Do you change your own tires?

You need at least 3 levers to do the job without cussing. For safety kneel on them as you go; they can suddenly flip over and fly away!

I'll make sure to get 3 or more even though cussing is part of the fun and experience :-D

bcware said:

You need at least 3 levers to do the job without cussing. For safety kneel on them as you go; they can suddenly flip over and fly away!

Click to expand...

So true!

3 for sure, I do it with just 2 and its doable, just a pain occasionally. You can use doubled up cardboard from something like a soda 12 pack as rim protectors, I bought a set of the ones that clip onto the rim and most of the time they just get in the way.

i use slitted garden hose as rim protectors

I change them on the tube tires bikes but not the tubeless ones. If they have been on there a while it is a bitch

I use 2 of these little guys.

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/43/-/171/726/-/1492/Motion-Pro-Tire-Iron/TIRE+IRON

I place the rim on 2 4x4s to keep it up off the ground. Trick is to pry around the whole tire at least once (twice is better) with the left side but with the hook facing out, to start to break the bead. If you use soap while doing this youll end up making it easier because itll slip in as you're prying. Once you feel youve gotten the bead close, flip the hook around so its inside and pry a bit to get it to pop past the edge of the bead and into the tire, do this in about 10" of rim distance and then you can do one of 3 things. First would be to flip the iron over and pry it into this space and then try and crush the tire to get the bead to come off which then makes the rest of the tire pop off easily. Second would be to step/jump on that portion of the tire. Third would be to use a large C clamp to crush the tire till it pops.

Now you can walk your tire irons around the rim popping the bead off the rim to the outside.

Then onto the other side, keep in mine the rim is dished less diameter in the center. Soap up the tire and the rim on the other side. I do this with the tire standing up. Hold the tire so the bead on the bottom is in the middle of the rim and then pry the top of the tire over the rim and give it a good bit of force and generally itll just pop right off. Alot of the time ill end up putting ot much for and come down with it. lol

I did when I switched from dirt to more street oriented tires on my old XL650R. It sucked but got it done.

I did mine by hand with no tools other than a razor knife to cut the tire right down the center of the tread all the way around. The two sides come off nice and easy. Then a little soap and push the new one on on a piece of carpet on the floor.

there is a youtube vid of putting a tyre on using meths and a match, boom!

Do they do it on a car or truck? I think I have seen it if so and it was epic.

no it was a Norton wheel I believe

I know this is an older thread but I wanted to add my two cents. If you ever have a stubborn stiff walled tire or even an ancient used one that is a little hard (car or bike), try tire dressing as a lube (Armorall, Tire Wet, etc) It works great and has the added bonus of not drying out quickly if you have to work outside on a hot sunny day. Dishsoap and water usually work okay, but I've found on a hot day you have to reapply it so often on a stubborn tire that you end up with a buttload of water in the tire. If you don't get all the water out it's almost impossible to balance the tire correctly (it'll drive you nuts) and of course the water can cause corrosion of the rim. Just be careful if you're making descent horsepower because, even though its never happened to me, I've always wondered if it may be possible to shift the position of the tire on the rim until the dressing looses it slipperiness, if you hook up hard on a launch. Also if you end up with dressing on the tread face, go real easy on the throttle and corners until you scrub it off.

I not only change my own bike tires, I change my car, van, truck tires too. I bought a Harbor Freight manual tire changer a few years ago and like it a lot. I also got the motorcycle tire changer to go on it. One thing I really like about the machine is I work standing up. No more crawling around on the ground.
I have two 9 inch irons and two 18 inch irons. I use the short ones mostly but the long ones come in handy.
The size of the bike makes no difference in how hard a tire is to change. You can use the same tire on a small bike that weighs 300 lbs, up to a big full dresser that weighs around 800 lbs. The tire design is what makes a tire hard to mount. A touring bike usually has stronger sidewalls than other street tires. Most tires we use on mid sized bikes are not to hard to mount.
I have the rim protectors, they work ok. Doing it on a hot day helps, let the tire set in the sun to get warm softens the tire.
Most parts stores can get a tire lube to use. I like the stuff, it not only lube the tires but softens the rubber for a few minutes to help mount them and seat the beads. The softer rubber seals to the rim better. After a few minutes and the lube dries out the rubber returns to normal.
As far as breaking the beads I use to use a large C-clamp. I now use the bead breaker on the tire changer. You can buy just a bead breaker.
Leo