealers who would change my tires for about $35-40 on the bike. In fact the local BMW dealer would hand me the keys to one of their BMW models while the tires were being changed. It worked out for him because he'd get miles on a bike he could then sell as a "demo"...and maybe sell me one of them. And I enjoyed the opportunity to ride something new and different.

Then they jumped the price up to $70 a wheel. It wasn't that I couldn't afford it. It was more the principle. If they had gone from $40 to $55 to $70, I'd have shrugged it off. I've changed tires on race cars and normal vehicles. The process is pretty much the same. So I bought some tire irons and tried it. It worked fine. Good workout.

But like @Erdoc48, I'm getting older. So I bought my Rabaconda tire changer in March 2023. I don't remember what I paid for it, but my cheap soul really balked at spending that much money. I convinced myself that it was worth buying now because the price would never be cheaper.

When I traded that F800GT in on the F900XR I have now, I had just changed the tires. The old tires were still in the garage. The dealership was giving me very little on the trade-in and didn't care about the tires, so I swapped the old tires back on. That alone saved me about $450 in just being able to take an hour of my life and keep the new tires.

The cost now for a tire change is $160 if I bring my bike in. Per wheel. Labor rate is $199 / hr. I guess that explains why I haven't been there in years.

Chris

 

[Erdoc48]

For years, like from 2007 till 2020 or so, I could find local dealers who would change my tires for about $35-40 on the bike. In fact the local BMW dealer would hand me the keys to one of their BMW models while the tires were being changed. It worked out for him because he'd get miles on a bike he could then sell as a "demo"...and maybe sell me one of them. And I enjoyed the opportunity to ride something new and different.

Then they jumped the price up to $70 a wheel. It wasn't that I couldn't afford it. It was more the principle. If they had gone from $40 to $55 to $70, I'd have shrugged it off. I've changed tires on race cars and normal vehicles. The process is pretty much the same. So I bought some tire irons and tried it. It worked fine. Good workout.

But like @Erdoc48, I'm getting older. So I bought my Rabaconda tire changer in March 2023. I don't remember what I paid for it, but my cheap soul really balked at spending that much money. I convinced myself that it was worth buying now because the price would never be cheaper.

When I traded that F800GT in on the F900XR I have now, I had just changed the tires. The old tires were still in the garage. The dealership was giving me very little on the trade-in and didn't care about the tires, so I swapped the old tires back on. That alone saved me about $450 in just being able to take an hour of my life and keep the new tires.

The cost now for a tire change is $160 if I bring my bike in. Per wheel. Labor rate is $199 / hr. I guess that explains why I haven't been there in years.

Chris

I also always thought it kind of expensive…that said, I think when they first came out they were $650 or in that range. While it is a lot of money, the relative ease of swapping your tires vs being on the ground with a different machine doing it or worse, using spoons, makes the cost worth it, at least to me. My brother in Colorado uses an old Harbor Freight machine he highly modified with Delrin points so the wheels never get scratched, and I observed him using a ‘Mojo Lever’ to install new tires (as well as remove the old)- he makes it look like a cakewalk. Plus, he is standing for the whole procedure when using the machine.

$320 without the cost of the tires as you indicated is pretty steep!