Change motorcycle tire

[grouch]

Got the tire mounted, balanced, and new valve stem done for $27 at a mom an pop spot on a back road in the middle of nowhere!

I always try to patronize local shops. I don't like to buy off the internet if I can avoid it. If you don't do business with the local shop, they'll close up and you'll pay top dollar at a big shop that may not give a darn. Mom and pop do. There's a shop like that about a mile from my house. He does good work and in some cases better than the bigger shops. I had a (now former) Kawasaki dealership fix the one electrical fault my Concours had under warranty and while they were at it, change the coolant. They quoted me $40 to change the coolant. When I picked it up, I was charged $60 to change the coolant and they didn't even fill it up. It help 3.8 quarts and I had to add 1.5 quarts to fill it. They also charged me $60 to change a fuse. The fuse kept blowing which is why it went to the dealer. It was under warranty and they didn't even try to fix it. I finally tracked the problem to a bad connection on the headlight plug. Once I found it, it took about 15 minutes to fix it. I made it a point to mention this on the Concours mailing list. Kawasaki also is on there. That gouging cost the dealership a LOT of business. I had planned to buy a $600 riding jacket with body armor. I didn't. They also had a smaller bike I was looking at for around town, I didn't buy that either. They lost their dealership about a year later.

[dom]

Yeah..

I will keep a mom and pop alive any chance I get.

You know, I could not get one spot to mount my tire anywhere!

NOT ONE..

[J. ZIMM]

How accurate is the balancing?

I like the idea, too - but (for sport bikes that see very high speeds, especially) I definitely want my tires balanced precisely....

For high speeds, you want a Dynamic Balancing job on your tires. What he is showing is a Static balance. That's OK for normal around town riding. Dynamic takes the side to side or shimmy out of the tire/wheel assembly. The same thing on a passenger tire. I use to have a machine that would do MO-MO tires and vehicle tires Dynamically.

[DonTom]

Some good tire wrenches maybe around $40.

Wouldn't this make the job a lot easier?

-Don-