I have always changed my own tires by hand using spoons and rim guards to avoid scaring of my rims, making sure things are lube properly, reassembled properly, cleaning up areas not normally accessible, etc. I have helped others change their tires and have never had a problem until this last summer. I was helping a fellow rider change the rear tire on his VTX 1800C and just could not get that tire off the rim and so it went to the dealer. I was disappointed.
Then late this fall I was changing out the rear tire (Dunlop 206) on my Valkyrie and I was not able to get the second bead off the rim. After three tries, I decided there has to be better way to dismount and mount tires.
I looked at all kinds of tire changing systems; some are not even available now. Apparently, one that is not available anymore is the inexpensive Harbor Freight model that requires a motorcycle attachment for larger tires. If it was available I probably would have purchased it.
As part of my searching on the internet, I ran across the following website:
http://no-scufftiretool.com/ Dave Anderson has put together a wonderful site with much DIY information. I found this site inspiring and was impressed with his no-scufftiretool. I decided I would build my own changer fashioned much after the car wheel design that Dave shows in his videos. My changer is a Home Depot special costing about $25. The materials included a piece of 2X10; 36” of ¾ inch threaded rod; ¾” washers and nuts, SCH 40 conduit that would fit over the ¾ inch bar; and some cull one by material. The main plank is 4’ long, at least for now. The idea was that a car/truck tire could be rolled up on the end of the plank to make it stationary or it could be clamped to a work surface similar to what Dave shows in his videos. The photo below show the rest of the construction, it’s pretty simple.
The next photo shows the changer with a tire in place on the changer to be demounted. (That’s the Valk tire that was kicking my butt). I removed the rotor from the wheel and put that face against the changer. The flange drive was also removed for cleaning and O ring inspection, that’s side shown in the photo. But needless to say with Dave’s no-scufftiretool, the tire was demounted in a flash.
I changed out the front tire after I put in place on the changer more supports to steady the front wheel. Obviously the wheel designs are different and this needs to be accommodated for. (This is where Dave’s car wheel design is far superior). No problems with this change out, much better than wrestling the tire with tire irons, et al.
