[6rMonsterEd]

Hello,

I got this zx6r 09 and wanted to go 10r for power, I posted the sale 16 times in the past few months and I delete it 10min later. I am not ready to let this beauty go just yet, the 09/12 are sick looking bikes. I think I am addicted and obsessed with this bike in some ways, I have everything I need in it, the sound is monsterous and perhaps I need to see a doctor or a mechanic for my attachement problem. Is the bike really that good or am I crazy?

With that bring said, it is time for tire changes. Bringing my own sets. I was told last year that tire change is 25$ at cyclegear but now they changed the rate to 50$ in Alabama Tenessee area. Is this the new cost nowadays? Any other places you know for 25$ a tire.

 

[RJ2112]

Can’t tell you what the going rate is for changing a motorcycle tire when you bring in the wheel, and your own tires. $25/wheel with new stems and balance was typical 3 years ago… tire disposal was extra.

At $25, it’s not worth it to me to buy the tools to change my tires myself. $50 per rim would probably make me re-think that.

 

[6rMonsterEd]

Hi RJ,
I did and canceled the order because the wheels might need to be balanced. The tool is 69$ to balance the tires and tire spoons go for 15$. I am only concerned about balancing the tires. I can change them myself.

 

[Scorpi0]

I met this guy a few years back who bought all the tools required to change motorcycle tires. He even had a balancer. He was doing tire changes out of his garage on the weekends to pay for the equipment he bought.
Its something to consider if you wanna buy your own stuff.

And yes….I recently took my bike wheels to have the rubbers swapped at a local bike shop and it was close to $100 bucks when I got the bill. Fúckin ridiculous!!

 

[SteveAustin]

Hey, the shoes on my '17 6R are Michelins I put on by hand. While I have a static balancer (the kind with an axle with two cones) you can use your axle and something to hold both ends level. At those rates, I'd just buy the balancer (I did... a long time ago, though). Stick-on weights and duct-tape are relatively cheap.
Get Motion-Pro spoons, the longer the better; also get the Motion-Pro bead-breaker pair (looks kinda like long tire-irons).

Changing the tires by hand isn't that hard, but the very last four inches of bead can make you swear if you're not using really good spoons that don't slide away. Having a spouse/SO/friend help, helps.

I am more than likely going to get a rim-clamp pneumatic-electric tire station and dedicate 3sq ft of my garage floor to it (next to my 2-stage 60gal compressor, which is a tool I am grateful I have nearly daily). I think if you go through a set of shoes (tires) in a season, this is overkill. I go through a set in a weekend, once a month (racing) and my Goldwing once a season.

 

[Scumbag]

You will always pay more when you bring your tires for shops to mount. Local Harley shops charge 150$ a wheel if you bring them your wheel and tires. Most others charge $50. Ya really don’t save anything buying your tires and doing it this way. Maybe 20 bucks. You buy tires from the local shop they mount balance for free and you have support if something goes wrong or messed up . It helps them keep the lights on. Some Guys these days like ordering everything online to save a dollar . Attempting to fix stuff themselves. Mess a bunch of shit up. Then cry because there isn’t any local professional shops around to help them out lol. You ran em out of business saving that 10$.

and static balancing stand for a sport bike tire is a horrible idea. It’s never going to be balanced correctly. Granted it maybe static balanced somewhat close. But you never want to static balance sport bike tires. You want to Dynamic balance. Static balancing is prob why guys think they “need” a stabilizer lol

 

[riverszzr]

Sportbikes and most standards I charge $90 for the set if you ride it in and ride it out (mounted and balanced)

if you simply carry in loose wheels I charge $50

and yes the recycle charge is extra

and lots of cruisers and touring bikes cost more

I have had a few customers buy there own stuff to do it themself, and I still see them come back.......... They were under the impression that their 2 or 3 sets a year and often less......was worth the $800 and space investment..none of them still think that with the rare exception when they pull off a half or 3/4 worn set for a trip and later put those mostly worn out tires back on.......

and I disagree with the bottom half of the above post and agree with the top half........... Racers wheel and tires are routinely static balanced with no problems and I have done upwards of 10,000 tire installs this way without issue, it all depends on your care and workmanship along with good tools to do it.
I have a centrifigul balancer too, and occassionally I throw one on there I already balanced and it always comes up zero or 5grams (which you cannot even buy 5 gram weights and since they banned lead- metal stick ons are nearly impossible and not practical to cut in half to get a 5 gram weight.....

 

[SteveAustin]

and I disagree with the bottom half of the above post and agree with the top half........... Racers wheel and tires are routinely static balanced with no problems and I have done upwards of 10,000 tire installs this way without issue, it all depends on your care and workmanship along with good tools to do it.

I disagree with the first half I've changed my own tires since my first XR-75. When racing, sometimes the vendor'll do it for free, most times his fee is 'in the price quoted trackside', so I'll call and get a few sets delivered, usually the datecodes are fresher, too. I prefer not to do a whole race season - I'm planning on two sets of wheels - by hand, though I could. What I'll do is get a junk changer before someone sends it to California for refurbishment, and repair it myself (usually seals and bearings).

I totally agree with the second half - I just wasn't going to call @Scumbag out because this is his livelihood. I've raced for years using static balancers, and balanced many tires myself, well in the hundreds.

 

[Scumbag]

Sportbikes and most standards I charge $90 for the set if you ride it in and ride it out (mounted and balanced)

if you simply carry in loose wheels I charge $50

and yes the recycle charge is extra

and lots of cruisers and touring bikes cost more

I have had a few customers buy there own stuff to do it themself, and I still see them come back.......... They were under the impression that their 2 or 3 sets a year and often less......was worth the $800 and space investment..none of them still think that with the rare exception when they pull off a half or 3/4 worn set for a trip and later put those mostly worn out tires back on.......

and I disagree with the bottom half of the above post and agree with the top half........... Racers wheel and tires are routinely static balanced with no problems and I have done upwards of 10,000 tire installs this way without issue, it all depends on your care and workmanship along with good tools to do it.
I have a centrifigul balancer too, and occassionally I throw one on there I already balanced and it always comes up zero or 5grams (which you cannot even buy 5 gram weights and since they banned lead- metal stick ons are nearly impossible and not practical to cut in half to get a 5 gram weight.....

Well I shouldn’t have said “never a good idea”. I think you disagree because you know how to use a static balance. I have also static balanced with my 150$ stand then threw on my 2k speed balancer and come up damn near perfect. Yet i have balanced tires other people have static balanced and they be off a mile. Static balancing only works if you take your time and get them exact. It’s not hard. It is a bit time consuming. Race guys know to be patient and exact. A back yard guy who buys a set of spoons and a static balancer to save 50$ is rarely patient and skilled enough to get them right. And I’m not saying no one will get them good static balancing I’m just saying the chances are there when on a machine they ant. But then again I seen guys who don’t know how to use a machine either lol.

with that said I know guys who never balance tires and never seem to have a issue.

And side note I’d rather change 10 sport bike tires than one cruiser tire. Gold wings and Harley baggers are the worse to remove (rear) anyways. Harley shop locally if you own a road or street glide having a new rear tire installed cost around 700$. It’s insane.
Looks like your prices are exactly what are prices are. What are you paying for disposal roughly now? I remember when we paid 50 cents a tire. Now it’s 10$ A TIRE. We sometimes get a little break off that.

but buying your tires and having mounted from a shop really doesn’t end up saving people as much as they think they do. And supporting your local Indy guys is always A good idea. Tires are actually one of the biggest profit products a Indy shop can have. And not because they’re ripping you off but because they buy in bulk to get the prices down. You really have to move some tires to profit.

 

[Scumbag]

I disagree with the first half I've changed my own tires since my first XR-75. When racing, sometimes the vendor'll do it for free, most times his fee is 'in the price quoted trackside', so I'll call and get a few sets delivered, usually the datecodes are fresher, too. I prefer not to do a whole race season - I'm planning on two sets of wheels - by hand, though I could. What I'll do is get a junk changer before someone sends it to California for refurbishment, and repair it myself (usually seals and bearings).

I totally agree with the second half - I just wasn't going to call @Scumbag out because this is his livelihood. I've raced for years using static balancers, and balanced many tires myself, well in the hundreds.

Nha it’s not like that at all. I’m all for guys learning and doing stuff at home. There will always be guys who just can’t or don’t want to that will keep the lights on. Especially off-road guys. They eat up tires and they are super simple to change once you have someone walk you through it. So after I see the same guy several times buying tires I alwasy offer to “school” him on how to do it. Some do. Some would rather pay. I have and will always manually mount off-road tires. I can do a dirtbike tire in about 4 minutes once the wheel is off. And no balancing dirtbike tires so for guys to not learn they are either lazy or just have money to burn. Even street tires are simple to mount. I have shown lots of guys and they end up just bringing them for balancing. And I never charge for that .
plus I’m not officially a worker at the dealership anymore. I run the motocross park and my little shop here. And just work there for fun or when it’s slow here. So I make the same rather guys bring tires or not 😂. It’s always a good idea to do your own wrenching. But guys in 2023. Are more like the women of the 70”s. Majority of Dudes these days just don’t know shit. And when they attempt to fix shit it just turns into a nightmare for the mechanic who actually ends up fixing it. Recommended guys do there one wrenching. It’s a double edge sword lol

 

[SteveAustin]

But guys in 2023. Are more like the women of the 70”s. Majority of Dudes these days just don’t know shit. And when they attempt to fix shit it just turns into a nightmare for the mechanic who actually ends up fixing it.

Ain't that the truth right there. I just don't get it, but I guess I get it, they're all far faster at texting and some video games than me.

 

[Scumbag]

Ain't that the truth right there. I just don't get it, but I guess I get it, they're all far faster at texting and some video games than me.

It’s getting worse. True story. Had a guy ask to borrow a wrench down here at the park. I handed him a ratchet wrench. He brings it back telling me he needs one to tighten. That one just loosens. My wife had to show him to flip the wrench and it would work. He was still a little confused. She lays it in his hand the right way up and said. “Now walk straight to the bolt and it will tightn” My wife knows more just being around me and down here at the track than 90”% of the guys know. It’s getting worse by the year. Showed a guy how to “roll” a bicycle chain on by starting it on the crank and pedal one day. He thought I was the smartest guy he ever meet lol. Kept telling his buddy’s about that “trick”

I started to really blow his mind and loosen the axle and slide the wheel back so it would stop popping off. But I figured one thing at a time with him. Dint want to overwhelm him.

 

[6rMonsterEd]

I want to thank everyone for their insights. RJ you sealed the deal right off the bet. I am doing it myself. Time has changed, it's very sad. Anyone knows if the regular amazon tire inflator 100/150psi is enough to pop the bead in place, or do I need a 200$ 2.0HP compressor?

 

[RJ2112]

My solution is counter to what you may expect; I've been running sport touring tires (in this particular case, tyres) for about the last 8 years. I have no need to change them every 3.5-6K miles, so instead of more than once a year, New tires get mounted with about the same interval as my chain..... Over 12K between sets of tires.

 

[SteveAustin]

I want to thank everyone for their insights. RJ you sealed the deal right off the bet. I am doing it myself. Time has changed, it's very sad. Anyone knows if the regular amazon tire inflator 100/150psi is enough to pop the bead in place, or do I need a 200$ 2.0HP compressor?

IME, it's airflow (cfm) that matters more than pressure - you have to have enough flow so that when you do momentarily 'seal' the tire, it'll keep inflating fast despite the leakage. If you've done it, you know what I mean, hard to describe right if you haven't. I can do it with my 60gal C-H compressor at 60psi, couldn't always do it with my old cheap 25gal Craftsman at 95psi. The days you can't do it, you can resort to hairspray or ether and a lighter.

 

[6rMonsterEd]

My solution is counter to what you may expect; I've been running sport touring tires (in this particular case, tyres) for about the last 8 years. I have no need to change them every 3.5-6K miles, so instead of more than once a year, New tires get mounted with about the same interval as my chain..... Over 12K between sets of tires.

Angel STs will do the trick for the next 5 years. I am not hard on tires.

IME, it's airflow (cfm) that matters more than pressure - you have to have enough flow so that when you do momentarily 'seal' the tire, it'll keep inflating fast despite the leakage. If you've done it, you know what I mean, hard to describe right if you haven't. I can do it with my 60gal C-H compressor at 60psi, couldn't always do it with my old cheap 25gal Craftsman at 95psi. The days you can't do it, you can resort to hairspray or ether and a lighter.

Or any tire shop might do it free actually. Not a big deal!