Rabaconda street bike tire changer.

[vfrgiving]

I've finally graduated from fighting with tire irons. 🥳 I'm sure some of you have seen this thing, but for those that haven't it's a portable tire changer.  It comes with a duffel bag so those of you doing track days can toss it in the vehicle or trailer with the bike.  It's not cheap, but it's priced competitively with another manual changer that's been on the market much longer.  Unlike the No-Mar, this doesn't need to be bolted to your garage floor.

 

 

I'm about 75% of the way being proficient with this.  I can have a tire ripped off the rim quickly, and the first bead install goes fast with assistance from the duck head.  The last bead and managing the drop center is what I need practice with.  I popped my spare VFR rim on it and played around with install and removal of that last bead.  The last attempt took under a minute with no struggling.  The key is managing the drop center and making sure the tire stays oriented on the duck head correctly.  The Rabaconda comes with a stepped hub adapter that fits nicely in the 5th gen rear rim, but I had their universal big hub adapter on order with the changer.  It sandwhiches the rim from both sides and stays in place when manipulating the wheel.  I'll keep using it for rear wheel tire changes.