changing my own tires 2010 R1200RT

If you change tires often, then getting a set of tire warmers may be worth your while. The warmers used on road racing bikes can get a tire so hot that you'll need to wear hefty gloves. I can push the first bead on with ease and get most of the second bead on without using a tool.

akbeemer said:

If you change tires often, then getting a set of tire warmers may be worth your while. The warmers used on road racing bikes can get a tire so hot that you'll need to wear hefty gloves. I can push the first bead on with ease and get most of the second bead on without using a tool.

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I have my home brew tire warmer........Up on the dash of the pickup truck- facing the sun. Warming a tire makes sooo much difference
OM

Around here, if you do not buy the tire from them they will not change for you. Places that will change for your charge $40 per tire and will not allow you to wait, so you end up dropping wheel and tire off and then having to come back several hours later. In some cases, you cannot pick up until the next day!! So definitely YMMV. The idea of driving 20 miles/30 km and paying for toll road charges each direction, plus $40 per tire is not my idea of an economical way of changing tires. Hence I change my own tires.

Dann said:

This is what I do:

I simply take the two wheels off the bike, and bring them to my corner garage.

The mechanic remove the old tires, mounts my two new tires on the wheels and balances the rear (It fits on a regular car tire changer) and charges me $20

I invested in a Marc Parnes wheel balancer and balance the front wheel myself when I get home and reinstall the wheels.
For me, Investing in the purchase of a tire changer, plus the effort to do the job is not worth it at that cost.

YMMV

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been changing my own tires for 56 years.....why would one take their wheels, much less their motorcycle, to get tires changed....it's too easy....now, really easy with a No-Mar tire changer.....

change my 13RT tires about every 6000 miles or every three months....about 3000 miles on the S1000R, same interval....

wyman.winn said:

been changing my own tires for 56 years.....why would one take their wheels, much less their motorcycle, to get tires changed....it's too easy....now, really easy with a No-Mar tire changer.....

change my 13RT tires about every 6000 miles or every three months....about 3000 miles on the S1000R, same interval....

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I guess I'm lucky

The garage I go to is 5 min from my house.
I take an appointment with him and he does it right away. The whole thing takes about half an hour including travel time..
It's not a bike shop. It's the garage I go to for my cars maintenance. I love doing my own maintenance on the bike but I have zero interest when it comes to the cars.

In my case, I change 1 or 2 sets of tires a year. It would take me more than 25 years to pay for the cost for tire changing machine. Not worth it for me.

Everyone has a different situation

Dann said:

I guess I'm lucky

The garage I go to is 5 min from my house.
I take an appointment with him and he does it right away. The whole thing takes about half an hour including travel time..
It's not a bike shop. It's the garage I go to for my cars maintenance. I love doing my own maintenance on the bike but I have zero interest when it comes to the cars.

In my case, I change 1 or 2 sets of tires a year. It would take me more than 25 years to pay for the cost for tire changing machine. Not worth it for me.

Everyone has a different situation

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Yeah, but think of all the new friends you'll make if you buy a tire changer.....

My tire machine is a car wheel welded to a steel post, and three 14 inch tire irons. Total cost was about $25. That is less than paying a shop to mount one tire most places.

I agree that having a warm tire to work with makes a huge difference, but unlike Montana, down here in far southwest Texas in the desert, I use a solar tire warmer - putting the tire out in the Sun.

use a dynamic wheel balancer on the rear

Took my rear wheel to a little tire shop that had a computer "spin" balancer. The kind where the operator gives it a spin by hand.
At first they didn't want to mess with it because it was a motorcycle tire, but I told them that I didn't need any kind of a warranty.

They measure the diameter and the offset and plug that into the computer.

No problems, he even took it off the balancer after he added the weights, put it back on and it was dead on balance.

I took it there after the motorcycle shop I used put a bunch of weights on it, and I didn't believe it. They were wrong after all.

94038 said:

Took my rear wheel to a little tire shop that had a computer "spin" balancer. The kind where the operator gives it a spin by hand.
At first they didn't want to mess with it because it was a motorcycle tire, but I told them that I didn't need any kind of a warranty.

They measure the diameter and the offset and plug that into the computer.

No problems, he even took it off the balancer after he added the weights, put it back on and it was dead on balance.

I took it there after the motorcycle shop I used put a bunch of weights on it, and I didn't believe it. They were wrong after all.

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The big benefit from a computerized spin balancer is getting wide tires balanced side-to-side. It isn't particularly needed on motorcycle tires. But, the tire mounter at many dealerships also sweeps the floor and isn't necessarily their best tech. So a screwed up balance job doesn't surprise me. In normal use - even many teams at the race track - a simple balance stand is sufficient. The outlyer might be a very wide tire on an 8 or 9 inch wheel on somebody's bagger or low rider.

the little tire shop that could

The motorcycle shop I used may have not had the correct type of adaptor / cones for a 2010 RT rear wheel, and then whatever they used may have been off center.
They had stuck on a huge slab of tape-a-weights on the Conti Road Attack 2 tire, and I was startled to see that much weight.
I first asked the guys at the used tire shop if they had a bubble balancer and they said they had gotten rid of the ones they had.
I then spotted the spin balancer and wondered if the hole in the center of the rim was big enough to go over the spindle. It was.

At first the older guy put it on there with the weights that were attached by the motorcycle shop, had a go at it and was going to put some new weights on the opposite side to put it in balance, as it was out of balance from the motorcycle shop.

I had to argue with him to peel off the weights that were on it, try again, and it ended up that about a fourth of what was on there was actually needed.

I think I paid either four or seven dollars for the job.

I have used Dyna-Beads on my last bike, didn't notice any vibration, but am skeptical that they really work.

Mike in Kokomo, Indiana

I have had a couple of interesting experiences with motorcycle shops not wanting to change tires for me. One was in Raleigh, NC at the BMW dealership. I had established a relationship with them, purchasing R90S parts. I had also met the dealer at the local BMW club meetings. Brought in a tire for one of my non BMW bikes and they refused to change it, as I had not purchased it from them. I ended up changing it myself. Case 2--ordered a tire for my Suzuki DR 650 at a dealership (not George's) in Fairbanks, Alaska prior to departing for Prudhoe Bay. Picked up the tire when I got back and the pirck refused to even consider mounting it for me. I ended up changing it in the parking lot of the Super 8.

I changed my first Spyder rear tire this week; that's one fat tire. I told the owner I couldn't balance it because the rod I have is too short. He promptly produced a SS rod of the correct diameter and about a foot longer. Mine to keep... good deal.