DIY motorcycle tire changer

[kens]

Not sure if this has been post anywear before so if it has please let me know

I was wondering what other members are doing/using for tire changing devices / holders ? Anyone got a great DIY set up that they reccomend ? with 3 machines now I 'm sure my time is due to start changing tires and the old spoons on the ground method dose not excite me..

[CrazyCarl]

For the most part, all of the home made devices I've seen, used or head of were some modification of this type of system:

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This setup is 60 bucks from HarborFreight. I'm sure you can get some good use out of it but it definitely doesn't have all the bells and whistles.

Here's a video review of a similar type of system, more expensive but it's trailer hitch mounted and you get to see how this type of mounting machine basically works. Based on this, folk have made about a dozen ways to perform the same task with some materials you may find in your garage.



CC

[kens]

I should have been a bit clearer on the question.What I ment to asking was what other are using at home/ off road to make for easyer tire changing.

Carl -thanks for the photos

[barnone]

I should have been a bit clearer on the question.What I ment to asking was what other are using at home/ off road to make for easyer tire changing.

Carl -thanks for the photos

kens,
Tire irons for me and lots of dish detergent and baby powder for the tubes. Knock on wood, I haven't had a flat on or off road in years.

[davidqc]

Hi Ken. Please forgive the bluntness of the question, but what's wrong with taking the wheel/tyre to the local garage. It can't more than a few $$....unless of course you're more skint than I am?

[kens]

Well I'm not that cheap...And I am willing to buy tools any day.The second issue is that I am trained Tech and more trained than most tire shop kids..But we don't have anywere to get it done here anyways.

I have proper tire spoons in my tool box but I thought I'd reach out and see what others are doing / using for stands ,bead breakers ect..I you never know..there is a lot of knowledge on this forum

[ChinaV]

Road/trail: I have some nice MotionPro 7075 aluminum tire irons. I've tried many others, but these just seem to work better. On the V-Strom, I have a plug kit as the tires are tubeless, my other bikes use tubes so I carry a patch kit and sometimes a spare tube on long hauls. I use my kickstand to break the bead on the tires and a small portable electric pump to air up on the go. That's the "emergency" stuff, I suggest trying it at home so you are more confident if something happens out in the wild.

Home: I don't trust the shops here in China with tire changes, they just don't understand the basic concepts and usually hack your rims up pretty bad. There is a car shop down the road with a fancy tire machine so I trained a couple of the guys in the fine art of changing. Little things like using lube and matching the balance spot to the valve stem were a complete mystery to them . Once I have them mounted, I balance them myself with a small balancer, I wrote about it in this thread.

The tire changers CrazyCarl showed are pretty good for home use and will probably pay for themselves fairly quickly as most shops in America and Europe charge 25-50 bucks even if you take the wheels off yourself.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[kens]

Thanks Chinav..more great info

[davidqc]

Please forgive another dumb question. Once you have changed the tyres yourself, where do you take the wheels to be balanced?

[kens]

My plan is to build a balancer like the one in ChinaV's other thread if I need one. Stick weights are easy to buy in Canada.Use a few 6203 bearings ect.