DIY Tyre Fitting

[madcockney]

On at least two stands at the NEC Bike Show there was DIY tyre fitting gear on sale. Out of curiosity has anyone done this, what did they find, and did they need anything else other then a tyre bead breaker, tyre levers or equivalent, and a wheel balancer.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah it's easy

Big vice or lots of pies and a shovel to break the beads.
Tyre levers and soap to remove and replace.
New valves cheap as chips from tyrebaydirect
Air compressor or brake cleaner and flame to re-seat the beads

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

New valves cheap as chips from tyrebaydirect

WTF, they are less than 10p delivered. Next time I take the cage for tyres I might just take my own, save them scamming £2 or £3 per wheel

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by tigersaw

WTF, they are less than 10p delivered. Next time I take the cage for tyres I might just take my own, save them scamming £2 or £3 per wheel

They also sell screw in valves. Great if you making spud guns

[Taipan]

I change my own tyres, both car and bike. Take the valve core out, place spade next to rim and jump on it and push through. Break the beads seal on each side and then kneel on the tyre on one side so it sits in the deep rim well. Inch it off with tyre levers. Once one side is off I stand the wheel up and put a long tyre lever through the tyre and bend the lever up over the rim squashing the tyre down. I then whack the tyre with a rubber mallet until it pops off.

I always clean the inside of the rim and get rid of the old rubber that’s stuck to the rim as this is what prevents a good seal and you get those slow but annoying punctures.

To fit the tyres I normally "walk" them on with my boots. Sometimes you have to use levers though. I use a compressor to inflate them and then refit valve core and set pressure.

I then soak the tyre around the rim with soapy water and leave it for 5 minutes to see if any fine bubbling appears. If it does whack the tyre with your rubber mallet and this will stop it. Once or twice I've had to break the seal and do it again though.

I don’t buy tyre soap and normally just use soapy water or furniture polish. For rim protection I use some heavy duty yellow plastic pipe which is cut along one length to allow fitting over the rim.

I can't be bother so am happy to pay the tyre man.

I do mine on one of my bikes but use mostly 'proper' gear i.e. bead breaker, compressor, levers, tyre soap, rim protectors.

To be honest I've only done 3 tyres so far (2 rears 1 front, although that included taking the first rear off and putting it back on again, twice) and I find it a bit of a struggle when I'm trying to get the tyre back on the rim (not seating it, just getting the tyre over the rim). That's the only bit that takes me time to do, then again it is the only bit that requires physical effort really

It costs me a fiver a rim to have a tyre swopped. For that little cost I wouldn't break a sweat doing it myself.

[yorkie_chris]

Over both ends of the bike that's halfway to a decent night in the pub!

Light weight[pub]

No serious mention of the balancing after fitting and having the proper weights available