[JRay]

Hi
New to the group, first time gs rider, love the bike but had a bit of bad luck picking up a screw in my rear tire. Looking to change my own tires as may be switching tires depending on riding conditions, on/off road. Any recommendations on tire changers or just tire levers?
Thanks in advance.

J

 

[NTGS]

Tyre changer

I use a self made Tyre changer made from a old bike rim. we have 6 bikes in the family and 4 of the bikes run every day so there are often tyer to change.
It helps a lot with breaking the bead and also with getting the tyre of.
If you have one bike I am not sure if it worth it.
Use good Tyre iron and rim protectors. It is much easier with tubeless than with tube. I had to deal with it when I had my F800.
I also use a self made stand for balancing. Some of our local bike shops sell bold on weights for the spokes.
I love them as you can use them over and over again.
Let me know if I should add some pics for you.

 

[marc]

I have a tire changing stand. It lets me work standing instead of on my knees with the rim sitting on some 2x4. Whatever you use make sure to protect the brake disks.

Oft mentioned tire changing rigs are the No Mar (the cycle hill version), Harbor Freight (which may need the motorcycle attachement), or a stand such as one of these.

I've gone through several different bead breakers before I found what works for me.

 

[JRay]

Tire Changer

Thanks for the input. Some pictures would be good. I have a neighbour who is pretty handy with a welder, and he is retired. I have lots of experience with bicycle tires so I know how to use levers.
Is it best to remove the rotors or just make you don't pry on them?
Balancing? Dyna beads, or weights on the rim? I notice that there are no weights on the rims now.
J

 

[rotarywing]

I use old fashion tire irons, works great for me. And that is the only tools I would have available out on the trail. The No-mar unit looks nice and it might be on my wish list for the future.

I don't balance my TKC 80s. Not an issue so far.

 

[marc]

Some pictures would be good.

Click on the links for pictures. For home made some grab an old car wheel from a junkyard and mount it on a pedestal of some sort... something like this: Homemade Motorcycle Tire Changing Stand

Is it best to remove the rotors or just make you don't pry on them?

Don't remove, don't pry on them, and don't rest them on the ground.

 

[homemadetools]

Click on the links for pictures. For home made some grab an old car wheel from a junkyard and mount it on a pedestal of some sort... something like this: Homemade Motorcycle Tire Changing Stand



Don't remove, don't pry on them, and don't rest them on the ground.

Jon here from HomemadeTools.net. Saw all the traffic coming through from this site. Thanks for the mention.

We know r1200gs.info from your listings in our homemade tool encyclopedia: Homemade tools built by r1200gs.info members (fully credited to all builders, and this site, and directly linked multiple times); let me know if we missed any and we'll setup more linked entries. We also just added a link to this thread to our links page.

We have a large homemade motorcycle tools category too. Hope we are able to send you some traffic and good members.

BTW, we made a new ebook featuring our top 50 homemade tools to celebrate our 20,000th homemade tool. You're welcome to it for free:

http://download.homemadetools.net/50MustReadTools.pdf

 

[erikmotoman]

Hi
New to the group, first time gs rider, love the bike but had a bit of bad luck picking up a screw in my rear tire. Looking to change my own tires as may be switching tires depending on riding conditions, on/off road. Any recommendations on tire changers or just tire levers?
Thanks in advance.

J

If you're looking to change a bunch of tires yourself, at home, then the No-Mar is the way to go. I saw this hot chick at the Long Beach Mc show in November of 2015. She would remove and reinstall tubeless tires in less than 1 minute, without breaking a sweat, and smiling all the time. Wow. There's a video of her on the No Mar you tube page. Anyone can make a generic tire changing machine, and everyone can destroy their own rims using it. Not so with No-Mar. Just like the name implies.

If you're out in the sticks, miles from anywhere with a flat tire, start walking...unless you have the tire repair kit from David Petersen up in Seattle. David is an avid ADV'er and is well known within our community as the manufacturer of the virtually indestructible "Cyclepump". One of those beauties ended up under my Christmas tree and I needed it yesterday on Highway 1, 3 miles south of Gorda. I stopped and helped a cute blonde named Zoe. She had a flat tire and her spare was low on air. I whipped my new CyclePump out and now we're fb friends.

David also makes a portable bead-breaker and a complete, high quality tire patch kit that contains everything you need to fix a flat on both tubeless and tubed tires. Good stuff, good guy. Worthy of our support.

 

[lyd]

I just changed my tires to TKC80 for the winter. It was a good workout getting the tires off even after i broke the bead, because I did not have rim protectors and tried to do it with rugs. I would recommend cutting a piece of the tire and using that piece as a rim protector between the iron and the rim. I used a liquid tire sealant and balancer for motorcycle tires from: Ride-On Tire Protection System (TPS) Tire Sealant (Tyre Sealant)

It certainly balanced the tires perfectly. In fact, at a speeds above 2mph, I cannot tell the difference between the old Metzler Tourance road tires and the new Continental TKC 80 offroad tires.

Something slippery has to be use on the new tire beads so they slide and seal with a burst of air, but I was afraid soap could damage thetire balance liquid. I used olive oil, and was very difficult to get the beads to move and seal.

It will be a lot easier next time. Still worth saving $150 by doing at a MC shop.

I use old fashion tire irons, works great for me. And that is the only tools I would have available out on the trail. The No-mar unit looks nice and it might be on my wish list for the future.

I don't balance my TKC 80s. Not an issue so far.