Fitting tires

[jon pierce]

OK - so now I have bought new tires........the question is how best to get them fitted without getting my rims scatched?

My local guy is happy to fit them but can not gaurantee that he won't mark the rims (he does use plastic rim protectors when holding the wheel) and he says he will be very careful.

Next question - static or dynamic balance?

In the past I have fitted most of my own tires but they were thinner and I used to static balance myself but no longer have all my tools (had to leave stuff behind in the UK when moving).

Thanks in advance for all the wonderfull answers I am sure to get!

[boxermania]

jon pierce

Believe it or not there is a better system than rim protects......sometimes the rim protectors, because they are thick they will roll out of position and ouch.....ther is that little nick.

We have found that taking a pepsi 2 or 3 liter botle and cuting it lenthgwise into ~ 3" strips to fit bettem the rim and tire upon dissassembly and assembly will work wonders.....and BTW use plenty of the liquid hand soap as lubricant, to remove and install, makes thimgs much easier.

Motorcycle tires, even in the 180 - 190 wide sizes ar not sufficiently wide to be having dynamic issues....so in answer to your question static balance is very, very good.....if the installer has a dynamisc balancer then do balance dynamically.

Ahhhh....of course you don't have to believe me, but I have changed my tires and balanced both on bikes, cars and race cars for many years and on bikes I can assure you that a static balance is good to 130 to 140 mph...

I do hate the tire changing parties that my riding buddies hold in my garage, with my tools and my assistance.....but what are friends for.

[placey]

what a brilliant answer! i thought you'd get the usual 10 word (maybe 2 line) affairs when i was reading your question - not that!

all credit to you boxermania. as quality as one of jon's answers!

my local guy changed my front without marking it. my rear came pre-changed and marked - and when i asked my guy about the possibility of marking the front he sort of rolled his eyes at me and said 'paul, you don't scratch wheels when changing tyres, these are people's bikes we're talking about here.'

if you want i'll go and ask him about his method. he's called kevin and his place is called (rather unimaginatively but quite descriptively) the 'motorcycle workshop.'

paul

[geothepencil]

Check out the NOMAR flat spoon bars for tire mounting. It's the only way to go if you are mounting the tires yourself on less than pro or power equipment. The NOMAR mount/demount bar is great for removing the old tire too.

geo