anyone change there own tyres I got two bikes so I was thinking of getting some tyre leavers balancer etc.you can get some great deals on tyres if you buy them loose.looking on you tube it looks fairly easy any advice or is it not worth the hassle.
You will probably want to add a bead breaker to your list of equipment if you have tubeless tyres. Getting the bead unseated so that you can remove the tyre is really hard without a good bead breaker. Surprisingly changing the rear tyre is a LOT easier than the front, it came off relatively easily with levers and putting the new one on was not that bad. Even managed to seat the bead with just a bicycle pump. The front tyre took me and a mate heaving on the manual tyre changing machine to get the second mead over the rim. Seating the front bead took an air compressor. After all that hassle, balancing the wheels was the easy part. Overall it takes about 1 hour/wheel to change your own tyres, so the question is whether you have more free time to do the work or would prefer to pay someone else to do the work. The SSSA on my triple meant that the rear tyre change was probably faster, but on the front having to remove both calipers and ABS sensor slowed the wheel removal and replacement.
thinking about a bit more for the miles I do I think ill just pay to have them changed. Id probably bugger the rims anyway.
Depends on the cost difference between them supplying and fitting the tyres, and the cost of you buying them and then whatever the tyre bay is going to charge you for fitting them ( my nearest wants 20 quid a wheel ) and they want the wheels delivered loose. So that means supporting the bike to take off both wheels at once or making two trips to have both tyres done.
(Speed Triple) I have a bead breaker and tyre leaver, but trying to get the levers to work on the front wheel without buggering the large brake discs is near impossible. So I buy my tyres off Ebay or Demon Tweeks and take the loose wheels to my local fitter, they change the tyres for £10 each rim - make sure they don't bugger the ABS ring if fitted! I do have the wheel balancer at home (off Amazon for about £30 plus adapter for single sided swing arm wheels (£20ish) so I can do both wheels at home, doing it at home you can really take your time to make sure it is spot on and also ensure the correct weights are used such as the more expensive black alloy type So I say buy the tyres separate, get your local fitter to put them on the rims and balance them at home
It can be done but for the cost of the extra equipment such as bead breakers I just can’t see the point. If you were doing tyre changes on a regular basis ( bike courier going through tyres every couple of months ) Then yes but if it’s just once a year then no.
I tried the zip tie method one time and it was a complete joke. It might work well on certain tire sizes and wheel combinations, but it didn't even come close to working for me on my sidecar wheel (3.25 x 19). I'm with some of the others that recommend taking the wheel to the dealer for a tire change. In my case, I get a tire change and balance for $30.00 US (1/2 of some other dealers) which I think is completely reasonable compared to their charges for other services like oil changes, etc., which I do myself.
i did see a good way to recycle them involving (video on web) putting it over a speed camera and lighting it on fire,terribly illegal of course and not recommended and not funny in the slightest very immature.
I nearly always change my own tyres. I do it as I like to clean the rim of any residue from the old tyre and clean up and signs of corrosion, lacquer lifting etc to make sure i have no leaks, a s for me, a slow puncture is more annoying than a fast one! Also because I would only be able to get to a tyre place on a Saturday and i cant be wasting precious weekend hours sitting in a queue in a tyre shop. I use a spade as a bead breaker, and levers to get the tyre off and on. I have marked some rims when this has gone wrong though, so I can understand why people would rather trust a shop. My local tyre place does do free fitting to loose wheels, but they are over priced on their tyres compared to online purchasing. I do check first and if the price difference is competitive, I will sometimes use them, but as i say, i'd really rather spend the time at home doing it.
I have bought a pair of loose tyres for the bonnie and am thinking of fitting them myself as I always used to fit my own tyres and have even done it for others back in the day. I never balanced them and never noticed any problems because of it, but it was mostly small or middleweight bikes and I was young and fearless, now I am older it....
Just to add, for the last 15 years or so all the bikes I have owned had cast wheels which I was not so keen to try changing tyres on, the bonnie however has spokes which is why I am considering doing it myself.
Tubeless tyres are really hard to break the bead .. separate from the rim. You need a hefty bead breaker for that . If you want the good online prices you could find a local tyre shop to fit them for brew money ... I have tried this years ago and ended up jacking a car up on the tyre to break the bead ... Also used to use local car tyre shop for pocket change. But they did not balance the wheels ..
