Hey all,

Just up to almost 9K miles on my S40, and when I bought the bike and did a quick check over and realized the stock tire was still on the front, jeez that's almost 6 years old, and with 9K miles on decided it needed a replacement.

I ride about about 500 miles a week FYI, and so I'll probably end up putting on higher mileage tires than the Shinko 777 I purchased for the front. I figure the front will wear out when the rear (only a year old with about a thousand miles on it) wears out and I'll replace them both at the same time.

The Shinko just arrived today, and I'm going to pick up some tube tape and the tube is coming in tomorrow.

I actually just got a job at a mechanic shop nearby, so I'm going to take the bike to the shop to work on. Any tips/hints I should be aware of when replacing the tire?

I'm used to auto - tubeless tires. Haven't done a tubed MC tire yet.

I figure, deflate, break the bead, remove tire, remove tube, remove rim strip. Add on new rim tape, mount tire, slide in inner tube, bead tire and inflate?

Should I have any issues with the tubeless tire on the tubed style rim with the lip, and beading?

Also, I'm assuming a motorcycle tire won't be able to be balanced on an auto style balancer, so is there a specific way I need to do the spokes/add wheel weights?

Thanks for any advice!

Best,
Matt

baby powder on tube and inside tire

In reading your first post...you say remove tire, remove tube.

You actually will break one (or both) beads, work one side of the tire off the rim....then remove the tube, and then remove the other side of the tire from the rim.

When you put the new tire back on the first bead is usually pretty easy.  You lube up the tire bead with something like RuGlyde, then stand the tire and rim up and you can generally just push the rim into the tire and get the first side on with a bit of pushing and wiggling.  Work the tire around so the little colored dot is a the valve stem...that is the light side of the tire and the weight of the valve stem hopefully offsets the weight imbalance.  Then you use talcum powder to get the tube all slippery, and then insert the valve stem into the rim hole, and work the tube into the tire.  I then remove the valve core and pump enough air into the tube to get all the wrinkles out and straighten it up in the tire.  Then let the air out and begin to work the tire onto the rim.  I start on the side opposite the valve stem so that you are never pinching the part of the tube that can't move on the rim....as the vavle stem through the hole locks the tube in place and doesn't allow any movement.  You need to have actual tire spoons or levers....screwdrivers scratch the rims and tear up the tire bead.

Once it is all together I first inflate the tube with just enough air to start pushing on the tire....then I let the air out so the tube can adjust itself and not get a wrinkle or pinch.  Then I put the valve core back in, and make sure the tire beads are well lubed so they can get seated.  Add air and watch for the beads to pop onto the rim....don't go over more than 50 pounds - if one side won't seat let the air out and work the bead off the rim and lube it again, and try again.

The stock IRC tires aren't known to inspire confidence.

Just an update! Got the Shinko installed after about 4 hours in the shop wrestling with it.

The tire mounting machine is a Snap On, and normally one can use it with the vertical arm to help mount and dismount the tire, just pull the lip of the tire over the machine lip or vice versa and use the machine to spin it on. My rim was too narrow (short when locked into the machine) to use the lip part of the machine though, and I had to use two tire levers by hand to do it. I made a rim strip with an old inner tube and ran 3 layers of electrical tape around to ensure the spokes don't wreak havoc on the inner tube. Kept the old inner tube as an emergency spare although I don't think I'd even be able to change the tire on the fly. Thinking about getting some of that inner tube sealer stuff to use in a pinch.

A couple things I noticed. We have a big jug of the tire lube stuff at our shop, so I just went to town when remounting. The inner tube got some on it through residual goop from lubing the tire, so it allowed the tube to slide and seat itself easily when I put it back in. Breaking the beads were easy, so much easier than on a tubeless. When I reassembled it, I just worked my way slowly around, using the pneumatic press and roller to keep the tire seated as well as my hand, to keep the beaded side down while beading the rest. That was the part that took the longest. Got the tire mounted back on. Noticed for some reason though my brakes seem a lot weaker than they used to. They require a lot more force to compress. I did end up having to compress the piston a bit when I put the tire back on, as moving the bike in the shop halfway through, I guess the brake lever must have gotten hit a little bit. The wheel seemed pretty balanced as is, got it on a jack, spun it, didn't stop at one particular spot any of the times.

The new tire rides like a champ. It feels like a whole new bike. Guess my old IRC must've been sorely worn. I measured 2mm of tread on the side treads, and .5mm on the center treads. I'm also guessing being 6 years old, the rubber compound hardened. Much more confidence taking corners.

As a side note, I went riding yesterday in 40 degree weather, went about 300 miles. I was bundled up like the Michelin man, literally, a thermal, sweatshirt, North face insulated jacket, leather jacket, and a quilted winter style jacket, scarf, hat under helmet, two thermal pants, jeans, doubled up socks, and work boots, and gloves with thermal liners, and STILL forze my tushy off after about an hour. darn. I guess I'm going to have to invest in heated gear after all. Thinking about getting these cheapo heated pads to put underneath the grips and wiring them up for heated grips, and probably going to invest in a fairing/windshield. Does it do that much for keeping a rider warmer?

matt1995 wrote on 10/18/15 at 10:50:07:


Amateur!  

Just kidding! My hands get cold below ~40, otherwise, I'm as warm as toast. I only wear a long sleeve shirt and my jacket with insulated liner. My gloves are waaay too thin for cold weather though.