My wife stood over me with her arms crossed as I stooped over the front wheel laying on the ground on a cold winter morning.
her: "Don't you want to take that to a shop to do?"
me: "Why?"
This is my 2nd time replacing the tires on my motorcycle. They are supposed to be replaced every 5 to 6 years whether or not the tires are worn due to hardening of the rubber significantly reducing grip. Unfortunately the hardening of the rubber also makes the tires much more difficult to remove. The first set of tires were 30 years old so I figured these would be comparatively much easier.
Unfortunately, that didn't make the experience any better.
Here's a few tips that seemed to work for me and a few other ones that I should have followed:
things you'll need/want:
breaking the bead:
Use the stem remover and take out the tire stem to deflate the tire.
Use a long 2x4 under a car and a shorter piece to apply pressure to the bead. here's a video for illustration: Break a bead
You'll need to break the bead on both sides before you attempt to remove the tire from the wheel
removing the tire:
Throw it out or chuck it into your growing parts bin that's carefully sorted by category and likely never to be needed.
Use the tire irons and breaker bar to pry off the tire. Warm weather should help soften the rubber. Put the tire protector between the wheel and the tire iron. Do not be afraid to leave the tire in the sun for extra softening.
Work the curved spoon of the first tire iron under the bead. Insert the wheel protector between the wheel and the tire iron and pry the tire over the wheel lip. Hold onto it while you work the next tire iron about 1 inch over (or less) and pry that up. Remove the first tire iron and work it under the tire another inch over.
Remove a section at a time and work around the wheel until you get the whole side off.
From the same side of the wheel, remove the other side of the tire
Inspect the wheel:
once the wheel is off, take a few minutes to clean the inside (and outside) of the wheel and remove any burrs that might have been done to the wheel by the tire iron since you didn't feel like using a tire protector.
Install the new right angle valve stem that will make checking and adding air sooo much easier. Remove the stem from this also unless you don't have a way of inflating without the stem in place.
Installing the tire:
Spray soapy water on the tire bead and the wheels. line up the yellow or red dot (use the red one if your tire has both) with the valve stem.
Start near the valve stem since the yellow or red dot will be the thickest/heaviest part of the tire.
The first side of the new tire will press on easily especially if you left the new tire in the sun to soften up. Make sure the first side doesn't try to seat on the opposite edge, the bead needs to stay near the center of the wheel in order to provide maximum space for the final stretch.
Always work a small section at a time having a helper or a tool to keep the other side from popping off the wheel. When you get to the point where the tire is almost installed and the tire is mounted at the 10:00 and 2:00 positions but that final bit seems too tight to stretch on, take another look at the other side to make sure the bead is not seated and still loose and near the center of the wheel. For me, the final stretch happened when I started the tire iron at 1:30 and used a breaker bar on my tire iron to push the tire onto the wheel and this effort was enough to get the 12:00 position to get close enough where I could step on it to push the last part of the tire on the wheel.
Setting the bead:
Ordinarily, setting the bead only requires you to add air to the tire until the air pushes the side walls outward until the beads seat on the outer edge of the wheel. You should hear 2 distinct pops as the bead slips over the tiny ridge/lip and slaps against the outer edges of the wheel.
I had trouble getting the bead to seat since I was installing the tire in the winter and I had my new tire sitting for 2 weeks without the cardboard inserts the tires were shipped with which spreads the bead for easier seating. the relaxed tire's beads wanted to stay near the center of the tire instead of closer to the outer edges of the wheel.
I used ratchet straps around the circumference of the tire as tight as I could get it to spread the bead as well as seal the tire enough to hold air that would push the beads into place.
Pop! Install the valve stem and inflate again. Pop!
Finally!
While the tire was off, I also used some spare plasti-dip to black out the aluminum accents while retaining the aluminum rim for future tire changes. I know I didn't paint it evenly, I hope it doesn't show too much in the sun.
Unfortunately, the tires were going flat after sitting for a week so I had to get some soapy water and spray the tire down to find the leak after airing it up again. I suspected the leak would be at the bead with all the prying to get the tires on, but it turned out to be a loose valve stem which needed just a tiny bit of tightening to hold air.
NOTE TO SELF: the stock 110 is so much nicer looking than the 100 even though the difference in width is just a few mm more. The plasti-dip black on the front fender and lower forks looks pretty good.
her: "Don't you want to take that to a shop to do?"
me: "Why?"
This is my 2nd time replacing the tires on my motorcycle. They are supposed to be replaced every 5 to 6 years whether or not the tires are worn due to hardening of the rubber significantly reducing grip. Unfortunately the hardening of the rubber also makes the tires much more difficult to remove. The first set of tires were 30 years old so I figured these would be comparatively much easier.
Unfortunately, that didn't make the experience any better.
Here's a few tips that seemed to work for me and a few other ones that I should have followed:
things you'll need/want:
- 6-8ft long 2X4
- 1ft or less 2X4
- 2ft 4x4 or a bucket or something to set the wheel on
- right angle tire stem
- warm sunny day
- soapy water solution
- air compressor
- at least 2 of the longest tire irons you can find (1ft long or more)
- breaker bar
- valve stem remover
- tire protector (cut up a plastic jug to save a few bucks)
- ratchet straps (maybe)
breaking the bead:
Use the stem remover and take out the tire stem to deflate the tire.
Use a long 2x4 under a car and a shorter piece to apply pressure to the bead. here's a video for illustration: Break a bead
You'll need to break the bead on both sides before you attempt to remove the tire from the wheel
removing the tire:
Throw it out or chuck it into your growing parts bin that's carefully sorted by category and likely never to be needed.
Use the tire irons and breaker bar to pry off the tire. Warm weather should help soften the rubber. Put the tire protector between the wheel and the tire iron. Do not be afraid to leave the tire in the sun for extra softening.
Work the curved spoon of the first tire iron under the bead. Insert the wheel protector between the wheel and the tire iron and pry the tire over the wheel lip. Hold onto it while you work the next tire iron about 1 inch over (or less) and pry that up. Remove the first tire iron and work it under the tire another inch over.
Remove a section at a time and work around the wheel until you get the whole side off.
From the same side of the wheel, remove the other side of the tire
Inspect the wheel:
once the wheel is off, take a few minutes to clean the inside (and outside) of the wheel and remove any burrs that might have been done to the wheel by the tire iron since you didn't feel like using a tire protector.
Install the new right angle valve stem that will make checking and adding air sooo much easier. Remove the stem from this also unless you don't have a way of inflating without the stem in place.
Installing the tire:
Spray soapy water on the tire bead and the wheels. line up the yellow or red dot (use the red one if your tire has both) with the valve stem.
Start near the valve stem since the yellow or red dot will be the thickest/heaviest part of the tire.
The first side of the new tire will press on easily especially if you left the new tire in the sun to soften up. Make sure the first side doesn't try to seat on the opposite edge, the bead needs to stay near the center of the wheel in order to provide maximum space for the final stretch.
Always work a small section at a time having a helper or a tool to keep the other side from popping off the wheel. When you get to the point where the tire is almost installed and the tire is mounted at the 10:00 and 2:00 positions but that final bit seems too tight to stretch on, take another look at the other side to make sure the bead is not seated and still loose and near the center of the wheel. For me, the final stretch happened when I started the tire iron at 1:30 and used a breaker bar on my tire iron to push the tire onto the wheel and this effort was enough to get the 12:00 position to get close enough where I could step on it to push the last part of the tire on the wheel.
Setting the bead:
Ordinarily, setting the bead only requires you to add air to the tire until the air pushes the side walls outward until the beads seat on the outer edge of the wheel. You should hear 2 distinct pops as the bead slips over the tiny ridge/lip and slaps against the outer edges of the wheel.
I had trouble getting the bead to seat since I was installing the tire in the winter and I had my new tire sitting for 2 weeks without the cardboard inserts the tires were shipped with which spreads the bead for easier seating. the relaxed tire's beads wanted to stay near the center of the tire instead of closer to the outer edges of the wheel.
I used ratchet straps around the circumference of the tire as tight as I could get it to spread the bead as well as seal the tire enough to hold air that would push the beads into place.
Pop! Install the valve stem and inflate again. Pop!
Finally!
 |
| Blacked out reverse comstar and fork |
Unfortunately, the tires were going flat after sitting for a week so I had to get some soapy water and spray the tire down to find the leak after airing it up again. I suspected the leak would be at the bead with all the prying to get the tires on, but it turned out to be a loose valve stem which needed just a tiny bit of tightening to hold air.
NOTE TO SELF: the stock 110 is so much nicer looking than the 100 even though the difference in width is just a few mm more. The plasti-dip black on the front fender and lower forks looks pretty good.
 |
| 110 vs 100 |
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