JohnnyDiablo

Thinking of doing this myself. I got alot of practice on car tires as a flunky at supershops back in the 90s.

Harbor freight has a mc tire changer attachment that I am considering.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Anyone have this tool or do their own mounting and balancing? Tips?

G-ForceJunkie

A guy at my work bought one...gave it to me when it didnt work for him. I gave it a through examination, and tossed it into the dumpster at work. Save your money for something better if you really want to mount your own tires. I believe Coats makes a decent manual changer for under $1k. 220 I believe is the part number. Static balancers are simple and cheap, I have no problem using mine.

G-ForceJunkie

...speaking of supershops, what store did you work out of?

JohnnyDiablo

Hrm,

Lemme guess it wasnt breaking the bead? I remember the mechanics of the device so well I think I could make one out of hardwood.

I worked at SanGabriel store and occasionally got sent to Eagle Rock store. I wished that I had actually had that as my primary store. My buddy Paul also worked at San Gabriel before I got there. Our other friend worked at Downey store. Anyhow it was fun, had its good times and bad times, some knubskull coworkers.

G-ForceJunkie

RIght, breaking the bead is not hard, its the removing the tire from the rim. I ask about Supershops because I work with a guy that used to manage some of the so cal shops...does the name Dino ring a bell?

G-ForceJunkie

I just found this if your serious:
F/S: Coats 220 Tire Changer & BMC112 Wheel Balancer - Sportbikeswest.com

JohnnyDiablo

Nope

I was there around 93/94, My Manager was Albert and he was a middle aged loser with an old slopar fastback and a bad case of flatulence. His AM was a cool geeky guy that was into 4x4s. He left the company while I was there. The regional manager was a little guy with a napoleon complex. It was one too many supermudders on steel rims that made me ditch that job.

JohnnyDiablo

Whoa Nice!

I am going to a party tonight with the guys I used to ride to SF bike night with. I am going to see if they will throw biz my way if I pick up the equipment.

The local MC shop wanted $80 for mounting and balancing with me bringing in just the wheels.

Happy New Year G-Buddy

JH41

I know a few people with a harbor freight set up (although I am not sure if its the same part #) I can say two things for certain... the harbor freight tire iron thingy sucks balls if you have no patience .... and dont bother getting it unless you can't anchor it down really well (like into a concrete garage floor)

My buddy had his own custom made tire iron done at a steel shop... has these built in rim savers!!... that thing is SAWEEEEET .... I'll try to get pics.... it makes the whole process painless....

If you've got the money however... go for the coats set up. no question

-jh

__________________
- I told my wife: 4 bikes or 4 girlfriends.... she's letting me keep the bikes

- Cars lean the wrong way in turns.

Cal-Sportbike

I have the Harbor Freight setup. With a buddy helping, it's easy. Just don't ever try it yourself and hope to avoid getting pissed off. But if a couple of us have tires to change and a couple guys are helping each other, it's quick.

That being said, the Coats unit is really neat. I'm just saving my pennies for the powered semi-auto unit. I'm just getting lazy as years pass....

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seamus

Now that Santa brought me a Nomar tire changer, I'll be doing it.

He was even nice enough to bring me the hitch mount, tire balancer and a big ol' box o' weights once I sent him the website and the part numbers.

SheepOfBlue

I got one of those that the lead Blue Sheep brought me.

evl_twn

I bought the HF tire changer with the motorcycle adapter. I also gave that away, as it's a really BAD knockoff of the Coats 220. Both bike shops I used to work for had a 220, and they just work. I ended up buying one of those, and a Handy Industries balancer stand. I think that was 3 or 4 years ago, and it's paid for itself just in tire changes on my own stuff, not to mention the tires I put on for other people.

HRCNICK11

I too have the HF tire changer and have found that with practice its real easy to change tires with it. As long as you have some tire lube, without the tire lube it takes 2 people and is still a pain.

gthotchkiss

You can get a decent manual balancer for under $200.

use a couple 2x4's and the chassis of a jeep/truck for leverage to break the bead.

use a mixture of dishwashing soap and water in a spray bottle to lube up between the tire and rim.

Use cut up plastic milk cartons as rim protectors (better than many of the ones you can buy) and tire irons to get tires off.

It's doable with 2 ppl, but much easier if you have a helper. The worst part is just watching the balancer... it's like watching water boil...

G-ForceJunkie

What? It shouldnt take more than 2 minuts to balance a wheel. Set it up on the balancer, let go, and see what direction it falls. Grab it again, rotate it 90 degrees in the direction it fell, and let go again. It should take 20 seconds to find the 90 degree section of the wheel with the heavy spot. Once you know that, do the same procedure in that 90 degree section. Mark your low spot, then start adding weight. I like to have one, two, and three "bricks" of lead with a piece of duct tape or masking tape on them. Stick a weight on, rotate it to the 3 or 9 o'clock position and see if it falls or rises. If it falls, add more weight, and vice versa. When you know the amout of weights, stick some real ones on and your good to go. For a final check, rotate the wheel and release at 4 points, say withthe weights at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. If you did it right, it will stay put in each position.

Mike

gthotchkiss

Getting the weights exactly right rarely happens though due to the weight increments... it can move, you just have to figure out where it moves the least.

The tire also moves to damn slow... or maybe I'm just really damn impatient....

lfg929

Don't attempt to balance the wheel perfectly, it isn't worth the effort. As long as the wheel doesn't drop very quickly then it is good enough. I have done my race bike tires and hit 150MPH with no wobbling using this method.

In the beginning I tried getting them perfect but that got old quickly. Now I just get it close and I can't feel any vibration in the bars because of it.

G-ForceJunkie

I think half a brick is all I ever balance to.

G-ForceJunkie

Sooooo, are the one that bought that Coats machine from Zippy?

HRCNICK11

Where can I find a not very pricie balancer stand?

JH41

build one out of wood or use jack stands..... then use an axle and some bearings... ymmv

cheapest way I've seen it.... works just as well.

-jh

__________________
- I told my wife: 4 bikes or 4 girlfriends.... she's letting me keep the bikes

- Cars lean the wrong way in turns.

HRCNICK11

I have been just putting them on the bike with the brake calipers off but I would think the bearing seals have too much drag, but it seems to work so far.

I have a welder I should just make one out of C-channel or something.

JH41

I think you're right... axle we use is smaller or he uses seperate bearings.... i forget (too much track on my mind)... its at my buddy's house so I'd have to check another time.

-jh

__________________
- I told my wife: 4 bikes or 4 girlfriends.... she's letting me keep the bikes

- Cars lean the wrong way in turns.

gt702

Honda Motorcycle Wheel Balancer

HOV does the VFR wheels ... with all adapters for $130

I have one and it works well, using it's own bearings and adapters for the VFR wheel. I just set it up on a couple jack stands. Nice part is it is small, so I can put it in my spares kit easily and take it to the track.

__________________
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein

JohnnyDiablo

My buddies turned me onto a local shop to mount balance my tires for $15 each. Since that nice setup posted by G-Force got snatched up.... I am just going to pay this time.

Cant wait to scrub in some new rubber!

gt702

At $15 each I'd let someone else do the tires for me. Unfortunately, where I'm at, it is a minimum of $30, and that is with the wheels off the bike.

__________________
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein

Kawboy69

I have done my own tires at the track thanks to SOB for his tire machine..

gthotchkiss

Are you kiding me.... $15/wheel!?!?!?! Thats like 45 tacos @ Taco Bell!!!!!

iraqivet01

The bike shop around here get pissy if you didn't buy the tires from them. But when they mark them up $70 a tire, it makes it into a major expense to get fresh rubber on your bike. On the Harley they are talking $550 for tires, tubes, mounting and balanceing.

I can get the same tires from MotoXoutlet - Discount Motorcycle Helmets Parts & Accessories: Jackets, Helmets, HJC, Michelin, Dunlop, Joe Rocket a lot cheaper than what they are selling them for.

I'm thinking hard about the nomar. but $600 for their cheapest one is... well a bit more then I really want to pay, especially if you only use it once or twice a year.