Inflation just deflated me!

[HighwayStar2009]

I've been taking my tires & wheels to the local Honda dealer to have em mounted/balanced.

Other day, left the rear wheel with worn out tire & new tire for r&r.

Total price: $84.25     I asked "If I bought the tire from ya'll and had it replaced would there be any price difference?

Answer, no.  Only 3 yrs ago is was about $38.00

 

[bmart]

Tire mounting is a total rip off. Has been for a LONG time. 

 

You could try track day vendors. Prices may be the same or better and they usually mount for free if you buy from them. 

[MBrane]

What tire was that?

 

Last set I got for my commuter/touring bike was over $400 for the cheap option. I swap 'em myself on my modified HF stand.

[Wald]

I completely agree. Here, I pay $52 to mount and balance a $104 tire, it is a joke. The worst part is that I usually have to rebalance the tire myself after checking the balance on my stand. I think, next time,  I will go to a small independent Harley shop for $20 cash and balance it by myself 

[Sweeper]

No local places will mount spoked wheels anymore. I ordered tires for my Sled from CycleGear 30 miles away with the plan of having them mount them. Two weeks for them to come in. I take the wheels off and show up to "the tire machine is down until at least next week." The kid gives me a card for a place another thirty minutes up the road. I call and then head that way thinking that I'll just get this over with. When I go to pick them up, I ask How much?. The kid looks at his partner who stumbles and then says $110. I pay them and head home. After fighting to get the rear on, I go to check the pressure and discover it is flat. I'm dropping the money for a Rabaconda. It's not just the money to be saved, it's also the hassle of people.

[vfrcapn]

The Harbor Freight unit works well enough, I used it for years, but can scratch rims up unless you're very careful. Upgraded to the No-mar unit a few years ago. They aren't cheap but paying those prices, driving 45 minutes to the nearest shop for me, waiting around, still getting my rims scratched by the new kid, it pays for itself after a couple of years.

[Tirso]

3 hours ago, Sweeper said:

 I'm dropping the money for a Rabaconda.

 

Got a Rabaconda during last Black Friday sale along with a Harbor Freight wheel balancer.  What used to take hours and multiple round trips to shop, now takes minutes in my garage.  Easy to store, set up and use.

[FromMaine]

No shop anywhere near me would mount tires not bought from them, so they turned customers into DIY's. About 18 years ago I bought a Black Widow paddock tire changer and a HF balancer.   The convenience factor became apparent immediately. I averaged 4-6 tires a year for myself and 6-12 for guys in the same position as me. I don't charge for it as motorcycles are my hobby, not a business. Also, it turned our to be a good way to meet the few sport/sport touring guys here in Mid Coast  Maine. 

 

[fabio222]

1 hour ago, FromMaine said:

No shop anywhere near me would mount tires not bought from them, so they turned customers into DIY's. About 18 years ago I bought a Black Widow paddock tire changer and a HF balancer.   The convenience factor became apparent immediately. I averaged 4-6 tires a year for myself and 6-12 for guys in the same position as me. I don't charge for it as motorcycles are my hobby, not a business. Also, it turned our to be a good way to meet the few sport/sport touring guys here in Mid Coast  Maine. 

 

That's pretty cool, fair dues to you for helping others out.

 

Did tyres a couple of times myself but levering them off of the wheel was so tough. I actually bent a rim doing it one time. I kinda gave up after that and left it to the shop but the prices for that seem more reasonable here, I'm not doing them often, and I can pick from 2 shops within 30 minutes of me. That said, one thinks you don't need to balance the rear and the other thinks you do. I prefer the one that does balance the rear but they also tend to be busier!

[vfrgiving]

4 hours ago, Tirso said:

 

Got a Rabaconda during last Black Friday sale along with a Harbor Freight wheel balancer.  What used to take hours and multiple round trips to shop, now takes minutes in my garage.  Easy to store, set up and use.

 

I've had a Rabaconda for a few months now.  Used it a few times already.  HUGE improvement over fighting with irons.  The big test will be some monster cruiser tires here in a few. I will be swapping out Pirelli Night Dragons for some Shinko SE890 Journey.

[Cogswell]

11 hours ago, Tirso said:

 

Got a Rabaconda during last Black Friday sale

 

How does (or does it?) this work with the rear wheel from a SSSA?  From the videos I've seen it appears to need the wheel bearings to keep it positioned.  I've been using a Mojo lever and Marc Parnes balancer with good success.  I've changed tires for friends - not too bad a job with the right equipment - a minor nightmare without.  If there are any tutorials on using that tool on a SSSA rear wheel, would love to have a look at it. 

[Sweeper]

They have an adapter for BMW and Ducati if I recall correctly.

[bmart]

I wish the video had a skinny guy try to use it...

[Tirso]

11 hours ago, Cogswell said:

 

How does (or does it?) this work with the rear wheel from a SSSA?

I've used the optional $45 adapter with both my VFR and Ducati hubs. On the previous link, there's a video on how the adapter fits a KTM SSSA wheel. Tire removal/installation would then be the same as this tutorial.

 

[vfrgiving]

On 4/13/2024 at 12:27 AM, Cogswell said:

 

How does (or does it?) this work with the rear wheel from a SSSA?  From the videos I've seen it appears to need the wheel bearings to keep it positioned.  I've been using a Mojo lever and Marc Parnes balancer with good success.  I've changed tires for friends - not too bad a job with the right equipment - a minor nightmare without.  If there are any tutorials on using that tool on a SSSA rear wheel, would love to have a look at it. 

 

As Tirso mentioned, you can use their universal big hub adapter.  I bought one when I ordered the changer.  The one wheel I can think of that might be out of the Rabaconda's scope is the rare solid disc rear rim.  Not common, but they are out there... Late 80's Super Magnas for example.  I'm not sure how the rim would be secured to keep from spinning.

[Sweeper]

I emailed Rabaconda about a discount for an order of four units for myself and friends that are interested. They offered ten percent if one pays and takes delivery. So, if any of you are close and want to round up a few friends, it's worth the effort.

[Sweeper]

After reading my last post, I thought I should make it clear that I was not offering anything(not breaking any rules here)😉. It was just a tip that if any of you can come up with a small group, it's worth the effort.

[JZH]

I've got a simple "Sealey" manual tyre changer in the UK (probably the same as many others coming out of the same factory in China!) and it works absolutely okay.  However, I bought a separate, nylon enhanced tyre bar off eBay which works better than the original all-metal one the Sealey came with.

 

What made the unit work best for me was to bolt it to the driveway, using stainless steel button head bolts (slathered in anti-seize) threaded into Rawlbolts sunk into the drive.  When I'm done I unbolt it and put the bolts back into the holes.  So far, so good!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH