Topic: Mounting Tires - costly ouch

[Terry in Australia]

Wow, in my mental picture of Sweden, everyone looks like a member of ABBA, and drives a 1970's Volvo?

Dont think so Terry, here is my mental picture....

Ha! Well my mental picture will remain as illustrated below, just two typical Swedish girls, with Per, and his cousin Sven.........

abba1 by terry prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Those fantastic days of the 70's are over! 
Lots of guys went to Thailand in the end of 80's-90's to taste the fantastic hot women with long darkbrown-black hair with an amazing construction,  prefectly lubed and often wild temperament. Bore and lubrication seems to be very interesting in many areas, not only motorcycles  

T-shirts could have been shorter?

[Stev-o]

If your shop sells tyres, they probably fell a bit insulted if you don't buy your tyres from them. I buy my tyres from the same shop that installs them, and while I take my wheels off to save them time, they don't charge me much (if anything) to strip the old tyres off, put them in their dumpster, and install the new ones. I had to get one tyre removed from my Henry Abe wheel so I could get both wheels blasted, and they stripped the old tyre off and put it in their dumpster, for free as they know I'll be back to buy some tyres when I get my wheels back.

This is the best way to get your tires. It just bugs the sheet out of me when I read on forums about all these guys #$%*ing about what it costs to mount a tire they bought online to pinch a few pennies. I do HVAC and R, it is not that uncommon for people to want us to install parts they have purchased. We don’t do it and I don’t know any shops that can pay their bills on time that do. One time a cafe had called in a no cooling for a walk in cooler. When I got there he had a compressor and a filter drier sitting next to the unit. He had purchased the parts and expected us to install them. I told him that would be fine, could I stop by with my family with eggs, bacon, and bread for him to cook us breakfast tomorrow?

Bottom line is that everyone is entitled to make a living.

Yep, not wanting to argue with Steve, but a bike shop that stocks and sells new tyres (or tires) as part of their business is different from a contractor

Terry doesnt want to argue...ha!   My post was directed at Dave about his AC business, in regards that he doesnt install customers parts. I can understand why a shop that sells tires would not want to mount other's tires.

The small shop that mounts my tires does not stock tires so he he no issue with me bringing in my tires.

[DurangoCB]

The motorcycle shops around here don't stock the tires I want. 

I'm going to install them myself.  I run across people all the time changing bicycle tires or tubes who are cursing the tire/rim combo for "not fitting" and I am able to get the tires on/off the rim with my bare hands, because I understand how a tire/rim interface.  I have a feeling that the people who say that mounting motorcycle tires is a total PITA are the same people who don't quite understand what they're doing.  I guess I'm about to find out.   

The only reason I was going to have a shop do it is because I was under the impression that, like a car tire shop, they had special machinery that made it easy and fast for them.  I was picturing 15-30 minutes labor total.  But they don't have a machine and if it's going to take them 30 minutes per wheel and thus cost me $80, I'd rather do it myself. 

Us DIY guys are certainly not a motorcycle shop's best customers. 

[DurangoCB]

At the end of the day, it isn't the consumer's job to solve problems that local businesses face due to the regional, national or world markets.  If you cannot sell a tire for a price that is in the ballpark of online vendors and match their convenience, then what your business has to offer is service and knowledge, not good prices on tires.  So you accentuate the service and knowledge and figure out how to capitalize on it, since other people have figured out how to outperform you on the cost of the tires. 

I think we all share the same keep-it-local ethic, but we also all have our limits and it's up to the business to make what they have to offer valuable to the consumer. 

The guy with the shop who turns people away because they brought in a set of tires is a fool.  Because there could be another guy down the street who's more than happy to mount their tires.  And he just made $80 while the other guy is standing in his shop complaining to his sales manager about the customer he turned away. 

[Yamahawk]

I have never seen a shop turn away labor to do anything, as that's where their profit is mainly. I have seen a shop charge more for tires brought in to mount, rather than bought from them. One shop here in Toledo, Homer's cycle, mounts the tire for FREE if you buy them at the shop... and he spin balances them too. He will order any tire you want if he doesn't already have them in stock. But, Jim is an Old School guy, and his business isn't dependent upon a small profit margin on tires, as he makes cables, cheap too, and re-spokes and trues wire wheels, very efficiently, and less than the incompetent mechanic does lol... I like them, too
Charlie

[DurangoCB]

Homer's sounds like my kind of business.  I've found businesses like that all over this area, and when I find them, I am one loyal customer. 

[754]

It should not take more gha  30 minutes for a shop.
 My buddy had a mobile tire service, no tire machine.. all done by hand..
 And they never took 30 minutes.
 So if a machine takes that long, send it back..get a refund.,

[Bankerdanny]

One of the several benefits of my Moto Guild membership is access to the pneumatic tire machine. Mounting the new tires on my 550 last year was a snap. Even if I dropped my monthly membership I would still be able to use the machine for the standard hourly rate of $30.