How many of you change your own tires and what equipment do you use? pics would be helpful too. I think it's a rip off taking my bike to the shop to replace the rubber and end up paying $80 per tire which is rediculous.
I do. The final nail in the coffin was carring the wheel and tire in already off the bike and was charged $49 and change to mount and balance a tire onto the wheel.
Let me start by saying I have a friend who allows me to use his NoMar changer now which is much easier. But a little determination can go a long way, even though it may look a little redneck.
You'll need an imovable object. In this pic I used the front end bucket of my tractor, but you could use anything, bumper of a vehicle concrete steps etc, anything you can get the end of your lever under. In this pic the lever is a 6' landscaping timber. You'll also need a block of wood or plastic to break the bead, a short 2x4 block in this picture. Place something under the wheel to keep it off the concrete or out of the dirt, longer 2x4's in this pic.
Be careful to keep your bead breaker off the wheel its self to avoid scratches. By useing wood your less likely to get scratches even if it does slightly touch.
A thick piece of hard plastic hose from the plumbing section at Lowe's, I think this was 3/8" less then 50 cents. Split it lengthwise and it becomes your rim protector.
I ended up useing shorter pieces so I could move them where I wanted them.
50/50 mix water/dish detergent. Use lots.
Short block under your knees, depress sidewall, tire tools oppoisite and start working it off.
Pry bars in this pic. Buy you some tire tools they are cheap and work way better.
These are items that a lot of people will have in their shop/garage or can be purchased dirt cheap. As for the balanceing I used Dyna beads which I'm not a fan of but they worked ok.
I much prefer the tire changer method but I will go back to doing this before I pay $100 to have tires mounted when they are already off the bike.
