After trying to get in touch with a local indy mechanic and finding out he is only open during my work hours I decided to just change my tire myself. At 8500 miles it didn't have much tread left and was pretty squared off, and the rear tire wanted to follow a different track than the front. I ordered a michelin Macadam 50, a tube, rim strip, and 2 tire irons from Zannoties for just under $200.00. Getting the wheel off was straight foward with the axle a little hard to get out but not needing any more than light taps with a hammer to remove. After that it got harder, I thought I had let all of the air out of the tube and started trying get the old tire off, after about 45 minutes of wrestling I suddenly realized the tube wasn't letting the tire bead stay in the center of the rim which would loosen the tire enought to pull off. Ater fixing this dumb mistake and vowing to always remove the valve in the future the tire came off fairly easy. I polished the rim with turtle wax crome polish inside and out and discovered the rim on my American V-twin is made in japan. The new tire required a good deal of strength to get on but I got it on fairly quickly. I was really suprised at the difference in handling over the Dulop I pulled off, even brand new the Dunlop never felt as stable in a staight line or when cornering, any one complaining about the handling of thier bike should consider trying new tires when nothing else looks wrong, I had just figured that Dynas didn't like to go straight over raod snakes and uneven surfaces because of the way the motor is mounted but with more than 200 miles over really screwed up new england frost heaves and pot holes the Michelin is much better than the squirmy Dunlop.

 

Hey 2tone
I couldn't agree more about dunlops, I swapped mine for Metzeler 880's and man what a difference, now I am glad they wore out at only 7000 miles. Now the only problem is over confidence....
Enjoy the ride bro

 

Congratulations and welcome to the "change your own tires club" twotone. Benefits include saving money, knowing the wheels are installed and torqued to spec, bearings are felt by hand, and doing it at your convenience.
Soapy water is your friend and pick up a balancer sometime. The more you do it the easier it gets. A word of wisdom; Do NOT let your riding buds know you change tires! :-)

 

2tone, did you have to have the tire balanced if so, at the dealer or how. I am in need of a new tire also and decided to do it myself, (Or trade it in on a FatBob) but thats another story.

 

About $100-$125 for a nice balancer. http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/...r-p-16806.html

 

Don't know about the Michelins but the Dunlops have a yellow dot at the lightest part of the tire which is to be aligned with the valve stem to get you started on balancing.

Good Luck

Tom

 

You did well to do it with two tire irons. On my KLR650 I recently replaced the rear tire, and was glad I had the third tire iron.I used Windex as a lube on the bead and it worked fine. Used talcum powder on the tube to keep it from getting a twist in it.

jon

 

Do a search on dynabeads for balance. I've got em front and rearand will use them until I find a reason not to. They seem to work very well. Congrats on keeping a few bucks in your pocket and getting the satisfaction to boot. One thing leads to another and soon you'll be doing all sorts of wrenching yourself.