Do you change tires at home?

[zupatun]

On 6/17/2019 at 8:58 PM, VFR Capt.Bob said:

Still owe you lunch. 😁. I do my own old school but need to upgrade my kit. Have 4 dirtbikes and have gotten really good at them withe the bad buddy. Street tires are still a battle with Dunlops giving me the most grief on and off. But they make the best all around tires for my street riding. RS rear and Q3 front. For the track I will likely go with Q4s or Perelli super corsas if I can find them on sale. 

Some great info here to improve my gear otherwise I'll try and bribe a friend.

The Pirelli's feel so nice on the track...but Q4's will be fine.  Personally, I buy Dunlop GPAs...for trackdays---best feel, grip and wear for trackdays IMO...

 

[Bent]

I'm watching this thread closely but I have a local independent shop that does a perfect job every time with never a scratch for $30 per tire/wheel if I bring them in.  The owners are the mechanics and are straight up people.   Right now, my time is worth more than $30 per hour.  If any of this changes, I'm going to do my own.    

[Marvelicious]

7 hours ago, Bent said:

I'm watching this thread closely but I have a local independent shop that does a perfect job every time with never a scratch for $30 per tire/wheel if I bring them in.  The owners are the mechanics and are straight up people.   Right now, my time is worth more than $30 per hour.  If any of this changes, I'm going to do my own.    

Gotta say... a reliable independent shop is a valuable resource. If I had one in the neighborhood, I might not be so adamant about doing everything myself, but... c'est la vie.

[tireguy]

I'm with Jozef.  I bought a No-Mar Pro Model 10 years ago.  I've done almost 1000 tires since then.  The equipment paid for itself the first year I had it.  I was not happy with the service at my local Honda dealer.  Bad attitude at the service desk, scratching my wheels, not doing a good job balancing them and charging too much.  Take a look at how the wheels are balanced on the bikes in the showroom.  The weights they use are all in 10 gram increments, meaning they round off at 10 grams, even on the brand new Ducati's.  With 5 more minutes of work anyone with their own tire balancer can balance with a lot more accuracy than that.

[Bent]

On 8/18/2019 at 12:35 AM, tireguy said:

I'm with Jozef.  I bought a No-Mar Pro Model 10 years ago.  I've done almost 1000 tires since then.  The equipment paid for itself the first year I had it.  I was not happy with the service at my local Honda dealer.  Bad attitude at the service desk, scratching my wheels, not doing a good job balancing them and charging too much.  Take a look at how the wheels are balanced on the bikes in the showroom.  The weights they use are all in 10 gram increments, meaning they round off at 10 grams, even on the brand new Ducati's.  With 5 more minutes of work anyone with their own tire balancer can balance with a lot more accuracy than that.

Local Honda dealers don't pay "mechanics" much so they get what they pay for.