changing tire??

benelli_4572 said:
Crazy as it sounds... my local Harley dealership offered to change and balance them for me as long as I take em off. Purchased some Metz. Was considering going darkside..
.. but chickened out!
Click to expand...

I took my rear wheel to a local auto tire shop (Peerless) and they mounted up a Bridgestone Potenza Grid in about 2 minutes. Charged me $10.00 and a look at the bike when done. (I do my own balancing).
 
atomsplitter said:
(I do my own balancing).
Click to expand...
You have a balancer capable of dynamic balancing? Static balancing is easy enough, but to properly balance a tire for more than just one side heavier than the other really needs a good high tech (expensive) machine.

Granted narrow bike tires aren't critical side-to-side like a wider car or truck tire, but if you want the best .............
 
Now using Dyna beads both front & back now, works for me no problem at all & it saves those sticky lead weights on my nice shiny alloys. I am also told that because they are dynamic they retain balance as the tyre wears.
 
Despite Atomsplitters advice to the contrary I did manage to change the rear on my Rocket III four times before it was repo'd with a manual tire changer. 3 Met'z and then finally a Toyo. I'd cut the old tire bead and then using quite a bit of finesse and some slickum I'd mount the new tires. Oh and I'm crippled from a bike wreck that I had the year before I got the Rocket, it's not that difficult to do, it's just not that easy either.

CAD
 

You make my point. If you don't have the tools don't try it.

As to static versus dynamic balancing. Static balancing uses gravity (a known constant) to locate the heavy side of a wheel. By counter weighting it you achieve a wheel balance sufficient to race with. Dynamic balancing uses inertia to locate the heavy side. If the tire is unequally weighted across the tread then you won't see that with a static balancer unless it is also unequal around the tire. Then the heavy side goes to the bottom (because gravity still works). I've never checked to see if the dynamic balancing is more accurate but either way it's better than no balancing at all.
 
I agree about the tools, but I did it with the Harbor Freight tire machine the times that I did it, so it is possible.

atomsplitter said:
I've never checked to see if the dynamic balancing is more accurate but either way it's better than no balancing at all.
Click to expand...

I talked to the service manager at Triumph of Chattanooga right after I got the Rocket about the rear tire and balancing, he told me that the tire machine they had would not accept the rocket rear wheel due to it's width so they didn't balance them when they changed them.

I've never balanced a bike tire and have never had a problem front or rear, no cupping nor uneven wear. I do balance the bare wheel though and it is usually out of balance when they are first checked. Of course I don't ride at speeds much above the posted limits so I really haven't tested the effects at much over 85-90 MPH. But below that, if you align the dot on the tire with the valve stem most times the tires are fine. I have had to break the bead and move the tire a little a couple of times but it is rare. This is just me though I can't say that I recommend it to anyone else.

Oh and I did use the Dyna beads on the Toyo, didn't really notice a difference.

CAD
 

This seems to have worked for me:



I didn't want to resort to non nylon tipped tools to keep from gouging the rim:


Either way it's still a pain to change that tire. Balancing, not so much (even though it is pretty close to the limit of my balancer). The front tire is a snap.
 
Lol, I've got that exact same sandblast cabinet, never even had sand in it, I got ran over the month I bought it.

I never said it was easy to change the rear tire just that it could be done with less than the 3 grown men and a small boy that the dealer said it would take. The fronts I can just about do in my sleep, the only thing I do different is remove the rotors on the front wheel, dang sure don't want to bend one or damage one of the floating rivets. <== Overly cautious.

CAD
 
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