Topic: This might help you with tire changes

[tlbranth]

I've always changed my own tires and never enjoyed it much. Now that my hands are a bit arthritic it's a bit more difficult. I always found the most difficult part of the job was getting the stem through the hole in the rim. I was having a tough time of it and after pondering the problem, came up with this fix. I needed to hold the two sides of the tire apart so's I could get my hand inside to guide the stem so I put a tire iron under the tire lip on the back of the tire, pried and laid the wheel down. This held the back side of the tire to the outside of the rim. Then I put part of the tube in the tire - the part with the stem. Next I put two small wood blocks under the near-side of the tire to hold it away from the rim. Getting the stem through the hole was then a piece of cake. Can't believe I didn't come up with this in the 60's.

[754]

 Great idea, looks like it works..,

 BRANTHblocks...I like it..

[750resurrection]

Yeah man, make it real corny - like you round the bottom edges to the general curve of the 18"/19" rim, a little groove there, then on top, like a slot across for the bead to kind of drag into - on the side maybe an indent for thumb or finger, an arrow on top each one to <--  --> slide outwards.

 We're talking 36.99 plus tax, instructions included.
" Branth Blocks, people got smart in the 60's, now you can be smart about changing your own tires "

[lone*X]

750~
While this may seem "corny" to you now, someday you may have arthritic hands has well.  It's a well known malady you know.  As Senior members of the motorcycle fraternity, we use the the simple little aids to make maintenance easier.  We also come from an era where self reliance was a virtue, and a penny saved (well you should know the rest).  So simply paying someone else to do what we are completely capable of is not a palatable solution in most cases.   Lastly, if you intended your post as a joke, always post a smiley of some sort to let others know.

[750resurrection]

Wow aren't we sensitive... No actually I meant it was a great idea, it has nothing to do with arthritis as the gentleman said he wished he had thought of it in the 60's, and further, if you're easy on your hands all your life I assume any arthritis is very likely to be less at a healthy age.

 I freaking REALLY meant it. Someone should do it and sell it people buy anything and that would be a healthy profit and healthy for the customers. I am NOT apologizing or making a smiley face.
 
 You somehow think I haven't fought in a **/ ****** valve stem ?

PS - I left last night thinking someone will do it and maybe they'd be straight up and give me 10% for the ideas - thanks for ****** on the party in my head.

[madmtnmotors]

While this may seem "corny" to you now, someday you may have arthritic hands has well.  It's a well known malady you know.  As Senior members of the motorcycle fraternity, we use the the simple little aids to make maintenance easier.  We also come from an era where self reliance was a virtue, and a penny saved (well you should know the rest).  So simply paying someone else to do what we are completely capable of is not a palatable solution in most cases.   Lastly, if you intended your post as a joke, always post a smiley of some sort to let others know.

He is encouraging tlbranth to produce, market, and sell the product. People have gotten rich from simpler ideas (hula hoop, pet rock, etc). I had to read it twice to catch the gist, it could have been more clearly stated, but I did not read any disparaging intent in the reply, just a corny suggestion on what to do with such a great idea. I'll likely use the tire mounting tip myself...

unless there's royalties involved!


LUF

[flybox1]

^ agreed Mad...I heard it the same way!
Nice work Terry!   

[lone*X]

I make no apology for my comments either.  If a post can easily be misinterpreted then it is poorly written.  Once it is posted, it is out there for the entire community so I always proof read my posts to ensure they say what I want them to before I click the post button.

[madmtnmotors]

And if you had a thousand monkeys, with a thousand typewriters...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

[jamesb]

thanks for the tip.i need to do that this weekend on 2 tires I'm going to try it if it works for me it'll save me 60.00 bucks by not having to take them to the shop.i know what you mean about arthritic hands i used to be a mason/stone cutter and a boxer so my hands are in the pre stages  of arthritis.

[tlbranth]

Another piece of information you might find helpful: On my bike with K70 tires, I only need two tire spoons spaced about 8 or 9 inches apart. Pull them both over the rim and the tire will come off by hand (I use Armorall for a lube). I say this because on my Goldwing I need about a hundred spoons and twice that many hands.

[Shane72]

Nice tip!

I've got several different tricks for dealing with valve stems on tubes while mounting tires.  There is one trick however, that works well everytime, on every kind of rim and stem orientation.

1.  Before ever putting the first tire bead over the edge of the rim, loosely mount the tube on the rim without the tire, inserting and fastening the valve stem with a nut.
2.  Leaving the valve stem in place, unwrap the tube from the rim, and pile it loosely on top of the rim, out of the way of the rim edge.  This way you know it won't be twisted later.
3.  Where the tube stays over the rim edge, gently start the tire over the edge of the rim and tube (valve stem area), and work it all the way 'round.  By starting there, you will have plenty of room to go over the portion of tube on the rim without stress.
4.  Once the first bead is down into the rim recess, unpack the tube from atop the rim, and lay it in place inside the tire.
5.  Continue with second tire bead as usual.

No more fighting with partially-mounted tire sidewalls!

All the best,

Shane

[tlbranth]

Good idea Shane. So simple I wonder why I've been fighting this for so long - other than to come up with new cuss words.

[andy750]

You know a video of this would be great! 

[Raul CB750K1]

I have no arthritis but I find specially difficult to insert the valve into the rim, specially in narrow tires.

The trick I use is to remove the valve core. I insert through the rim hole an allen key, the bigger it could fit inside the -now empty- valve. This is to make the corners as gentle as possible and avoid chances of it puncturing the rubber -slight chances by the way-

I slide the valve into the allen key, . As soon as the valve is inserted, with my bare hand I press the tube down, and with my other hand Iuse the wrench as a guide to put the valve through the hole.

[Shane72]

You know a video of this would be great! 

A quick Youtube search turned up this video:  BMW F650 Motorcycle Tire change with Mount/Demount bar

This fellow is not me, and I do not have as fancy a machine as he does, but he does a fair job of illustrating this method with the tube.  Mind that he is rather unconcerned with twisting the tube, but manages fine anyways.

All the best,

Shane

[754]

 Great idea Raul..

[tlbranth]

I have no arthritis but I find specially difficult to insert the valve into the rim, specially in narrow tires.

The trick I use is to remove the valve core. I insert through the rim hole an allen key, the bigger it could fit inside the -now empty- valve. This is to make the corners as gentle as possible and avoid chances of it puncturing the rubber -slight chances by the way-

I slide the valve into the allen key, . As soon as the valve is inserted, with my bare hand I press the tube down, and with my other hand Iuse the wrench as a guide to put the valve through the hole.

I'd be concerned about buggaring up the internal threads with the allen wrench.

[andy750]

Thanks Shane.

[Shane72]

Yup!

Shane

[Raul CB750K1]

I have no arthritis but I find specially difficult to insert the valve into the rim, specially in narrow tires.

The trick I use is to remove the valve core. I insert through the rim hole an allen key, the bigger it could fit inside the -now empty- valve. This is to make the corners as gentle as possible and avoid chances of it puncturing the rubber -slight chances by the way-

I slide the valve into the allen key, . As soon as the valve is inserted, with my bare hand I press the tube down, and with my other hand Iuse the wrench as a guide to put the valve through the hole.

I'd be concerned about buggaring up the internal threads with the allen wrench.

Usually the allen wrench go past the threads, and it is only used as a guide. You can always replace it with any soft, thin tube such as a WD40 straw or the like. I guess you and I went through a similar mental process: how to overcome a mechanical problem. You devised a solution, and I devised another one. In that moment I thought about using a screwdriver, but I was afraid of damaging the rubber, so I just substituted that tool for another one less harmful, and came up with the allen wrench like it could have been any other thing.

No intention to rain on your parade my friend, i just wanted to give my two cents on the subject. Thanks for sharing yours!

[Duanob]

I think this entire thread should go in Tips and Tricks Section! Good info to all. I knock on wood blocks I've never had to change a tire on my Honda.

[tlbranth]

I have no arthritis but I find specially difficult to insert the valve into the rim, specially in narrow tires.

The trick I use is to remove the valve core. I insert through the rim hole an allen key, the bigger it could fit inside the -now empty- valve. This is to make the corners as gentle as possible and avoid chances of it puncturing the rubber -slight chances by the way-

I slide the valve into the allen key, . As soon as the valve is inserted, with my bare hand I press the tube down, and with my other hand Iuse the wrench as a guide to put the valve through the hole.

I'd be concerned about buggaring up the internal threads with the allen wrench.

Usually the allen wrench go past the threads, and it is only used as a guide. You can always replace it with any soft, thin tube such as a WD40 straw or the like. I guess you and I went through a similar mental process: how to overcome a mechanical problem. You devised a solution, and I devised another one. In that moment I thought about using a screwdriver, but I was afraid of damaging the rubber, so I just substituted that tool for another one less harmful, and came up with the allen wrench like it could have been any other thing.

No intention to rain on your parade my friend, i just wanted to give my two cents on the subject. Thanks for sharing yours!

Oh no problem Mate. I actually had a similar idea but worried about the threads. Now I think about it a piece of dowel would do.
When I watched Shane's video I picked up on something else I'm not doing right: I'm putting lube on the sides of the tire. Not necessary and not good. I use Armorall which should lose its slickem after a while but nevertheless I think the video has some good info on where and where not to lube.
One other thing I've never been quite sure of is whether or not to put a nut on the stem inside the wheel. While it seems good to lock the stem with a nut on either side, it also seems bad that a tube under pressure has to bridge that gap unsupported. Anyone have the scoop on this?

[Shane72]

Since there seems to be some interest in ever-better tire-changing...

Here is the website I found in 2004 that is the baseline for all of my tire-changing-and-balancing knowledge:

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing.html

If anyone is hungry for the best balancing lessons, find a tire guy who has a setup at a motorcycle road-race weekend somewhere and just watch how they do it.  Very fast and easy once you know the tricks.

All the best,

Shane

[754]

 There is simply NO GOOD reason to use a lockout on an inflated tire, outside of the rim.
 Spin it on a few turns when you push the valve stem thru the rim, to prevent going back inside.
 Once inflated, use 2 locknutz, about 1/4 inch from rim, doublenutted.

 Now if it ever slips on the rim, you may have a warning, and a chance to correct.,
 If you bolted it in the only thing you will. Have happen if it slips, is Catastrophic Failure, without Any warning... Thinking this and choose your method wisely.

 As for guiding the stem in, thread a 1/4. Plastic rod to use..Warning, you likely won't find a die cheap..