self-mounting a darkside tire- how miserable is it?

[Locomotive]

I hope to not need to replace tires anytime soon on my new-to-me 99 Standard Valk; the seller seems meticulous and honest and says that they are recent (though I am going to check date codes once I bring it home in a few weeks after the rain washes the VT winter road salt off of the roads)- but when I do eventually need a rear tire, I am interested in considering going darkside with a CT. I also put a priority on being as self-reliant as possible.

I live in a very rural area where shops are few, far between, and a long way away, and in general I prefer to do as much as possible myself, both out of frugality and in the sense that I have most confidence & peace of mind if I know how the job was done by doing it myself. I have changed many motorcycle tires, on a variety of motorcycle types, over the years. Last summer was my first experience removing and then installing tubeless motorcycle tires, on a 1981 GL500 SilverWing that I picked up for my son to be able to ride. It was _not_ a fun experience- in fact it was probably the most miserable and discouraging mechanical project I have ever done, although I succeeded in the end. From things I read on CX/GL forums, that was apparently one of Honda's very first tubeless motos and some combination of the design of the rims and maybe caution on Honda's part in their first-go of tubeless moto tires, made the GL infamously miserable to change tires on.

Do or have any of you do your own tire mounting/dismounting on the Valkyries, either with moto tires or with CTs, and how do-able vs miserable is it?  Thanks!

[Disco]

Find an independent shop with a machine.      The time driving and the $20.00 or $30.00 will be some of the best money you'll spend all year.

We have a manual machine in the club down here, and it's a miserable job even then.  Unless you are a 4- or 6-handed incredible hulk, it requires more than one person.  I can't imagine the struggle with spoons, much less the damage to your rim.

[MarkT]

Get the right tools, use the right procedures, and with each time it gets easier.  I'm talking about a tire mount machine, large and varied tire levers including one like a mojolever, proper tire mounting lube, and a balancing media like Ride-On.  I have the HF machine with motorcycle adapter.  Been mounting my own tires for a decade or so and can change them pretty quickly, either bike tires or darkside.  Check the videos on youtube for methods etc.  Warm the tire in the sun and use plenty of lube.  With practice it's easy and I have never needed assistance.

[Locomotive]

Thanks Mark. The things that made the GL500 such a struggle were that the rims are pretty narrow and there is barely any dropped-in area in the center of the rim to get the opposite-side-bead to temporarily nestle into in order to get slack on the opposite side where you are trying to lever it over the rim edge. I did buy some pro tire install lube during that fiasco, and as long as it doesn't somehow spoil, have a lifetime supply of that now.

[dmerc]

 For removal of the old tire, I pry the bead up with a lever, then while still levered up, cut thru' the beads on each side with a 4" cutoff wheel. Makes removal easy. Make sure the rotation will take the burnt rubber towards the tire, not the rim.(messy) Putting on the new one, have the wheel flat, tire lubed very well, then slam it on at an angle. First bead should be on. Then just one bead left to lever on.

[Hook#3287]

I purchased a Harbor Freight tire changer many years ago.

It's well used and has saved me hundreds of dollars and countless trips to a nonexistent shop (The last motorcycle shop charged me $50.00 to swap tires on a rim I brought to them, that did it, plus I'm Darkside and not going to beg someone to do it).

I drilled and installed lag sleeves in my garage floor and set up and take down the changer with lag bolts.

MoJoLever

As Mark stated, it gets easier as experience grows.

[Hacked Valk]

I purchased a Harbor Freight tire changer many years ago.

It's well used and has saved me hundreds of dollars and countless trips to a nonexistent shop (The last motorcycle shop charged me $50.00 to swap tires on a rim I brought to them, that did it, plus I'm Darkside and not going to beg someone to do it).

I drilled and installed lag sleeves in my garage floor and set up and take down the changer with lag bolts.

MoJoLever

As Mark stated, it gets easier as experience grows.

This ^^^^^

[Locomotive]

cut thru' the beads on each side with a 4" cutoff wheel. Makes removal easy. Make sure the rotation will take the burnt rubber towards the tire, not the rim.(messy) Putting on the new one, have the wheel flat, tire lubed very well, then slam it on at an angle. First bead should be on. Then just one bead left to lever on.

My aforementioned GL500 rear tire change went full-redneck with sawzall and angle grinder with cutoff wheel to get the old tire off... and I did learn the importance of paying attention to what direction the molten goo was spewing...

[Locomotive]

I drilled and installed lag sleeves in my garage floor and set up and take down the changer with lag bolts.

I didn't want to perforate my shop slab and may want to work in different places (lots of stuff and projects in the shop, in different locations at different times) but I did take a very sturdy high density polyethelyne freight pallet and drill it to mount my HF changer to the pallet- that way I can stand on the pallet as I reef on the tire. That has some trade-offs compared to mounting the changer right into the slab but the trade-offs suit me OK.

[Bigwolf]

I built my own changer similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI3YBe9aEHg
The only thing different is I welded mine to a piece of 2 inch square tubing so it fits in hitch receiver on my truck.  I can take it and use it anywhere I can get my truck.  It was easy and cheap for me since I had a junk car rim laying here in my scrap pile.  It works for me just about as easy as you see in the video.
I would suggest buying the Mojolever.

Bigwolf

[Valker]

I’ve done both bike and car tires on my Valks by hand with tire irons. Doable, but it’s better on a cool day.

[dmerc]

I've never tried the zip tie method of removing/installing, but youtube has plenty of videos showing it.

[semo97]

Put the new tire and the mounted tire each in a black garbage bag in the sun for several hours rotate sides ever once in awhile. I do all with tire irons, break the beads with a handy man jack pushing down from the pick up bumper. You have to put 2x6 s under rim edges it to keep the rotors off the ground. Take your time.

[Brian]

yes, use the mojo lever and the nylon blocks for the HF unit. Also I recommend getting the ratchet strap that goes around the circumference of the new tire that will really help when trying to get the tire to seat on the rim.  The ratchet strap should be run through a plastic sleeve so the web strap can easily slide when tightening. This really helped me when installing new Avon Cobra front tires on both my scooters. The scariest part of doing tires is getting the bead to seat properly. I needed close to 100psi. There are a lot of videos on Youtube. Watch them! I even made my own wheel balancing stand. I also use the trailer hitch receiver to keep my HF unit stationary. I use a piece of angle iron that slides into the receiver, the hitch pin and then used a high grade bolt thru the tube support of the HF unit. I have my HF base mounted to a piece of plywood. You will also need a length of rod that fit the bearings. You will find all this info by watching the different videos. Also, replace the OEM fill valve with a 90 degree steel one. Jake Wilson has these and get their rim protectors and at least 3 spoons. You can do this task, good luck.

[Hacked Valk]

I watched a video on YouTube yesterday that discussed seating the bead.  He sprays lubricant on the inside of the wheel including the bead area.  Claims his beads set at 10 pounds.  Haven't tried it, just passing it along. May be valid or not. 

[Brian]

I also have a wood frame to keep the rotors off the ground as mentioned when using the bead breaker on the HF. I also wrapped the steel bead breaker with pieces of plastic from a gallon milk jug to protect the rim edge. Gathering all the equipment and setting up takes the most time. Lube is your friend.

[Locomotive]

When wrestling with the tire on the 81 GL500 I studied up on tire lube. Soap or other makeshifts not (in my opinion from what I found) a good idea on aluminum alloy rims. There are professional noncorrosive tire lubes reasonably affordable (I bought a tub that should last me decades for about $10 at my local auto parts store, took them two days to order it in.

For seating beads, with the GL500 I found that it was well worth stripping the center pin out of an air chuck (to maximize air flow), hooking up a 1/4 turn ball valve on the chuck, and taking the valve core out of the wheel's valve stem. That let me open the ball valve quickly and give a real burst of air pressure, which seated the bead more effectively and decisively than before I tried that.

[FarmerRick]

I just changed my mc tire for a ct yesterday at work(county fleet garage). Didn't reallly take any longer than changing a car tire on a car rim.  This was on a Rim-clamp type tire machine with no other special equipment.

If you have a small shop in the area that has a rim-clamp machine, they should be able to do it no problem.