Oldschool
.040 Over
So my new tires came in on monday, and I was all set to change them out (or so I thought). Things didn't go as planned, here is a overview for entertainment:.
I started around 3pm on the job, I got the back tire off no problem, however the front tire was a PITA. I quick made a bolt with a couple nuts to get the axel out on the front wheel. All I had was a grade 8 bolt and grade 5 nuts, and the stores was closed so I couldn't pickup the right tool to do the job. Well I tried using a breaker bar on a open end wrench, the axel didn't even come close to freeing up (yes the pinch bolts were removed). I tried a 5 pound sledge on the wrench and that didn't even work. Finally I tried my impact gun and that didn't even break it loose
. I was angry at that point, so I grabbed the open end and pryed as hard as I could with a short cheater bar. I ended up stripping the threads clean off two of the nuts on the axel tool I made . I don't know if the bikes come from the factory without the wheel on the front, if they do the dealer clearly overtorqued the axel and might have used some sort of thread lock (there was blue stuff on the end). I ended up having to go out the next day and get the proper tool for the job (multi metric axel tool) and with a solid few seconds with my impact gun the axel came out. I checked it for thread stretch/bend and everything looked good.
With both wheels out I pulled the rotors off and started to clean the wheels. The rear wheel was destroyed by brake dust and oxidization. It didn't look that bad on the bike but after it was off it was apparent it was not going to be a quick clean. I spent 5 hours with fine steel wool, polishing compound, a polishing wheel on a drill, and rags, to do my best at cleaning them. They didn't come out perfect (the front came out chrome like, the rear not so much) but to go from looking wrecked to nice made it worth it. (pics soon)
So with the wheels cleaned I took them to a shop to have the new tires mounted. They mounted them up and said "we can't balance them without the rotors on", I didn't put the rotors back on because I wasn't thinking that they needed to be on. I couldn't make it back to the shop before they closed so I had to wait until the next day
. 2 days and I still can't ride, I am getting frustrated at this point.
So I mounted the rotors, cleaned some other stuff on the bike, and got up early to get the wheels to the shop. Low an behold the shop owner comes out and says "I hate to say it but the back tire is too wide for our balancer, I can't balance the wheel. A bit confused I decided to drive 15 minutes to the triumph dealer (only one close to milwaukee now) because I was sure they could do it. I got there as they opened, and the service guy joked about how "those small shops don't have proper equipment" and went to the back of the shop with my wheels. 5 minutes later the guy came out with a dumbfounded look and said
"I can't fit the wheel on our balancer, I don't know what to say".. Unreal... I was standing 3 feet from a 2015 rocket 3, and 15 feet from the a new metz tire they had for the rocket. Honestly I didn't even bother to ask how thats even possible I just wanted to get out before I had a melt down. The triumph tech said the harley dealer might be able to do it, which is only 5 min away.
I went to the harley dealer and waited 20min for them to open up. Went in and the service guy at the counter was really nice and wanted to help me, however he told me they normally don't work on anything but harleys, and he was going to try to get the shop manager to do it anyway since it was just a wheel balance. Well the service writer came over and profusely apoligized and said the service manager said he wouldn't do it since it wasn't a harley. I could tell the service tech wanted to atleast try, but its pretty snobbish to me that the manager really didn't give two ****s (and would even come over to talk when I asked nicely if I could talk with him).
The last shot I had was going to a custom bike dealer I delt with before that was sort of on the way home. I went in and they tried as well, sure enough it wouldn't fit on their machine. The mechanic looked the wheel over and suggested taking the side spline with the bearing off and hooking it up to the machine because it might fit. We did that and it fit on the machine. A couple spins on it and it came back showing three times that it needed no weight. He said I would like to believe that but its pretty rare, and almost never on as heavy of a wheel (not that it was impossible). The mechanic even retorqed the nuts on the wheel to spec and whiped his fingerprints off the wheel. Overall they were really nice about it and only charged me 10$ for the front balance.
The owner of that shop suggested picking up a old school upright motorcycle tire balancer from harbor freight/northern tool to double check the balance with the bearing in place. I didn't have time to do that but if I have any vibration I guess I will just pull the rear off and try that.
Well when I got home from my 4 hour mostly waste of time I got everything set to get the bike back together. I grabbed my new brake pads (EBC) and a box I had delivered with the moly grease. I opened up the moly box only to find out it was honda grease but it wasn't moly like is needed. Jesus christ I said outloud to some stares from my neighbors across the street. I had already called/stopped in all sorts of places looking for the moly a week prior so I knew it was not something that was easily found around here. I had one option, I went to grainger and they managed to find a can of the loctite moly for only 38.99 (after discount). I guess thats the price of needing it now.
So long drawn out story short I managed to get the bike back together, everything looks good, and the bikes happy. It only took 2 days and some change, a lot of curse words, a few beers, and about 7 hours of searching my basement for tools since every **** tool I needed was in a different box in a different place that it shouldn't have been. Good news is I know what I need to do next time I need to swap to new tires.
I would write a review of the 240/50/16 and 140/75/17 avon cobras however I had to go to work at 5pm on wednesday so I have yet to even ride it (ITs already 10 min to friday). In a couple days of pounding on the new rubber I will give a review of what I think. Hopefully riding will be alot better than wrenching..
I started around 3pm on the job, I got the back tire off no problem, however the front tire was a PITA. I quick made a bolt with a couple nuts to get the axel out on the front wheel. All I had was a grade 8 bolt and grade 5 nuts, and the stores was closed so I couldn't pickup the right tool to do the job. Well I tried using a breaker bar on a open end wrench, the axel didn't even come close to freeing up (yes the pinch bolts were removed). I tried a 5 pound sledge on the wrench and that didn't even work. Finally I tried my impact gun and that didn't even break it loose
. I was angry at that point, so I grabbed the open end and pryed as hard as I could with a short cheater bar. I ended up stripping the threads clean off two of the nuts on the axel tool I made . I don't know if the bikes come from the factory without the wheel on the front, if they do the dealer clearly overtorqued the axel and might have used some sort of thread lock (there was blue stuff on the end). I ended up having to go out the next day and get the proper tool for the job (multi metric axel tool) and with a solid few seconds with my impact gun the axel came out. I checked it for thread stretch/bend and everything looked good. With both wheels out I pulled the rotors off and started to clean the wheels. The rear wheel was destroyed by brake dust and oxidization
. It didn't look that bad on the bike but after it was off it was apparent it was not going to be a quick clean. I spent 5 hours with fine steel wool, polishing compound, a polishing wheel on a drill, and rags, to do my best at cleaning them. They didn't come out perfect (the front came out chrome like, the rear not so much) but to go from looking wrecked to nice made it worth it. (pics soon)So with the wheels cleaned I took them to a shop to have the new tires mounted. They mounted them up and said "we can't balance them without the rotors on", I didn't put the rotors back on because I wasn't thinking that they needed to be on. I couldn't make it back to the shop before they closed so I had to wait until the next day
. 2 days and I still can't ride, I am getting frustrated at this point. So I mounted the rotors, cleaned some other stuff on the bike, and got up early to get the wheels to the shop. Low an behold the shop owner comes out and says "I hate to say it but the back tire is too wide for our balancer, I can't balance the wheel
. A bit confused I decided to drive 15 minutes to the triumph dealer (only one close to milwaukee now) because I was sure they could do it. I got there as they opened, and the service guy joked about how "those small shops don't have proper equipment" and went to the back of the shop with my wheels. 5 minutes later the guy came out with a dumbfounded look and said"I can't fit the wheel on our balancer, I don't know what to say".. Unreal... I was standing 3 feet from a 2015 rocket 3, and 15 feet from the a new metz tire they had for the rocket
. Honestly I didn't even bother to ask how thats even possible I just wanted to get out before I had a melt down. The triumph tech said the harley dealer might be able to do it, which is only 5 min away.I went to the harley dealer and waited 20min for them to open up. Went in and the service guy at the counter was really nice and wanted to help me, however he told me they normally don't work on anything but harleys, and he was going to try to get the shop manager to do it anyway since it was just a wheel balance. Well the service writer came over and profusely apoligized and said the service manager said he wouldn't do it since it wasn't a harley. I could tell the service tech wanted to atleast try, but its pretty snobbish to me that the manager really didn't give two ****s (and would even come over to talk when I asked nicely if I could talk with him).
The last shot I had was going to a custom bike dealer I delt with before that was sort of on the way home. I went in and they tried as well, sure enough it wouldn't fit on their machine. The mechanic looked the wheel over and suggested taking the side spline with the bearing off and hooking it up to the machine because it might fit. We did that and it fit on the machine. A couple spins on it and it came back showing three times that it needed no weight
. He said I would like to believe that but its pretty rare, and almost never on as heavy of a wheel (not that it was impossible). The mechanic even retorqed the nuts on the wheel to spec and whiped his fingerprints off the wheel. Overall they were really nice about it and only charged me 10$ for the front balance. The owner of that shop suggested picking up a old school upright motorcycle tire balancer from harbor freight/northern tool to double check the balance with the bearing in place. I didn't have time to do that but if I have any vibration I guess I will just pull the rear off and try that.
Well when I got home from my 4 hour mostly waste of time I got everything set to get the bike back together. I grabbed my new brake pads (EBC) and a box I had delivered with the moly grease. I opened up the moly box only to find out it was honda grease but it wasn't moly like is needed
. Jesus christ I said outloud to some stares from my neighbors across the street. I had already called/stopped in all sorts of places looking for the moly a week prior so I knew it was not something that was easily found around here. I had one option, I went to grainger and they managed to find a can of the loctite moly for only 38.99 (after discount). I guess thats the price of needing it now. So long drawn out story short I managed to get the bike back together, everything looks good, and the bikes happy. It only took 2 days and some change, a lot of curse words, a few beers, and about 7 hours of searching my basement for tools since every **** tool I needed was in a different box in a different place that it shouldn't have been. Good news is I know what I need to do next time I need to swap to new tires.
I would write a review of the 240/50/16 and 140/75/17 avon cobras however I had to go to work at 5pm on wednesday so I have yet to even ride it (ITs already 10 min to friday). In a couple days of pounding on the new rubber I will give a review of what I think. Hopefully riding will be alot better than wrenching..
