Anyone Mount Their Own Tyres?

I fit tyres myself,when i had triumph's with single sider's i made 2 4" square plates then i had someone weld 2 raised curves onto the plates [different diameters of course] pushed them into the corresponding sides then balanced it with my static balancer and that was much better than taking it to a triumph dealer,my local one had no idea of how to balance it and just stuck a whole strip of weights on,no idea you wouldn't need that many weights if the wheel was bent,i pulled them off and handed them back to the numpty[so called mechanic]of course i never paid,went home made the plates and did it properly.

 

Please explain what you are doing “exactly” with these plates, and how they help you change a tire. Are you spooning the tire by hand , or do you have some kind of machine that these plates attach to? Sorry if I seem to thick to figure it out.

 

Sorry the plates are for balancing the tyre,on my speed triple and 1050 tiger the holes in the wheel are different sizes so if you put the spindle through to balance the wheel it would be impossible,so one plate with the raised circular ridge went in one hole,same the other side but the ridges were welded in a bigger circle to accomodate the bigger hole,then these plates had a 20mm hole in the middle so you pushed the cones into these holes,put the spindle through then put the whole assembly on the balancer[which is just a £30 spin by hand thing they use in the paddocks at race meetings.

 

Oh, ok. So are you spooning the tires on and off the wheel or do you have a shop do it?

 

yes,i fit the tyres myself,usually only need 2 tyre levers[spoons] and some rim protectors,if you can buy some really big cable ties when you go to put the new tyre on put 6 of these big cable ties around the new tyre and it will just "fall on" the wheel then cut them off,no need for levers or rim protectors,there is a video of somebody fitting a tyre like that on youtube.

 

I wouldn’t feel comfortable spooning my like new shiny wheels, as I don’t have the experience fitting tires by hand. I’ve watched some demo videos of guys removing a tire and the rim protectors usually pop off and it looks like damage was unavoidable. How has you experience been with the process?

 

So far i have had no damage because my rim protectors have string attached to them which i tie to the disc so they don't come off.

 

Good to hear. I think my brother and I are going to split the cost of a Max2H tire changer. Looks like it will cost about $700 Canadian, so it won’t take long to pay for its self. My brother is ordering a pair of Dymag carbon fibre wheels and will not be spooning those.

 

Yes i think you will be happy with one of them and like you say it will soon pay for its self and i have witnessed a few occasions where dealers have fitted tyres the wrong way round and have ripped out a tpms from a bmw rim using a machine not looking for anything,they had to lend the guy a bike to go on holiday because they could not source a new part in time,so doing them yourself is a lot better.