How To Change Your Own Tyres

[gsxr renegade]

I've just changed the rear tyre on my bike so i thought i'd pop up a little guide as to how i do it, in case anyone else wanted to give it a go, or was just interested in how to do it.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a mechanic by any means of the imagination, I've been changing my own tyres for the past 5 years or so and learnt my own technique for it. The first time i tried it it took me about 3 hours to do, but I can do both wheels in about an hour now, from getting the bike up on stands, to taking it down again.

This is just meant to be a little guide as to how I do it, not a 'best practice' workshop guide, or the only way to do it - there are several methods and techniques, as i say, this is just how I do it. If you're not that confident with your own tools, get a pro to sort your tyres for you. Don't fuck about with them if you're not confident.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin..

[gsxr renegade]

You won't need loads of tools to do it, i use these;

4 rim protectors - the long cable ties make it easier to keep hold of the thing when you're moving them about the rim.

3 tyre levers (2 long, 1 short)

5 kilo tub of tyre soap

Since, in the summer, i can be popping a set of tyres on every month, i've just bought one of these bead breakers from eBay;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mechanics-Workshop-Garage-Motorcycle-Tyre-Bead-Breaker-Motorbike-Tyre-Changer-/301089085300?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item461a4ed774

to make the job of breaking the bead effortless. Before this, i used 3 heavy duty trigger clamps from B&Q to 'pinch' the tyre together and break the bead.

All in, this kit has probably cost me £90ish (the bead breaker was £66 alone!) but it'll eventually pay for itself, and it's so much nicer to have the convenience of being able to change a tyre whenever you want in your own garage, rather than have to take it to a garage and pay for it. For instance, the tyre that i fit here turned up this morning so i popped it on the bike before i went off to run a few errands.

[gsxr renegade]

Once you've taken your wheel out of the bike, you'll need to let all of the air out of it, then get to work breaking the bead.

I mount the wheel on the bead breaker, using the hole where the axle normally goes, then set up the 'presser foot' thingy as close to the edge of the rim/tyre as i can.

Then simply pull the lever down to break the bead.

You'll only need to do this once per side, once the bead has been broken, you can just use you hands to push the rest of the tyre away from the rim.

Then flip the tyre over, break the bead on the other side, and push it away from the rim.

[gsxr renegade]

Once both beads are broken, you'll need to lever one side of the tyre over the edge of the rim.

I find it much easier to do this if you pop a bit of tyre soap on the edge of the tyre/edge of the rim at this point. No doubt your tyre will have been on the rim for a month or more and the rubber will be drier than a nun's fanny. The tyre soap will make it easier for the tyre to slide on the levers as well as over the edge of the rim.

Pop a couple of rim protectors on the wheel, and position 3 levers about an inch and a half apart, hooked under the edge of the tyre.

The key here is to do little and often, don't try and use 2 levers 6 inches apart to get the tyre off as you'll probably end up either ripping the tyre or bending your wheel.

Place the levers about 1-2 inches apart and you'll be fine.

[gsxr renegade]

Then, just pull the levers in towards the centre of the wheel and hold them there, doing each on in turn. If one is difficult to pull back, just release the pressure a little on the preceeding lever and it should work.

You'll only need to get about an 8 inch section of the tyre of the edge of the wheel before the whole thing will come off. Something like this;

(I know there's only 2 levers in this pic, the first one fell out one the tyre popped over the rim)

Once the initial bit of tyre has popped over the edge of the wheel, you should be able to just fit your hand in the gap and pull the rest of the tyre over the edge of the wheel. (again, here's where soaping the tyre/rim will pay dividends).

If it's not that easy to do, you can put the wheel upright on the floor, with the exposed area touching the floor, then using your weight, press down and rock it backwards and forwards to encourage the rest of the tyre to pop over the edge.

[gsxr renegade]

Once you've got one side of the tyre off the rim, you'll need to pop the other side off. I put a tyre lever in through the back of the tyre like so;

You'll need to put a rim protector on the wheel where the lever touches it, and also put a rag on the face of the wheel to stop the lever taking a chunk out of your wheel.

Then just lever your tyre..er..lever over the tyre like so;

Here you can see why the rag is important between the face of the rim and your lever;

Then all you need to do is push directly down on the bit of tyre that your lever is squashing and the whole tyre should pop right off the rim

[gsxr renegade]

This is the stage where it's best to give the wheel a clean if you want to. I didn't want to so we'll carry on.

Next you need to get the new tyre on the rim.

IMPORTANT: The tyre will have an arrow, or making on it indicating the direction of rotation. It is crucial that you make sure you mount the tyre the correct way round.

The arrow on my tyre is thus;

Generally, on most conventional bikes, if you lay the wheel down with the rear disc facing upwards, the arrow on the tyre will need to point clockwise to ensure correct mounting, but do make sure you check first. (Front wheels generally have an actual arrow indication direction of rotation).

Once you've figured out which way to mount the tyre, soap the outside of the tyre that will go on first, and the inside of the side that will go on second, like this;

[gsxr renegade]

Then mount the tyre on the wheel! Generally, you should be able to use your hands to push the first edge of the new tyre over the rim, it doesn't take any effort at all.

Next, you should be able to push most of the exposed tyre under the rim using your hands. You won't be able to get all of it on the rim, so you'll need to bust out your levers again.

You should be able to get it to this stage using your hands with little effort

[gsxr renegade]

You'll need to use your levers to get the last bit of the tyre on the rim. This is the most laborious part of the process and can take a bit of time, so be patient.

Pop a few rim protectors on the wheel, and place the levers in the gap between the tyre and rim.

Again, the mantra of 'little and often' comes in to play here, you won't be able to lever the tyre over in one go, you have to take it in steps. I just use 2 levers placed pretty much directly next to each other, swapping them over as i go round.

One thing to note, you'll need to press your knee on the opposite edge of the tyre here;

Just where the tyre starts to mount on the rim. This is because once you start using your levers to push the tyre over the rim if you don't apply pressure here, the action of you levering the tyre, will just cause the tyre on the opposite side to come off the rim and you'll end up chasing yourself round in circles.

[gsxr renegade]

You'll need to be patient and just take your time with this bit, gently levering the tyre with one lever, then moving the other lever just infront etc (if that makes sense?) Work your way gradually around the tyre, levering as you go.

You might feel the tyre start to get stiffer, or it require more and more effort to lever the tyre. Don't worry too much, this is normal. Also, if you tyre starts to 'stretch' like this;

Don't worry, that's pretty normal. As long as you can still use the lever with the effort of one hand, you won't be doing the tyre any damage.

If you need to start using all your weight behind one of the levers, then you're trying to do too much at once and risk bending your rim and/or ripping the tyre. Place the levers closer together and take your time.

Eventually, you'll get down to the point where you have roughly the same amount of tyre left as you did when you levered the old tyre off the rim, one or two more goes with the lever sould see the tyre pop down onto the rim and there you have it! One new tyre fitted.

[gsxr renegade]

I then take my wheel and tyre down to my local petrol station to use their airline to inflate the tyre. Before i leave, i brush some tyre soap where the tyre meets the wheel to help the bead slide on the rim and seat properly.

I set it to about 40psi, hit the 'flat tyre' button and let it do it's thing.

The tyre will start to inflate gradually, then you should hear 2 very loud 'ping' noises as the beads seat on both sides of the rim. Then just adjust to the desired pressure and pop your wheel back in the bike.

Job done! all in, this one took me about an hour because i had to keep stopping to take photos etc. and the old tyre was a bit tough to get off.

Sorry for the shitty iphone photos.

As i said, this is just a guide as to how i do it, to show how simple it is. It's by no means the 'best practice' method, but works for me!

My bike at the moment is just a runaround so i don't bother balancing the wheels, it's never made a difference to me.

[VanWinkle]

cracking write up there lad, couple of bits to add to your thread, for extra rim protectors then one of those value garden hoses make great protectors, just cut to size you want and slit them.

Valve stem, ( i probably missed it in your thread) but its best to change valve stems and cores too when changing tyres.

Foot pump will set the bead, you just need to practise pumping up and bouncing the tyre at the same time.

[gsxr renegade]

cracking write up there lad, couple of bits to add to your thread, for extra rim protectors then one of those value garden hoses make great protectors, just cut to size you want and slit them.

Valve stem, ( i probably missed it in your thread) but its best to change valve stems and cores too when changing tyres.

Foot pump will set the bead, you just need to practise pumping up and bouncing the tyre at the same time.

Thanks dude - you're right about the valve - I didn't change mine this time because I couldn't be bothered, but it is best to change it when you change the tyre.

My next 'garage' purchase will be a little air compressor so i can do the bead seating at home, but again you're right, you can just use a decent foot pump to get the job done.

[BudgetBoy]

id also opt for a new valve as well. But good write up mate.

[wazrs257]

I removed and fitted my first set of tubeless tyres a couple of weeks ago, sooooooo much easier fitting than removing! Bead breaker FTW!

[gsxr renegade]

I removed and fitted my first set of tubeless tyres a couple of weeks ago, sooooooo much easier fitting than removing! Bead breaker FTW!

Seriously, if anyone is thinking of doing it, the bead breaker I got is so easy. Takes 10 seconds to break the bead rather than 20 mins struggling to do it any other way. So glad I bought it.

[thefatman]

Using a spade works just as well to break the bead, you place the wheel flat on the ground up against the wall, put the spade so it's next to the rim, jump up, land on spade, bead broken instantly. Much cheaper than a bead breaker and works just as well.

[gsxr renegade]

Using a spade works just as well to break the bead, you place the wheel flat on the ground up against the wall, put the spade so it's next to the rim, jump up, land on spade, bead broken instantly. Much cheaper than a bead breaker and works just as well.

Good tip dude.

See how much tread is left on that wet btw?

[lorenzo]

Using a spade works just as well to break the bead, you place the wheel flat on the ground up against the wall, put the spade so it's next to the rim, jump up, land on spade, bead broken instantly. Much cheaper than a bead breaker and works just as well.

This is a lie and you know it! The two of us were leaping around in my back yard trying to get the bead to break on my NC, ended up using the spade but levered off the underside of the bench (which had the bike on it, eek!). Breaking the bead was by far the toughest bit of it, to the extent that I'm tempted to buy a bead breaker like the one above and then just loan it out to friends for a couple of quid to recoup the outlay.

Nice write up though. Have you tried the cable tie trick with getting it back on? Just squeeze the tyre in as tight as you can using sturdy cable ties, drop it round the rim, then snip the ties: Voila!

[gsxr renegade]

This is a lie and you know it! The two of us were leaping around in my back yard trying to get the bead to break on my NC, ended up using the spade but levered off the underside of the bench (which had the bike on it, eek!). Breaking the bead was by far the toughest bit of it, to the extent that I'm tempted to buy a bead breaker like the one above and then just loan it out to friends for a couple of quid to recoup the outlay.

Nice write up though. Have you tried the cable tie trick with getting it back on? Just squeeze the tyre in as tight as you can using sturdy cable ties, drop it round the rim, then snip the ties: Voila!

http://youtu.be/4-PD48uGl4o

I've tried it once, yeah. To be honest it was a bit of a pain in the arse to do, I don't think it was any easier than popping the tyre on the way I normally do it.

[Phlik]

Fence post, short piece of skirting board and a car with a tow ball, no problems breaking the bead with this little ensemble

[Gregorious77]

This is my bead breaking solution.

Block screwed to door frame.

[thefatman]

This is a lie and you know it!

I forgot about that one, also that you need two 2x4's to put under the wheel so you keep the discs off the floor and have something solid to push against, rather than using a tyre that squishes down.

The wood lever method works well also, possibly slightly more controlled than the spade method!

[VanWinkle]

A heavy duty vice is also a handy bead breaker.. personally i like using my Abba bead breaker. A handy bit of kit that has paid for itself 1000 times over..

[radiobloke]

This is my bead breaking solution.

Block screwed to door frame.

Genius....

I have also used my car to break the bead. drove over it. ordrive onto a plank thats on the tyre.

but this ^^^^ I will be doing.

[kwakbiker]

Thread is full of win

[NCSprinter30]

I also use a ABBA bead breaker and it does the job without any issues every time. Well worth the £60 plus will hold it's value.

[lorenzo]

Can somebody come up with a decent reason why this wouldn't work? OK, I may need to keep my foot on the opposite side of the tyre, save it all flipping up, but is there any other drawbacks that I can't see? There's a fair few on ebay for not a huge amount of money at all.

[gsxr renegade]

Can somebody come up with a decent reason why this wouldn't work? OK, I may need to keep my foot on the opposite side of the tyre, save it all flipping up, but is there any other drawbacks that I can't see? There's a fair few on ebay for not a huge amount of money at all.

Depending on the size of the tyres you're changing, you might not have enough room between the presser foot and the support post behind it, to sit the presser foot against the wheel/tyre interface.

Also it might not be heavy duty enough to break the bead on a full size bike tyre.

TBH, if it was going for less than £20 or so, i'd be tempted to just buy it anyway and give it a go.

[VanWinkle]

Can somebody come up with a decent reason why this wouldn't work? OK, I may need to keep my foot on the opposite side of the tyre, save it all flipping up, but is there any other drawbacks that I can't see? There's a fair few on ebay for not a huge amount of money at all.

I can see that the lever has adjustable heights, cant see if the bead spade is adjustable tho, if it is then I think it would do the trick..