change your own tires

krotchrocketgrampa

krotchrocketgrampa

Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
27
Location
clackamas,oregon
STOC #
6967
is anyone out there changing thier own tires?,was pricing tires mounted and balance at shops,prices go from $30 to $700,thats for dunlop roadsmarts,others about same,$211.00 at one place to r7r wheels off bike, $30 a wheel if you bring them in,and most dont install tires that you buy online, my riding buddy and I are thinking of buy a changer and balancer,any thoughts from all you wise old and young ST guys,always got great input before.
 
Byron has a great setup with the no mar tire changer hooked to the receiver hitch of his truck.
 
I'm certainly not of the younger crowd and not all that wise older rider, but I change my own tires with a Harbor Freight tire changer.
 
krotchrocketgrampa said:
is anyone out there changing thier own tires?,was pricing tires mounted and balance at shops,prices go from $30 to $700,thats for dunlop roadsmarts,others about same,$211.00 at one place to r7r wheels off bike, $30 a wheel if you bring them in,and most dont install tires that you buy online, my riding buddy and I are thinking of buy a changer and balancer,any thoughts from all you wise old and young ST guys,always got great input before.
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Yes.

I have the el cheapo Harbor Freight changer and a Dick Seng tire bar. This year, I finally sprung for a Marc Parnes balancer. When I do one more set of tires, everything will be "payed for". Why pay someone to scratch your rims when you do it yourself for free!
 
I use elcheapo HF tire stand and marc parns.I've only changed one tire(rear) and for me it was a bear of a job.I had a lotta trouble keeping the tire bead in the rim vally.I had wood blocks but they didn't work for me.Wound up using couple c clamps and even with the clamps had to fight it.LOL,I got a big stack of new tires which eventually I will be mounting as the need comes up so I really hope I'll get better at doing the job.Another thing I plan is making a plywood square to bolt onto the HF m/c lift to increase the area.When I have the bike on the lift at the balance point the fwd lifting pad is only about 1/8th inch on the edge of the engine oil pan ribs.It slipped off last time bike was in the air and it took all me and my wife could do to prevent the bike crashing to the concrete as it swerved around and rocked a bit.:(
 
We've got this and this, makes mounting/balancing MUCH easier!!

Should be opening the shop (The Motorcycle Shop of Chillicothe) in the next 2-3 weeks!:hat1:
 
I recently received my Mojolever for the tire changer. - Best thing since sliced bread. Really takes a lot of the effort out of changing tires. I got to admit, rear tires are still 3x more work than the fronts, even with the new bar.
 
The mojo (Dick Seng) bar works really well... especially when you have someone from Canada stop by to show you how to use it... While he changes 4 tires!!!
:)
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Harbor Freight here... And with 2 bikes and lots of miles per year all the "things" payed for themselves after the 1st tire change on each bike.

Mark
 
I've been chaning my own tires for 3 years or a little better. Best money I ever spent. Already paid for the stuff. Once you learn the "way to do it" it is cake. I had some videos posted on here once a long time ago.

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number9 said:
I've been chaning my own tires for 3 years or a little better. Best money I ever spent. Already paid for the stuff. Once you learn the "way to do it" it is cake. I had some videos posted on here once a long time ago.

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:bow1: :bow1: :bow1:
Jason's videos make it look like the tires are fake they go on so easy!!!
:bow1: :bow1: :bow1:

Mark
 
i've got about 6k miles on the original tires here and have all the stuff to change my tires. any experienced harbor freight/marc parnes/nomar lever experienced fellow ST riders gonna be passing through west tennessee needing a change of tires in the next month or so? :)
 
+1 Harbor Frt Changer + No-Mar bar & "Yellow Thing" Mount n balanced a new front just last weekend.

Forgot to mention I use the Marc Parnes balancer with the ST cone.
 
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I just got through putting a new front on, with my modified HF changer, and new version of the Mojo lever. Took about 2 minutes to pop the old tire off and put the new tire on. It wont take long for the HF changer and Mojo lever to pay for themselves. :D
 
We've been getting too much practice at changing our own tires (particularly when we decided to try the Bridgestone BT-21's). The Harbor Freight changer with the Mojolever makes it a lot easier (we started off using a home made holder, bead breaker and tire irons). I use the Rod Neff balancer at home, but, as I found out at Mark's, a set of wheel stands and the axle do a pretty good job as well.

The other advantage to changing your own tires is that you get to do a more thorough cleaning on the rim, check out the lubrication, etc. than any shop is likely to do. The first couple of times, it may be frustrating, but it gets much easier with practice.
 
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