dang

Today was a good day at first

. I got new tires over the weekend so i was stoked

. Until i rememberd i had the daunting task of swaping out the tires

....

Summary,

My knuckles are bleeding...
My Tires are half on half off...
My tubes are not both ripped...
I didn't get to try them out today...
i have a few more nicks on my rims...
My knuckles are still bleeding...ouch
and my tire irons are short so they don't give any leverage....now my palms are blisterd....

dang...(i could use a differenet word)

I'm always happy to get new tires these are sweet, Michelin MH3 rear, MS3 front...to bad i can't try them

Honestly, I've never swapped out tires before. I've always heard its difficult, so I choose to bring in my wheels and have the shop do it for me. I don't mind spending the money, especially after hearing stories like these....

i just don't get it, a buddy of mine can get both tires done in under 30 min. It took me 2 hours and there not even done. I'm just takeing the half finished tires to the shop tomorrow. I need new tubes anyway.

I did everthing as good as i could but for some reason tires don't like me!!

Honestly, it varies by tire.

To tell you the truth, I've gotten a 250 tire on and inflated in under 10 minutes, then again I've spent 3 hours in the cold trying to get on a XR50 tire on.

Your story's a common one Brian, trust me, it gets better with practice.

For a time long in the summer I would take a tire on and off for practice and get faster at it.

yeah sven, i do need to practice a bit more. I think i need to find an extra rim, this way i don't have the knick up my rims.

A friend (same one i was talking about), works at the local race shop so he does it for free. He races quads and he changes those with tire irons easy...i don't see how

http://www.motocross.com/s/admin/pageserver/storyserver.asp?a=showpage&id=1659

lol, buy proper irons, and brush up on tire changing, and see if u can get th tire nice and warm 1st

Yeah warm tires are definitely an advantage.

I either use a heat gun (low heat) or I slap them on my truck hood on a hot day outside.

Little soap on the beads and the right irons will definately help. Its so easy once you do it a few times. I would save the money and not give up so easy.

I like to use a combination of short and long iron's to do the job, me and my dad can change tyre's in under 10 minute's.

Good tip's are to heat up the tyre and lubricate the bead as aid above.

Yeah, definitely soap and water the bead. Makes it easier to a point, don't over do it though as if you do this, it makes it actually harder to do.

Windex works good also.

I used to take like an hour to change a tire, then i would pinch the tube. I pinched a tube 8 times in a row once!!!

There would be dents in the garage door from where I threw the tire irons.

Now, I can to a tire in under 15 minutes. All it takes is practice.

Wrap duct tape around your tire irons to prevent scratching the rim, and wear mechanics gloves to prevent the bloody knuckles.

Get your friend to do it!

This another good reason to have a relationship with your local shop.

When I buy tires from my local shop, they will match any mail-order price, and install them for free.

Bullwinkle wrote:

Wrap duct tape around your tire irons to prevent scratching the rim, and wear mechanics gloves to prevent the bloody knuckles.

Yup, or I found this handy little piece of high density polyeurathane laying around in the shop a long time ago that slips right onto a rim, also prevents scratching.

motogeezer wrote:

Get your friend to do it!
quote]

I did

i got the set for a good price but it was up in the bigger town. I didn't realy want to buy if if wasn't at his shop, but he was out of stock. He just orderd 100 sets...so i won't have to do that again.

I love knowing guys at the shop. I can always call for info, and i race with them and they let me keep my bike in there pit and use there snap-ons'!!

Because i buy alot from him, he doesn't mind spotting me a spark plug or even a set of bars/grips once. I would say he has got at least $900- $1000 from me in the past year or two. Its also cool that i have a buddy that works there (guy who did the tires). He's in my english class, so we plan ride days and things. Plus because he works at the shop, he knows everthing about upcomming races a week before everyone else...there for I do too.