changing tyres yourself

[t101]

is this as simple as it looks in the videos? is there any reason why i shouldnt/cant do it? would save a fair bit of money i think

[Wilson12345]

Tis piss easy, hardest bit is getting the tyre off the wheel, YouTube is your friend
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[Sham]

Not for me. I don't have the time/gear/inclination. Last time I had new boots it cost me £60 to have them fitted & balanced. I also know they've been done right.

And that'll work out at about £1 per week based on my mileage.

I'm happy to live with that.

If I got into racing, or touring I'd like to know how to do it. But until that day comes.........

[SirEdward]

If you can balance the wheels yourself, then I don't see a problem.
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[bacon]

[stinkwheel]

Easy enough for tubeless wheels.

Can be difficult for tubeless unless you have a bead breaker (and even then, some can be bloody tight, my local place struggles to get bridgestones on my VFR even with the tyre machine).

You can sometimes struggle to get either sort to seat on the rim properly without the use of a compressor to blow them up really hard the first time around.

EDIT: If I buy the tyres off him and take in a loose wheel (I drop them out in the carpark, centre stands are a good thing to have) my local place fits and balances them for free. Otherwise he charges £6 to swap tyres over if I bring them in myself (including replacing the valve).
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[Pernig]

My last rear tyre was £15 fitted on a loose wheel. Including the tyre!
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H100 Breaking for spares

[Fairies attack]

It depends on what sort of wheel it is.
I have done loads of spoked but never a ally because of the fear of smashing it.

Don't use screw drivers because you can break the bead in the tyre trying to get it on. I use 2bits of 50 x 6 flat bar that has one end flattened out and use them as tyre levers.

P.S, be bloody careful of them flicking out at you.

[Sham]

[mad4it028]

its a peace of cake to do yourself i have a home made bead breaker which is the hardest bit before i made my bead breaker i used a shovel
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[Jim Mc]

Why's it so expensive to have a bike tyre changed? I've never had it done before on a bike, last time it cost me £24 for all four car tyres to be changed.

[P.]

I did my own just over 2 weeks ago.

Set of tyre levers, a rubber mallet and a lot of patience.

Got the old one off, new one went on, used slightly soapy water and it popped on "fairly" easy.

Levered that on...

Rode 2 miles got a nail in the tyre

Plugged and its been fine since

[deleted111]

I always change the tyres on my CG myself.

I just deflate them, whack a tyre lever in, hold it down whilst whacking another tyre lever in further along and work my way around. Come off dead easy.

The harder part seems to be getting a new 'stiff' tyre on.

I'm becoming accustomed to the art of tyre changing now, the Heidenau tyres I put on my CG are bought cos they're easy to get hold of and they're all I know, but so far I've only managed to get one to last up to 5k miles before being square and practically bald.


Cheers,

Steve.

[G]

[Mord]

Changing a tyre and having the wheel balanced cost me 10 quid at my local garage.. I cannot be arsed to do it by myself.

[keggyhander]

Place I go charges me a fiver a wheel. I always bung him double.

[RichieZX6R]

I would prob do it my self if i could get the new tyre to be popped back on without a compressor or what not. Changing the valve and getting the tyre off/on is easy(ish). Also i couldn't balance them. Hunters in newcastle charged me £150 to change both wheels and change the valves/blance them/test and they were loose wheels.
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[G]

Balancing is very easy, presuming your wheel has bearings.

Just stick a rod through the wheel, put it between two chairs, boxes or similar and spin it.
Note where it stops and do it a couple more times to be sure. Attach weight to the opposite side.

[tatters]

[G]

In my experience, it doesn't make a big difference whether it's a good fit or not - the wheel will still fall to the heaviest point.

But yes, it does have to have bearings (so not single sided).

[cb1rocket]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Have done tubed tyres, but something I can't be bothered to do now.

Haven't got a bead breaker for tubeless tyres, and the nearest I have got to doing them was getting a tyre displaced enough to change a valve. And that was a bad enough.

Wouldn't worry too much about balance for normal use on the roads.

All the best

Keith
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[Ichy]

I use the spindle between a pair of car ramps for balancing. Seems to work ok.

I actually find small tubed tyres more stressful. I can't get my fat fingers in to get the valve in the right place and then there isn't enough room for the tyre levers.

I've done up to a 160 section at home without too many problems.
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[G]

[tatters]