Purchased some Dunlop 404's and had a buddy of mine show me how to remove old tires and install new ones. The tire that came on the bike was a 140/90/15 so I ordered the same size. Taking the tires off the wheel was a pain in the butt but we got it done. Front went on just fine without a hitch but the rear was a total different story. Once we got the rear wheel back on the bike we realized that it was too close to the left side of the fender wall. I could barely get my finger in between the tire and the fender and it was really close to rubbing the belt guard. The old tire had rubbed on the head of one of the bolts under the fender and carved a groove all the way around the edge of the tire. He did a bunch of adjusting but could not figure out a way to fix this so he ended up taking the wheel off, removing the spacer on the right, trimming it down about 5 mm or so and put the spacer back on. Then he took the part that he trimmed off and put that on the left side next to that spacer.
I looked and could not find anywhere on this site that mentioned anything like that.

The next issue we had was that after putting the wheels back on and tightening everything back down the rear tire would not turn without using some muscle. Thought the brake was tightened down too much and the belt was too tight. He messed with that for a while and then felt confident that all was well. Took her out for a spin and when he came back he said that the rear brake was squealing. It wasn't doing that before. When I rode it home I was almost embarassed at how much they squealed. Felt like people must have been staring at me. Questions and/or comments please!! I am tempted to just take it to the cycle shop down the road and get them to go over it.

Your buddy owes you a set of wheel spacers...

Check to make sure the brake plate and swingarm tab set is correct... there is a mounting tab that slides into a double tab... if it isn't right, the brake plate is sitting at an angle and rubbing the shoes into the drum surface. Easy and common mistake.

WD wrote on 10/18/13 at 08:16:58:


It could be since he's modified the spacer, that the tab is bottoming out in the slot kicking the hub out of alignment with the drum.

Regarding the spacers, there's a fat one and a skinny one.  the fat one goes on the left and fits into a seal.

Its really pretty shocking that someone would modify parts that came out instead of just swapping sides,, That guy is scary..

Maroon... no, not moron...
...the color... maroon....

...(Maroon is one of those words that just loses all meaning if you say it a few times)... ...

That's some pretty bad mechanicking. Thanks for sharing. And maybe don't let your buddy at your bike again? Re: the brake squealing. Maybe the sides of the brake shoes are rubbing on the side of the drum and backing plate now you're misaligned/ missing a mm or so of spacer material (you lost the thickness of the hacksaw blade of spacer material when your mate cut it.)?

Fitting tyres: Try knocking the tyre on with a rubber mallet next time. You can do the whole fit without a tyre lever going anywhere near the tube with a bit of practice (and liquid soap lube). It works great. I only use tyre levers to fit the tyre if I'm fixing a flat on the trail, away from a workshop.

Well S*#t!! I guess i will be taking it into the shop to fix the spacer problem. Thanks eveybody..Oh yeah, and the brakes are not squeaking anymore. It rides great. Even going over bumps, no rubbing on the tires anymore.

JOG,.. this is a lady you're talking to...  
Not to be sexist, but some folks might have trouble hefting a 370lb bike...
Especially without a lot of experience...

Then again,.. she may just kick my butt for even thinking such a thing...  ...




Hmmmm?... I really need to think of a nickname for "aegerprimo"...
I can't spell it without looking it up... ...