Changing your own tyres?

[Easy-X]

[BanditsHigh]

It's easy enough to do your own tyres, breaking the bead is the hardest bit, but some tyre soap and a point force should get it to break quite easily.

Rim protectors are a must, otherwise you'll be scraping and denting your rims all over the place.

Like everything else, until you get the right technique it'll seem really difficult, but once you get it then it's simple.

As for getting the tyre to bead, you can use anything from a small plug in compressor to a proper high pressure one ... it all depends on whether or not the bead is pressing against the rim properly and making a seal (where the high pressure makes a difference) ... that and lube of some sort is a must.

The main reason for not doing it yourself ..... the stack of tyres you'll then have to get rid of ... I personally have around 15 tyres I need to get rid of

[Pete.]

Big bike tyres are a piece of piss.

You want a hard tyre to change at home try one of those little scooter bastards.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Fizzer Thou]

Tyre changing has been a subject of discussion for many years.As a poor Navy College student I could not afford to pay someone else to do what I considered to be relatively straightforward.I have always been of the opinion that if someone else can do it,then so can I....

I bought a tire changing kit from a friend who used to ride on many track days.The only item I bought new was a static wheel balancer and that was from what was then Hein Gericke and only £40 at the time.It works as it should but not as quickly as an electronic one.

Having calibrated such equipment when I worked for an engine diagnostic company for which wheel service kit was a sideline,I can state that there are many electronic wheel balance machines in garages that are not maintained correctly and are wildly out of calibration.So using a static kit is cheaper and just as accurate.

As has been stated by others,having tyre soap and the correct levers (I own the Michelin type) together with rim protectors,it can be useful,especially on a day when no places are open.
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Just talk bikes.What else is there?

Always have a 'Plan B'

[Robby]

[sickpup]

When they started making tubeless wheels for Vespa's I used to fit Michelin Pilots to them. They were impossible to do by hand and about a quarter to a third of the tyres ripped during fitting on the machine.

[hellkat]

Ain't gonna happen

I did learn once, how to get a back wheel off, but that was in nineteen eleventy whatevs and I can only just about remember how to oil a chain by sticking a broom in the back end and spinning the wheel, I'd be hard pushed to even do that nowadays.

So yeah ... nah
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Easy-X]