Topic: Wheels off for tire change

[Anti-Johnny]

Hopefully in the next few days my new tires will be in. I was planning on taking the wheels off myself to save some money. I've read through my manual on the process and have already taken the front wheel off once.

My question is, as long as I follow the reassembly steps, is there anything I need to worry about as far as alignment? It might ruin my afternoon to have the rear wheel pop off while taking a ride.

[Toxic]

Follow the manual as it is a staight foreward proceedure.  Always take pics as you go. the parts manual clealy shows how everthing goes back together as well.

Just as important is to clean, inspect and replace any worn parts.
-chain
-bearings
-sprockets
-rubber cush drive bumpers

[fatmatt650]

I recently installed a few tires for the first time in my life. If you can do a bicycle tire competently, it's the same thing with a little more effort. I'm using downhill bike steel tire levers, I'm sure there's a better product but it's what I have. I recommend trying it, for me it beats a trip all the way into the city to pay someone money and HOPE they do it right. They always insist on selling me a new tube and when I swapped my tire over I found a cheap chinese tube 2 sizes too big stuffed in there. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Good luck.

[Anti-Johnny]

Thanks. I actually bought new tubes and strips. Trying to do little things to get a maintenance schedule for the bike going. I only have access to a garage a couple weekends a year, so this time I am going to take them off and drop off the wheels and innards at a shop and hope they dont just keep my new stuff and leave the old junk inside.

[domer]

when you put em back on, make sure you torque the front bolt to spec, then the rear. so the gap between the clamp and the fork is to the rear...

[MCRider]

when you put em back on, make sure you torque the front bolt to spec, then the rear. so the gap between the clamp and the fork is to the rear...

While i agree with you, there are schools of thought on the gap issue. HondaMan contends the gap should go to the front. We've had extensive threads on this comparable to oil threads.

Front or rear, I think its important to note that the clamp is not symetrical, one side the bolt passage is thicker than the other. Whether you put it to the front or rear, they should be the same on both sides and its the thick part that should be tightened first. Then the gap side is tightened. Otherwise, the clamp could break.

[Bodi]

If you're happy with the alignment (the bike rides straight with "hands off") then note the marks on the rear tensioners. You will probably have to loosen the bolts to get chain slack so you can drop the chain off the sprocket. Sometimes the marks are not exact, ie you need to be on mark 3 on the left and 3 1/2 on the right to get alignment correct. So note the marks and mark the adjusters so you get them back on the same sides and same way around.
Mounting the new tires, lube the rim flanges and tire bead with tire mounting lube or water with a bit of dish soap in it. Tubeless spec tires (fine with a tube on spoke rims) have a very tight fit on tube rims and are a bugger to seat evenly. Inflate to the high pressure limit printed on the tire sidewall after mounting, and make sure the rim line on the tire 9raised rubber line around the tire near the rim on each side) is the same distance from the rim edge all the way around. This indicates the tire bead is properly seated, if it goes in at some point then the bike will bounce down the road. You may have to reduce pressure and attack the tire with a mallet to get the thing properly seated.
Reduce the tire pressure to what's right after seating the rim.

[greenjeans]

Pick up some decent sized tire irons and a couple of those "rim savers" as well.

If you have some fitted shop gloves, wear them.   Amazing how much a hand can bleed if a tire iron slips and your hand
bashes into something.....

[MCRider]

Thanks. I actually bought new tubes and strips. Trying to do little things to get a maintenance schedule for the bike going. I only have access to a garage a couple weekends a year, so this time I am going to take them off and drop off the wheels and innards at a shop and hope they dont just keep my new stuff and leave the old junk inside.

Ask for the old stuff back, I always do. If they're legit they should respect your request. Tell them you need the old rubber for another crafts project.  MArk the valve stem so you know its yours.