After lots of help from friends, co-workers and the good people on Pacific Northwest Riders Forums, I decided on a plan of action for wrestling tires on and off motorcycle rims. Breaking the bead of the tire away from the rim can be quite difficult, and tends to produce a lot of swear words… in fact the entire experience of changing a motorcycle tire can be a real motherfucker. lf you’ve ever struggled to take off a difficult bicycle tire, just multiply that frustration by a thousand. All of the tools and materials that we used for the bead breaker, special tire tool, and wheel balancer totaled about $95.00.
Here’s Edip demonstrating the “wall mounted bead breaker.” Note the Extendo-handle for extra beef.
Phase 2: De-mounting and mounting the tire from the rim. We could have done this a little neater, like if the pallet had been mounted to something. I bought a No-Scuff Tire Tool from a guy who makes them in his machine shop one at a time, and sells them shipped for $80. He was super nice and I recommend checking out his other DIY stuff on his website. This mount/demount bar is basically the same as the one made by No-Mar, but a little cheaper. We drilled a hole in the “pallet” and stuck a jack handle through the axle hole of the wheel to keep the wheel in place while removing the tire, and stuck a broom handle through the spokes to keep it from turning. Yes, a broom handle.
Getting my new (used) tire on the rim was a little bit trickier than removal, but not much. The no-scuff tool is amazing, I highly recommend it. Use a lot of soapy water also.
Phase 3, Wheel Balancing. I got a pair of used skateboard bearings for free from the helpful shredders at Snowboard Connection on Alaskan way, and I used a piece of steel stock as a rod through the bearings, creating an ultra-low resistance roller when I mounted the contraption into my rear wheel stand, simply placing the bearings into the spindle-cradles. It works extremely accurately, and cost about 2 dollars to make. My wheel was almost perfectly balanced already, no wheel weighting required.
I love it when a plan comes together! The entire process of changing a tire as shown here takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, and I’ve got a nice new junk-pile tire that’s good for many, many deliveries. It’s a relaxing feeling.
if i had a hammer! id swing it in the morning, id talk about justice and freedom all over the world, then i would take my motorcycle over to forests garage and have him help me change my damn tires! good on you forest!