Gen II tire mounting, balancing

[dcarver]

Yet another reason to do it yourself, in real time..

I have an important ride tomorrow, to celebrate the 1 year deathannivesary of Mrs. Twowheelnut, Patti, in Santa Barbara, CA, about 100 miles away.

Was hoping to get just a 'bit more' outta the tires but on the way home knew it was hopeless, the front was skating all over the place..

When home, this is what I found,

No problem.

New tire in the shop, 1 hour later, good to go.

No dealer, no waiting, no high labor cost, no lost ride.

...priceless

 

[YAM TOM]

I Just pull the wheel off the bike and bring the new tire and wheel to a guy that mounts and balances the tire for $20.00. He used to work for a dealer but is now on his own.

 

[Tom Edison]

I paid the local guy $75 to mount and balance a front tire on a drive-in job. Is this reasonable?

I just paid $40 (tax included) to have my front tire mounted. $35 to have it removed and re-installed sounds reasonable.

 

[tcfjr]

I've given the local Yamaha dealer a lot of service business over the years, so nowadays he'll mount and balance a new tire for $20 if I bring in the wheel off the bike, whether I buy the tire from him or off the 'net. At that price, I haven't been able to justify getting my own tools to do the job myself yet.

 

[kegg]

Bought my own tire machine. When the local dealership charged me over 650, for two tire changes I had enough

 

[FJR Flyer]

Two boxes were waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Bought a Cycle Hill tire changer at the bike show. Got a good deal and free shipping. Ordered saturday, delivered wednesday. Not too bad.

Was changing tire with spoons. That was getting old and I wasn't getting any better at it.

Had been going to a local independent shop that started out doing the changes for $25 per if you brought in the wheels and tires. He went up to $30 per if you didn't buy the tires through him. Still pretty reasonable. He moved his shop about two hours away, and I heard he eventually went under.

About ten years prior I was taking the wheels and new tires to the local dealer and he was getting $45+ per. Was still cheaper than buying the tires through the dealer and getting a free mount and balance.

Hope to assemble the Cycle Hill tonight and change out tires this weekend.

 

[Eric L]

Two boxes were waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Bought a Cycle Hill tire changer at the bike show. Got a good deal and free shipping. Ordered saturday, delivered wednesday. Not too bad.

Was changing tire with spoons. That was getting old and I wasn't getting any better at it.

Had been going to a local independent shop that started out doing the changes for $25 per if you brought in the wheels and tires. He went up to $30 per if you didn't buy the tires through him. Still pretty reasonable. He moved his shop about two hours away, and I heard he eventually went under.

About ten years prior I was taking the wheels and new tires to the local dealer and he was getting $45+ per. Was still cheaper than buying the tires through the dealer and getting a free mount and balance.

Hope to assemble the Cycle Hill tonight and change out tires this weekend.

When you get good at it, I will bring a pizza and you can change my tires. How do you balance them?

 

[FJR Flyer]

Two boxes were waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Bought a Cycle Hill tire changer at the bike show. Got a good deal and free shipping. Ordered saturday, delivered wednesday. Not too bad.

Was changing tire with spoons. That was getting old and I wasn't getting any better at it.

Had been going to a local independent shop that started out doing the changes for $25 per if you brought in the wheels and tires. He went up to $30 per if you didn't buy the tires through him. Still pretty reasonable. He moved his shop about two hours away, and I heard he eventually went under.

About ten years prior I was taking the wheels and new tires to the local dealer and he was getting $45+ per. Was still cheaper than buying the tires through the dealer and getting a free mount and balance.

Hope to assemble the Cycle Hill tonight and change out tires this weekend.

When you get good at it, I will bring a pizza and you can change my tires. How do you balance them?

Sure, come on by. Looks like you're up near Germantown.

I already had a Marc Parnes static balancer.

 

[08FJR4ME]

My first tire change cost me $110.00 and I brought the tires in. All they did was mount and balance. It didn't take long to do the math. I now own a cycle hill.

 

[blassoff]

Last year I owned a 2004 Kawi Concours. I checked with both a local dealer and in independant shop. Both wanted $160 more for two tires than I could buy them on the net. Next they wanted $140 for taking the wheels off the bike, changing the tires and balancing. The total was close to $600 for tires I could purchase for $235.00.

I immediately bit the bullet, bought a HF changer, a cheap static balancer, and some tire irons. With Napa tire lube, the total hardware investment was $170. I spent $400 and got "intimate" with my ride. New tires installed and balanced and I saved almost $200 in the process.

The four hours spent changing and balancing my tires was an education. I've since changed tires on my FJR and a friend's ride. I'm probably $400 ahead on just two sets of tires, and I own the hardware outright.

That's a sweet deal.

 

[lonerider]

I used to buy tires on the internet, pull the wheels off and take everything to the local dealer for mounting & balancing. Prices went up and, with four bikes on the road, I bought a HF changer and Handy balancer and have been doing my own for some years now. Cash outlay was around $200; I got that back from the first four tire changes and have been saving since, not to mention being able to do it according to my schedule, not someone else's.

 

[garyahouse]

I was recently given a quote of 50 to mount and balance two tires, or 50 if I take them off the bike... by my local Yammie shop in New Port Richey, Florida. When I told them yesterday that I was ordering a car tire (Michelin Pilot Exalto), they agreed to install THAT for me. The service manager said that he'd like to keep an eye on how my experiment goes, to see what I think of the performance of a car tire on the rear of my Feej.

Gary in Tampa

 

[yamafitter]

I had a bad experience with my local dealer balancing tires and rode from Ontario to Oregon on poorly balanced tires. After that experience I went out and bought a Marc Parnes balancer. I am in the process of buying a No-Mar tire changer even though I'm pretty fair at changing the tires on my dirt bike with spoons.

I need new rubber on the FJR but there is no rush since it is -20C (-4F) outside right now. This might be a good project for the spring tech day at Bust-A-Nut's since it is unlikely the bike will be on the road before then.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Two boxes were waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Bought a Cycle Hill tire changer at the bike show. Got a good deal and free shipping. Ordered saturday, delivered wednesday. Not too bad.

Was changing tire with spoons. That was getting old and I wasn't getting any better at it.

Had been going to a local independent shop that started out doing the changes for $25 per if you brought in the wheels and tires. He went up to $30 per if you didn't buy the tires through him. Still pretty reasonable. He moved his shop about two hours away, and I heard he eventually went under.

About ten years prior I was taking the wheels and new tires to the local dealer and he was getting $45+ per. Was still cheaper than buying the tires through the dealer and getting a free mount and balance.

Hope to assemble the Cycle Hill tonight and change out tires this weekend.

When you get good at it, I will bring a pizza and you can change my tires. How do you balance them?

I'm in Damascus with a HF setup you can borrow since you're so close. Broken down it'll fit into a small wagon or SUV as the biggest piece is the 4' x 4' plywood base.

 

[Eric L]

Two boxes were waiting for me yesterday when I got home. Bought a Cycle Hill tire changer at the bike show. Got a good deal and free shipping. Ordered saturday, delivered wednesday. Not too bad.

Was changing tire with spoons. That was getting old and I wasn't getting any better at it.

Had been going to a local independent shop that started out doing the changes for $25 per if you brought in the wheels and tires. He went up to $30 per if you didn't buy the tires through him. Still pretty reasonable. He moved his shop about two hours away, and I heard he eventually went under.

About ten years prior I was taking the wheels and new tires to the local dealer and he was getting $45+ per. Was still cheaper than buying the tires through the dealer and getting a free mount and balance.

Hope to assemble the Cycle Hill tonight and change out tires this weekend.

When you get good at it, I will bring a pizza and you can change my tires. How do you balance them?

I'm in Damascus with a HF setup you can borrow since you're so close. Broken down it'll fit into a small wagon or SUV as the biggest piece is the 4' x 4' plywood base.

That's very neighborly of ya. However I am a firm believer in 'watch one, do one, teach one'... in other words, I have never even seen a wheel on a MC come off yet :dribble: and need to be walked through the first time.

 

[DonRed7]

That's very neighborly of ya. However I am a firm believer in 'watch one, do one, teach one'... in other words, I have never even seen a wheel on a MC come off yet :dribble: and need to be walked through the first time.

If ya have a few min's Eric check out the No Mar site lots of great videos that basically apply to all manual changers (don't forget the bloopers!!). My first couple of changes took more like 20-25 min's per tire but most was due to extra cleaning and balancing. Got a Jr Pro and have changed more auto rubber(dozen or so) for my kids and friends than bikes 5 or 6. My biggest reason for getting one was that either way, the bike shop or home i was loosing a saturday morning...now i can take my time and change stuff out when it's convient for me weekday evenings.

Cheers

Don B

 

[FJR Flyer]

Well finally got some time to change out the tires using the Cycle Hill. Relatively easy compared to spoons. Still on the upside of the learning curve. Did the front using only the instructions from the box. Which aren't accurate as I got the big package with the arm and yellow thingy, which aren't in the instructions. So I watched the No Mar video online and the rear went much easier. Did it quickly enough that I could change the final drive oil and lube the shaft spline without my wife complaining.

So the PR2s came off after 1 year and 5 months and ~15800 miles. Here are the pics, front/rear.

 

[planet89]

Called my local Yamaha dealer today. If I bring in the bike $40 front $45 rear for complete exchange with balancing. If I bring in just the wheels, $25 each to mount and balance. Their prices for a set of Mich PR2's was pretty much the same as the net, front was same price, rear $20 more.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Well finally got some time to change out the tires using the Cycle Hill. Relatively easy compared to spoons. Still on the upside of the learning curve. Did the front using only the instructions from the box. Which aren't accurate as I got the big package with the arm and yellow thingy, which aren't in the instructions. So I watched the No Mar video online and the rear went much easier. Did it quickly enough that I could change the final drive oil and lube the shaft spline without my wife complaining.

So the PR2s came off after 1 year and 5 months and ~15800 miles. Here are the pics, front/rear.

So what's the problem - they still have rubber showing!

:lol:

 

[FJR Flyer]

Yeah, the rear doesn't look too bad. Front is at the wear bars. Commuting every day and in the rain a lot, felt it was time to change them out.