Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2016 20:37:51 GMT
I find this activity a mixture of the most satisfying job you can do to your bike...... and the most frustrating and annoying?
I put a new rear tyre on the CB1100 today, ready for this riding season. On a modern Honda bike it takes around 90 seconds to remove the back wheel, the design is superb. You undo one big nut on the axle, slacken the adjusters and after withdrawing the spindle it just drops out. the adjusters, rear caliper carrier, ABS gizmos- all just stays put.
And once the new tyre is on, the nice double crack as you blast the air in and the beads reseat. Then the restful balancing procedure- marking the light spot and sticking the weights on. Very relaxing. I was pleased to note that with positioning the tyre to the balancing marks it took only 10 grams of weight to set it up perfectly.
So you quickly forget the absolutely exhausting, sweaty and painful bit in between when trying to get the blummin' tyre on manually with just a set of levers. Juggling rim protectors, gooping the tyre up so everything slips on everything else, holding one side of the tyre down with one knee, pushing a lever in place with the other, trying to get a lever in with one hand and holding yet another with the other hand. cursing at the whole thing as it refuses to go back on. Who needs a gym session!
I can't make up my mind whether I enjoy this activity. But I do remember a tale I heard- mate of a mate- who was so determined to fit a tyre to his Kawwi Triple he took all day and considerable effort and finally succeeded, thinking it was the most difficult job on a bike to do. He then found out he had fitted an 18" tyre to a 19" wheel....
I put a new rear tyre on the CB1100 today, ready for this riding season. On a modern Honda bike it takes around 90 seconds to remove the back wheel, the design is superb. You undo one big nut on the axle, slacken the adjusters and after withdrawing the spindle it just drops out. the adjusters, rear caliper carrier, ABS gizmos- all just stays put.
And once the new tyre is on, the nice double crack as you blast the air in and the beads reseat. Then the restful balancing procedure- marking the light spot and sticking the weights on. Very relaxing. I was pleased to note that with positioning the tyre to the balancing marks it took only 10 grams of weight to set it up perfectly.
So you quickly forget the absolutely exhausting, sweaty and painful bit in between when trying to get the blummin' tyre on manually with just a set of levers. Juggling rim protectors, gooping the tyre up so everything slips on everything else, holding one side of the tyre down with one knee, pushing a lever in place with the other, trying to get a lever in with one hand and holding yet another with the other hand. cursing at the whole thing as it refuses to go back on. Who needs a gym session!
I can't make up my mind whether I enjoy this activity. But I do remember a tale I heard- mate of a mate- who was so determined to fit a tyre to his Kawwi Triple he took all day and considerable effort and finally succeeded, thinking it was the most difficult job on a bike to do. He then found out he had fitted an 18" tyre to a 19" wheel....