Tire prices are retarded...

[Occitiger]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

True----but I am not one of the ones that will pay.

As big as you are I'm suprised you needed tools to do yours... I could imagine you holding the bike up with one have and using your teeth to remove the old tire. I save the jokes for what you used as a bar...

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by Occitiger

As big as you are I'm suprised you needed tools to do yours... I could imagine you holding the bike up with one have and using your teeth to remove the old tire. I save the jokes for what you used as a bar...

Yeah---you have room to talk little guy

[jeffs99vulcan]

Originally Posted by Dudester

Hi Jeff
Where did you order them, and where did you have them installed ? Did you have any issues bringing them back across the border after you purchased them in the U.S. My tires are still very good (I only have 15,000 kilometers, or 9,000 miles) but I have a couple of buddies who will be needing new tires for their bikes very soon. I'm hoping to purchase some Avon tires for my bike when the time comes, preferably white walls, so if you know of a place I can get them at a good price I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. I'm surprised my Bridgestones haven't shown hardly any wear with the kilometers I have, so I guess keeping both my tires at about 40 psi helps a lot. With that said, the only reason I won't purchase Bridgestone again, is because I find the Bridgestones very noisy when leaning in the curves.
Thanks in advance to any info you can share on this.

The border was nothing dudester, once you're sure you understand the rules it takes a load off. We went directly to the UPS store and back across the border within 10 minutes, and that's exactly what I told the customs officer. He asks what the total is of what you bought, and you tell him. He sends you in with a card with that amount written on it, and you declare what the goods actually are, and you pay the cashier the PST and GST. You leave, happy with your deal, entirely legally!

The best deal, after MUCH searching and copious patience, was the same as what HelmetRider quotes above, Dennis Kirk | Frontpage. In order to be compare apples to apples, add $5 per tire surcharge (a denniskirk.com surcharge, it's explained on the site), $5.50 total to cross the bridge ($2.75 each way), and $5 per package that you have delivered to the UPS Store. Plus the gas for whatever you ride there... I have a write-up on it in another thread, here: http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...solutions.html

Installation will be done at Gary's Custom Cycle in Ottawa, on Robinson Avenue (near Lees at the 417), this is a guy my buddy found that will do it for $15 per. That's pretty reasonable compared to anything else I've found or read on here, and makes it hard for me to decide to buy the tools! I like doing everything myself... but 15 bucks?!

As for the Bridgestones... very impressed with the wear. I got my bike with 27K on it, my buddy's Marauder had 22k with Dunlops. We think both bikes are on the original sets. Since then, I've put 10k on mine, he's put 6k on his... His wear was worse than mine when we got them, and got progressively, noticeably worse until this week he decided he wasn't even going to ride it any more. Mine, now with 37k total, still falls well within the wear limits... I am very particular about tire pressure as well.

Hope that helps, if you want any more info please let me know! With the differences in pricing, it's worth spreading the word!

[MrClean]

You get good at changing tires. Problem is, we just don't do it enough to know where to hold our tounges, but it's do-able. I used to do it for a living, surprising how much you can forget in 25 years.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

I bought the tools to do mine myself, mostly because I couldn't find anyone who would mount the car tire for me...

Great info Lattimer, thanks. This really helps with the decision making. I was browsing Harbor Freight and came across the motorcycle attachment right before I read this post, didn't even know there was one. And your opinion about the no-mar makes sense too. So now we're at $280, and at $15 per tire by a local guy, that's 18 changes before it pays for itself, plus the time and skinned knuckles...

The balancer at Motorcycle Wheel Balancer seems to get good reviews, but there's another $100... that's right too, that now makes it 23 tire changes before it pays for itself.

I think the deciding factor now will be how it works out at this local installer my buddy came across... how it goes, how long the wait is, how good a job he does, whether he sticks to his price (which I'm not too worried about but sometimes it's the "hidden" charges)... and I'll go from there. I've done a few tires before (car, tractor) and I already know it's no fun, but I do like doing my own work...

I'll be sure to post again when I know how the installation turns out...

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by jeffs99vulcan

Great info Lattimer, thanks. This really helps with the decision making. I was browsing Harbor Freight and came across the motorcycle attachment right before I read this post, didn't even know there was one. And your opinion about the no-mar makes sense too. So now we're at $280, and at $15 per tire by a local guy, that's 18 changes before it pays for itself, plus the time and skinned knuckles...

The balancer at Motorcycle Wheel Balancer seems to get good reviews, but there's another $100... that's right too, that now makes it 23 tire changes before it pays for itself.

I think the deciding factor now will be how it works out at this local installer my buddy came across... how it goes, how long the wait is, how good a job he does, whether he sticks to his price (which I'm not too worried about but sometimes it's the "hidden" charges)... and I'll go from there. I've done a few tires before (car, tractor) and I already know it's no fun, but I do like doing my own work...

I'll be sure to post again when I know how the installation turns out...

Yeah, if you look at it as a financial payback, it sucks. If you have someone you can trust to do the mounting, and their price is reasonable rather than rape, you might as well let the pro's do it.

I like doing my own work, and I take alot of pride in my abilities. I work on stuff for other people a lot as well, its like my "therapy" on the weekends when I'm not riding. Plus, I like the challenge.

I didn't mention it before----but in the whole process, I managed to break the tire changer too. It was an easy fix, I just had to weld it back together where one of the cheesy "made in China" welds cracked loose. But if you can't weld, you would be out about $50 if that happened.


Edit:

On the wheel balancer---That is pretty similar to the one I have, except mine has little bearing plates it sits on instead of the bearing caps on the ends. The Marc Parnes one would be way better than what I have. Realistically though, you can do a good enough job without even having the bearings on the end. That is how I did mine, since the bearing plates sucked and only one bearing on each side would turn.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by MrClean

You get good at changing tires. Problem is, we just don't do it enough to know where to hold our tounges, but it's do-able. I used to do it for a living, surprising how much you can forget in 25 years.

Yeah, I watched the No-Mar videos a bunch of times before doing my tires, and their techniques definitely helped.

I had only done one tire manually before, and that was a tractor tire with spoons in the driveway. That was no fun at all.

Otherwise, I have always had access to pneumatic tire changing equipment at my father's garage. Since he passed away, I no longer have access to the place where he worked.

[Occitiger]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

Yeah---you have room to talk little guy

Yeah, but I'm lazy...

[Dudester]

My bike had 9000 kilometers when I purchased it, now with 15,000 and the center of my rear has no tread left, yet the both sides have real good tread left. One of my buddy's recommends I replace it, but I still feel there's enough tread to last this season. I'm gonna call that Dennis Kirk store you mentioned. I would also like to know if you have the phone number for Gary's Custom Cycle in Ottawa.
Thanks again.

Originally Posted by jeffs99vulcan

The border was nothing dudester, once you're sure you understand the rules it takes a load off. We went directly to the UPS store and back across the border within 10 minutes, and that's exactly what I told the customs officer. He asks what the total is of what you bought, and you tell him. He sends you in with a card with that amount written on it, and you declare what the goods actually are, and you pay the cashier the PST and GST. You leave, happy with your deal, entirely legally!

The best deal, after MUCH searching and copious patience, was the same as what HelmetRider quotes above, Dennis Kirk | Frontpage. In order to be compare apples to apples, add $5 per tire surcharge (a denniskirk.com surcharge, it's explained on the site), $5.50 total to cross the bridge ($2.75 each way), and $5 per package that you have delivered to the UPS Store. Plus the gas for whatever you ride there... I have a write-up on it in another thread, here: http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...solutions.html

Installation will be done at Gary's Custom Cycle in Ottawa, on Robinson Avenue (near Lees at the 417), this is a guy my buddy found that will do it for $15 per. That's pretty reasonable compared to anything else I've found or read on here, and makes it hard for me to decide to buy the tools! I like doing everything myself... but 15 bucks?!

As for the Bridgestones... very impressed with the wear. I got my bike with 27K on it, my buddy's Marauder had 22k with Dunlops. We think both bikes are on the original sets. Since then, I've put 10k on mine, he's put 6k on his... His wear was worse than mine when we got them, and got progressively, noticeably worse until this week he decided he wasn't even going to ride it any more. Mine, now with 37k total, still falls well within the wear limits... I am very particular about tire pressure as well.

Hope that helps, if you want any more info please let me know! With the differences in pricing, it's worth spreading the word!

[jeffs99vulcan]

I'll send you a PM dudester...

[Deeppurple52]

psu.... Vulcan beat a Z06? Your perception of Vulcan (or any v-twin) performance is a little skewed. Your average Vulcan runs mid-14 seconds.... the Z06 low 12's. As much as I don't like it, my Honda Accord is quicker and faster than my Vulcan 1600 in the quarter by about 1/2 second.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

The changer from Harbor Freight is really more than you think, the base setup is $42.99 and the motorcycle attachment is $52.99. The mounting bar that comes with this changer sucks, so you need to get the No-Mar bar, which is another $100.

I've been looking into this one a little more because we have a local shop that sells this exact one... What exactly is the motorcycle attachment for the for? I'm just curious, why will this thing change other tires without, but needs this attachment for motorcycle tires? I'm sure it has a reason, I just can't figure it out without seeing it in place...

[golfhou]

So far, I've replaced both tires and got them both online: Dennis Kirk | Metric Bikes Main Page

Thank you for the link.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by jeffs99vulcan

I've been looking into this one a little more because we have a local shop that sells this exact one... What exactly is the motorcycle attachment for the for? I'm just curious, why will this thing change other tires without, but needs this attachment for motorcycle tires? I'm sure it has a reason, I just can't figure it out without seeing it in place...

The base changer just has a center post with a screw down collar that fits over it. Its also has a pin that sticks up that goes into a lug hole to keep the rim from spinning. That is ok for the larger center hole on a car tire.

The bike attachement has "fingers" that grip the edge of the rim. You set 2 blocks with the fingers in place, then clamp the rim in by screwing donw the other clamp. The attachement goes on top of the base unit, and has an upper arm with a moveable center post to leverage the bar from.

the picture is the motorcycle attachement. The red MC attachment fits down over the center post where you would normally set a car tire. The black and white portion of the pic is the basic changer.

I think you could use the MC attachement for car tires as well.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Makes sense! Thanks Shawn! Always nice to know why the attachment is more than the base, especially when you have a vision in your head that a wheel is a wheel!

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by jeffs99vulcan

Makes sense! Thanks Shawn! Always nice to know why the attachment is more than the base, especially when you have a vision in your head that a wheel is a wheel!

Yeah, I know what you mean.

A lot of older tire changers (manual or automatic shop machines) had a center post where the wheel would be locked down with a sort of nut. The machine would then rotate the bar, or the operator would push the manual bar, to remove and mount the tire. These are fine if you have steel wheels with hubcaps, because they do tend to mar the center of the wheel. This is how the base changer is designed.

Newer automatic tire changers are designed to be more rim friendly, so they have grippers that fit the outside of the rim like the MC attachment. This is pretty much a requirement for any aluminum or alloy wheel.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Hmmm... been a while since I watched them do a wheel I guess, because the way you describe the "older tire changers" is exactly the only kind of tire changer I really know! I used to help my Dad do a lot of tractor tire changes, we did the big rear tires ourselves but had the smaller front ones done at a tire shop, and I can picture the machine as clearly as you describe it.

Side note... old, rusty wheels sometimes blow tires when the tech is trying to get the bead to seat... not pretty!