[SteveJ]

Ok, everything is done, new tire installed.
I need to go probably buy a lottery ticket, as I was able to seat the bead with a small, beat-up, cheap, old 12V mini compressor

It was pretty easy for my first time, the most time consuming and heavy was breaking the bead, I had a Motion pro 3 irons kit, it worked but not ideal. Next time I'll have a better tool.
After that, taking the tire out and putting the new one in... pretty easy, my son didn't believe when I said that part is done.
I have a new Pilot Road 3 and it doesn't have a white point, after looking intensely on internet, I found out that Michelin have a better quality control and there is no point on tires :O
There is one sticker, that I aligned, but nothing more.

I started inflating the tire and seating the bead with my 12V compressor..... and it was amazingly fast :O (ok, not THAT fast as a big air compressor, but... )
Helped it with a little bit of Windex, no escaping air, beads seated (including the 2 BANGS, but smaller)

I changed the valve core with the one from CounterAct, but no beads inside yet.

Mounted on the bike, did a small trip to verify, a longer one after, 2up, about 60km.
No vibration, no problem. Actually, I feel some small vibration from the front tire, a Pilot Road 5 with about 3k km on it, "balanced" with weights. I might put the beads in this one.

There it is.
Can you do it and save some money and time, be proud in the process? YES.
I need to buy better tools, which reduce the gain, but hey! I'm changing my own tires!

And the question was: can you seat the bead with a 12V emergency compressor? YES!

I usta do my own tires. I used a high lift jack under the trailer hitch of a '79 Chevy 4x4 pick up that I had at the time, placing the base of the jack on the tire sidewall, laying on some two bys. A rider friend of mine over in Arkansas has an 8ft 2x4 hinged to his wall in the shop with a one foot 2x4 dangling done about a foot from the wall. He places that dangling 2 by on the side wall and has plenty of leverage. Easy and frugal to set up and works a treat. We changed out a rear tire on my V while I was at a rally that he throws every spring(awesome get together, BTW).

I have a local guy that mounts and balances for $20 whether the tire was bought through him or on the interwebs, if I take the old one with. The tire recycle place is about a mile away and is free for residents. For $20, I ain't gonna mess with it.

Have fun!

 

[chid]

I usta do my own tires. I used a high lift jack under the trailer hitch of a '79 Chevy 4x4 pick up that I had at the time, placing the base of the jack on the tire sidewall, laying on some two bys. A rider friend of mine over in Arkansas has an 8ft 2x4 hinged to his wall in the shop with a one foot 2x4 dangling done about a foot from the wall. He places that dangling 2 by on the side wall and has plenty of leverage. Easy and frugal to set up and works a treat. We changed out a rear tire on my V while I was at a rally that he throws every spring(awesome get together, BTW).

I have a local guy that mounts and balances for $20 whether the tire was bought through him or on the interwebs, if I take the old one with. The tire recycle place is about a mile away and is free for residents. For $20, I ain't gonna mess with it.

Have fun!

Yes, probably for 20$ should be OK, but my guy asks 45$. 1 1/2 tires per season... adds up.
Plus the time to go there, wait 1-2 hours...

 

[fasteddiecopeman]

Hi Eddie,

This is the kit I bought. I don't have a "normal" one, I'll get the side-by-side photo after I change the tire.

I bought the long zip-tie, I located the closest gas station with compressed air (just in case )
Hopefully tomorrow I will change my tire.

Thanks for the pics chid.

 

[SteveJ]

Yes, probably for 20$ should be OK, but my guy asks 45$. 1 1/2 tires per season... adds up.
Plus the time to go there, wait 1-2 hours...

Agreed. My changing of tires was also $$ driven as the nearest shops wanted $40 to 50 to mount and balance on a wheel the I brought in and were 12-15 miles away. And most would not do it for an internet tire.

I'm really lucky to have found this local shop less that 2 miles from my house. I drop it off in the morning and pick it up after lunch.

I go through 3+ rears and probably 1.5 fronts per year. Some replaced on the road, most at my local shop.

 

[chid]

Did 1200km since changing the tire, absolutely no problem, I'm very happy with the result.

 

[chid]

Did my first valve checking / adjustment ever
I'm close to 40k km, no problem with the bike, running well, but I thought I should at least check.

Everything went very easy, I was able to remove the valve cover with just the acceleration cables removed at the TB and another support on the right side of the valve cover.
Surprisingly, all in spec, just cyl 2 2B IN was at 0.15mm, all other IN at 0.16mm
EX were all at 0.26mm and 0.25.

I adjusted only the IN to bring them at 0.18mm, one is at 0.21mm (mystery )
I sanded them down.
I used tie rap to keep the chain in position and I just twisted the IN camshaft to access the buckets.

I changed the spark plugs, not looking bad.
The surprise came from the air filter.... fully clogged. And it seems that I had a mouse making house inside, I had a full cup of corn seeds inside :O:O

I put everything back and it works, I didn't do the TBS, I'll try to rent a tool to do it if needed.
Very curious how it feels after this, tomorrow I'll do a ride.

Next time it will be much faster and easier, happy that I finally did it, I learned a lot from the forum, thanks guys!
My son was with me, perfect day!

 

[quexpress]

Well done chid!
One thing to keep in mind when balancing your tires.
Some tires will have one yellow dot. In this case, it is the lightest point on the tire which should be position at the heaviest point of your rim (usually where the valve is).
However, if there are 2 dots on your tire (one red and one yellow), the red is the lightest point on the tire (not the yellow).
This can easily cause confusion when installing your own tires.
Just my 2 Canuck cents.

 

[onewizard]

Did my first valve checking / adjustment ever
I'm close to 40k km, no problem with the bike, running well, but I thought I should at least check.

Everything went very easy, I was able to remove the valve cover with just the acceleration cables removed at the TB and another support on the right side of the valve cover.
Surprisingly, all in spec, just cyl 2 2B IN was at 0.15mm, all other IN at 0.16mm
EX were all at 0.26mm and 0.25.

I adjusted only the IN to bring them at 0.18mm, one is at 0.21mm (mystery )
I sanded them down.
I used tie rap to keep the chain in position and I just twisted the IN camshaft to access the buckets.

I changed the spark plugs, not looking bad.
The surprise came from the air filter.... fully clogged. And it seems that I had a mouse making house inside, I had a full cup of corn seeds inside :O:O

I put everything back and it works, I didn't do the TBS, I'll try to rent a tool to do it if needed.
Very curious how it feels after this, tomorrow I'll do a ride.

Next time it will be much faster and easier, happy that I finally did it, I learned a lot from the forum, thanks guys!
My son was with me, perfect day!

Just curious if you found any difficulty following my How To thread on the Valve shim check?

 

[chid]

Just curious if you found any difficulty following my How To thread on the Valve shim check?

I think it should be made into a PDF form
Being the first time, some text is a little bit too long to understand just by reading.
Good points: have obstruction keys for the cam chain tensioner
magnetic retriever for shims ( I was able to put them back by hand, no problem)
remove acceleration cables to take the valve cover off easy
remove the spark plugs to turn the engine easily
zip-ties for the valve chain
slack in the chain by rotating the crankshaft to allow for an easy installation of the cam chain tensioner
I removed the 2 screws that hold the rubber stuff on the valve cover, easy to remove / put back than the plastic screws
I removed just 2 philips head screws on the acceleration metal part that holds the cables and I was able to disconnect them easily
didn't remove the throttle bodies, I was able to work around them
I had problems with the rear hose connecting the air box ( too short, I had to remove the safety clip at the bottom and install it there last)
the trick with the hole in the piece of wood helped for the sanding down the shims, first one took forever, at the end I was able to do it pretty quickly ( I used the 600 grit :O) I wish I had access to a grinding machine like I had at work long time ago... we need to find an easier method.

Putting everything back was a lot easier than I expected, if you remember to reconnect everything where it was.

I was able to remove the airbox and I didn't see any screw to hold it down ?!?

I didn't do the TBS (don't have the tool and it was late).

I did a short run today and it's a totally new bike :O:O
I don't feel the need to a TBS.

Thanks for the time you took to make the thread, read it a few times and I understood the steps, it made it a lot less scary job.

 

[chid]

Well done chid!
One thing to keep in mind when balancing your tires.
Some tires will have one yellow dot. In this case, it is the lightest point on the tire which should be position at the heaviest point of your rim (usually where the valve is).
However, if there are 2 dots on your tire (one red and one yellow), the red is the lightest point on the tire (not the yellow).
This can easily cause confusion when installing your own tires.
Just my 2 Canuck cents.

Thanks!
Apparently the Michelin lately made their tires so well balanced that they don't have the dots anymore.
I didn't feel any vibrations on the rear tire, with no balancing.
I'll see what happens when I'll change the front one.

 

[chid]

Got a nice ride last weekend, fall colors festival
Amazing! No photoshop, just as the phone got them.

 

[chid]

I wanted to do some photos of the headlights with different configurations active:
1-bi-xenon projectors both ON, LED angel eyes ON, LED strips ON, normal light
2-bi-xenon projectors ON, LED angels eyes ON, LED strips ON, exposure time reduced
3-bi-xenon projectors ON, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON
4-bi-xenon projectors OFF, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON
5-bi-xenon projectors OFF, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON, normal light

 

[chid]

I need to change both tires, I have the rear stand and I used it to change the last one, but I don't have a stand for the front.
I decided that I don't want to buy one, I looked for some materials I already had and I built one. It took about 2 hours.
Feels solid, more than enough for what I need.

 

[onewizard]

WOW*****WOW****WOW I see you own a mig wood welder. Awesome!!

 

[chid]

WOW*****WOW****WOW I see you own a mig wood welder. Awesome!!

Yes, and I'm pretty quick with it (patent pending )

 

[onewizard]

Is it flux core or Argon

 

[chid]

It's coregon

 

[chid]

Waiting to install these on my V

 

[chid]

OK, this weekend was very busy.
Got into the garage and worked on the V to get it ready, we have 2 weeks left until the start of the season (hopefully).

I changed my tires, adjusted the chain, changed the oil.
I used my wooden Abba stand version, worked wonders! (not bad for a few pieces of wood, screws and free labor ) I used some duct tape to make sure it doesn't crack.

I used a C-clamp to break the beads, if you don't have a special tool.
This was my second (and third) tire change, so with the past experience, it was a lot easier and faster.
What I noticed, you have to keep the tire's both sides inside the lowest point inside the rim. This allows you to move the tire toward outside on the part that you want to get out (or in).
It was so easy, that putting back the rear tire on the rim, I didn't even use the tools, I just pushed it with my hands.

I was able to seat the beads with my cheapo, 14$ 12V pump :O:O You can see it working on my front tire (yes, it's that small). The advantage is that I can have it with me all the time.
It took a little bit of convincing with the front tire, but it works!! (I shot a video but not perfect conditions, maybe I'll post that on YouTube)
Enjoy!

 

[chid]

I finally had a chance to ride more this weekend and I want to come back with an interesting point.

I installed a rear tire before, and I didn't feel the need to balance it.
This was the second time I installed the rear tire and I didn't balance it. Didn't feel any vibration.

But this was the first time I installed a front tire, and I didn't know what to expect. I don't have a tire balancing tool.
I bought the kit for the beads, but I didn't install it, I wanted to see how it feels without.

I bought Michelin Road 5 both front and rear. They don't even have a yellow dot anymore, they said the manufacturing process is precise enough to avoid having a part of the tire heavier that another.
I'm happy to observe that there is no vibration on the front tire, up to a highway speed limit.
So the balancing kit remains unused.