Hell no. Very little I wont do myself, and thats one of the jobs I dont do. Short of buying a fitting table, all the levers and a balancer I would rather hand a bare wheel to the guys at the local tyreshop & have them spin it on in 10 minutes without me busting skin off my fingers and knuckles trying to get tyres on and off. Free fitting? Can't better that.
Yes I change my own, since my days in the haulage game changing tubeless lorry tires, all you need is a wooden wedge and big hammer to break the seal, a pair of good levers and I use some fuel pipe split down the middle too protect the rims then take them to my friendly garage for balancing. Steve
Used to change the tyres on my old XJ900F. Once I used far too much washing up liquid (not a good choice of lubricant, but I didn't care). I applied the berries on the first ride-out and the wheel spun up within the tyre. Silly bugger.
I made my self a bar similar to the Nomar Bar ....once I have broken the bead I strap it to our picnic table and its takes 2min to get it off ....clean the rim and then new one on then walk up to the local garage with the old type inline pressure gauge and pump it up. Made my own static balancer too. Cheaper tires off the internet and done at my convenience. fitting charges I save per year give me a free tire
I have changed tyres myself with the use of a homemade bead breaker, balancer and a couple of tyre irons but for the hassle and damage to the rims (chipped paint in my case), I now pay the £15 per tyre and have them fitted professionally instead.
Tubeless utter luxury, Split rim head slicers much more fun or the first super singles great fun fitting them. The same here, wooden wedge,mash hammer, two tyre levers and a little compresor, sorted. brian.
i bought one of these : Mechanics Workshop Garage Motorcycle Tyre Bead Breaker Motorbike Tyre Changer | eBay wouldnt bother my arse..its crap..breaks bead well, but trying to get a new tyre on with damaging your rims and the metal edge on the tyre is near on impossible.. its now collecting dust in my garage...i take it to univeral tyres and they fit and balance for 20 quid ...never again as i damaged a brand new rear Dunlop RR Qualifier on it ... there is no way of circulating the tyre like and electric of hydraulic one does..
Always do my own ..... takes very little to break bead on a bike tyre (bit easier than a 40 profile 245 car tyre, anyway!) - I have used an old spindle on axle stands to balance but also have access to a static balance setup .......... surprising how little balance weight needs to be added if you take the time to match the tyres heavy spot against wheel light spot first ..... and using a smear of diluted latex on inside of rim before inflation gives perfect seal & reduces chance of tyre spinning on the rim!
I got the Abba tyre changing set and use it all the time. Takes a few goes to get the knack but gives nice smug feeling buying and fitting part worn tyres. Of course if I had the money I wouldn't bother! But I don't and I like working with my hands anyway.
Ive been looking at the abba kit as i already have the stand. Is it easy to use the kit without damaging the wheel?
Yes you put a piece of 3"x2" on the floor to sit the opposite side of the wheel when breaking the bead. Then I use an old tyre to sit the bare rim on when levering the new tyre on. Use three levers and don't get greedy and try to hard - just a bit at a time, plenty of tyre soap or lube. I bent a rim once getting too heavy with the levers.
Sorry for the delay Hugh - I've actually got an old cast iron mortice chisel that's perfect for bead breaking (especially on cars), but for bike tyre very rarely need more than a few bounces with body weight or for stubborn rear tyres a block of wood on the bead and a 6ft piece of 4 x2 levering against underside of car/van etc .... very effective!
Give you an idea of simple DIY methods : Depends what you have available! DIY Tyre bead breaker - YouTube Burgman 650 - DIY - Bead Breaker - YouTube You will almost certainly need levers to fit the second side of the new tyre back on the rim ......
