tibadoe
Silver Member
Needed to pick up a belt for the Garden Tractor today. Rolled out the bike and took the long way to get the job done. Temps in the 70's made for a comfortable ride.
Who rides motorcycles?
- Thread starter kcflhrc
- Start date
Rockbadchild
Elite Member
Grumpycat
Elite Member
Since 2016 I have mounted 22 new tires on my Yamaha FJR 1300, and at least that many for friends. When the premium is about $100/tire to buy at the dealer and a 2-3 hours inconvenience, this is a winner. Can ride the tire to cords and decide to mount new late Saturday night before a ride on Sunday.
JasperFrank
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2018
- Messages
- 1,986
- Tractor
- Ford 1220
Man, Grumpycat, having your own tire mounting rig is some serious commitment to riding hard. Takes me four years to wear out a set of tires, but usually its a damn roofing nail. Last time I changed them, the Local Yamaha DEALERSHIP, now out of business, said they wouldn't mount them on a bike over twenty years old. Never went back. Did it the old school way with irons and glue on weights. 
Glad to see someone else with a garage as messy as mine. Nice KTM in the back ground! Are those tire wrap labels stuck on the wall studs?
Glad to see someone else with a garage as messy as mine. Nice KTM in the back ground! Are those tire wrap labels stuck on the wall studs?Grumpycat
Elite Member
The 2016 Beta 430RS is out in the yard so I could access the NoMar tire machine. The poor 2003 KTM 450 EXC was ridden last year but with over 400 hard hours is in need of internal attention. I fear when started after several years it had low oil pressure on the cam chain tensioner it slipped a tooth. Heard a bang and isn't running right.Man, Grumpycat, having your own tire mounting rig is some serious commitment to riding hard. Takes me four years to wear out a set of tires, but usually its a damn roofing nail. Last time I changed them, the Local Yamaha DEALERSHIP, now out of business, said they wouldn't mount them on a bike over twenty years old. Never went back. Did it the old school way with irons and glue on weights.
Just to the left of the KTM out of the picture is a Sun 280 server complete with 9 track tape drive. Right out of SciFi movies! 6' high 19" rack. 25 MHz 68020 and perhaps 4MB RAM. 600 MB 10" HD. Ran last time I plugged it in.
2016 Yamaha FJR 1300 got 85,000 miles from April 2016 to late 2022. A Michelin PR4GT rear will get nearly 10,000 miles. Some other tires only ran 3500. I consistently wear fronts faster than rear, have mounted 12 fronts to 10 rear. Have also been mounting tires for a friend for most of 105,000 miles. So well over 50 tires since 2016, I'm getting my money out of it.
Will only mount tires for friends I ride with. Then they are obliged to buy my lunch. Good deal for both of us.
Not shown is the balancer. I use a MarcParnes.com balancer. Sees to be good enough for 119 MPH.
I carry a plug kit and 12v inflator. Think I've plugged rear tires 4 times. If it holds I leave the sticky string plug in until the tire wears out. Lots of work to take the tire off and put a patch-plug in on the inside but have done that when the string didn't seal. And once I threw away a half worn tire because I couldn't find the leak. Spent an hour with soapy water while it was losing 5 PSI in 10-15 minutes and said enough is enough.
Reminds me, lawn mower tire has a slow leak. No bubbles held under water. Put Slime in that one, will see how that works.
Yes, stickers on the wall came off the tires I have mounted. Thought I'd do something to keep track.
Rockbadchild
Elite Member
Nice … I should get one … i have 3 bars one I don’t have …it take me 1.5h with a few curse and a few sweats drop to change one … i change one every summer for the rear and a front every second summer.
Grumpycat
Elite Member
Is about 5-10 minutes to change a tubeless motorcycle tire on my NoMar. Still do dirtbike tires on a stand that holds the wheel waist high, but the miracle which makes the NoMar work on tubeless is in how solidly it holds the rim. Once the rim is held the long bar on the right easily levers against the pole you see dropped to the center of the wheel. The ball end on the long bar pulls the bead off over the rim. Then about half the time I get the 2nd bead off by just pulling.
Installation is not quite the opposite of removal. With good lube the first bead usually goes on without tools. Some tires such as a Michelin PR4 I can often get the 2nd side on with only lube. Others such as Dunlop RS3 and Bridgestone T30, T31, T32, can be a competition in creating new curse words.
Usually spend more time balancing than I do on the NoMar mounting a new tire.
Having done combined mine and my friend's FJR front about 25 times and the rear 25 times I've been timing myself. Is 8 minutes from opening the garage door, carrying tools out, lifting the bike, until the wheel is free of the bike. That includes removing both front calipers. Then about 15 minutes each to reinstall. I take my time putting them back on.
All time record was 36 minutes to change a front tire. That was one that miraculously took zero weights to balance. OTOH all time record longest was 2 hours.
As for dirtbike tires, I use a different technique. I put the tube in the tire then spread the tire and insert rim all the way in and over the valve stem. Once the rim is floating inside the tire I put it on my stand (forgot who made it but is not bolted to the floor, is like a very tall bucket) and lever one bead over the rim. Flip the wheel and lever the other side over. This makes dealing with rimlocks trivial. And solves the problem of threading the valve stem through its hole.
JasperFrank
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2018
- Messages
- 1,986
- Tractor
- Ford 1220
Braver man than I, to string patch a motorcycle tire.
Grumpycat
Elite Member
Meh. If the repair fails it is no different from any other flat tire.Braver man than I, to string patch a motorcycle tire.
I have added TPMS which has alerted me to problems as they develop before they become a real problem.
A while back a 250 mile day to/from Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum I noted rear pressure falling the last 20 miles home. Puncture.
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
Duquoin Mile Flat Track races today!
American Flat Track
Also,
Mt. Morris High Point National Motocross races on today.
High Point National - Pro Motocross Championship
I cut the cable cord long ago, and these 2 series are very cheap to buy and watch IMO. I have them both.
MotoGP is expensive to watch IMO, but they have a much more professional camera crew with many more cameras to provide coverage. I think if they dropped their price in half, they would have twice as many viewers.
American Flat Track
Also,
Mt. Morris High Point National Motocross races on today.
High Point National - Pro Motocross Championship
I cut the cable cord long ago, and these 2 series are very cheap to buy and watch IMO. I have them both.
MotoGP is expensive to watch IMO, but they have a much more professional camera crew with many more cameras to provide coverage. I think if they dropped their price in half, they would have twice as many viewers.