Tire changes...

Ha! well I just put new tires on my Vit (ContiRoad), so not for that bike. Getting the old ones off was such a bastard I decided “that was the last time with spoons! I need better tools!”

I do expect a new rear wheel for my FTR in a few months, so that's probably going to be the first one.
 
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Nice! Since I don't have a garage to store my stuff I went with the TMT3 a few years ago. It folds up so easier to store in a closet. 18" to 21" so it works for my Harleys, Goldwing, CCM and Ural. I haven't tried it yet on a 17" but will soon as my Vit needs a new rear. I might have to make some modifications to get it to work.
I now see they are up to the TMT5

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The Harbor Freight wheel balancer uses 608z bearings, but cheap ones. Replace them with Powell China Red bearings from any skateboard shop $16. Put them in the freezer before installing them (after hammering out the old ones and baking the “rollers” at 175F). Good to go!
 
Ben Dover said:
The Harbor Freight wheel balancer uses 608z bearings, but cheap ones. Replace them with Powell China Red bearings from any skateboard shop $16. Put them in the freezer before installing them (after hammering out the old ones and baking the “rollers” at 175F). Good to go!
Click to expand...
So, I picked up a kit which included the changer and balancer.

Then I took @Ben Dover 's advice because I actually had some Reds laying around... aside form the baking/ freezing part cause im not planning to hit the half pipe with my tire balancer...

Man, was that serious though? It take like 10 minutes for the wheel to stop...
 
I put on a fresh set of 2CTs with the manual machine today, wow is that easy.

Balancing was a bit hard, 5g is the smallest weight size I got, and with those China red bearings on the balancer tool, if a fly lands on the tire it turns...
 
So yeah,

I went with this machine "kit", primarily for two reasons:

1. The guy on the phone was helpful,
2. The additional parts for the 401's 15mm axles were provided free of charge.

Screenshot_20211024-013953_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
When locking down the wingnuts on the cones of your balancer axel, remember to snug them down opposite of each other as to cancel out each other’s mass.
You will get so good at it that you will be cutting weights in halves just because you can.
 
Ben Dover said:
When locking down the wingnuts on the cones of your balancer axel, remember to snug them down opposite of each other as to cancel out each other’s mass.
You will get so good at it that you will be cutting weights in halves just because you can.
Click to expand...
I didnt use the cones with wingnuts, I had mine delivered with a second axle that fits my wheel bearings just right; in addition to the one with cones.

Yes, having experiance with car tires that have weights down to 2.5 g, the motorcycle weights only going down to 5 g seemed strange...
 
Btw, these wingnuts are close to the center, they hardly make a difference in imbalance. If it's 5 gram extra weight, it only counts as 0.5 gram at the rim (assuming the wingnut is at about 1/10th the distance to the rim).
 
I built this tire changing stand about three weeks ago. It's about 30 lbs. and works really well.
 

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