Modern Buddy

Aside from taking your scooter to the dealer for a tire change, where do you all get your tires mounted? We're capable of changing the tire but need the new one mounted. We've used Affordable Tire before but we kinda have to talk them into it because they don't want to damage the rim. We'll use our dealer when we have other service issues but for a simple tire change we would like to think we can do on our own!

I have used Steve, former tech from Vespa Oceanside for numerous tire swaps. But he's closer to me, than you....

For the Buddys, I've also wrestled them on myself in the garage, but it isn't much fun. However I can do it in less time than it takes to drive somewhere and wait for it to be done.

If you really, really want to do it yourself, you might consider picking up the mini tire changer from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/mini-tire- ... 34552.html

I haven't used it myself, but I think I've seen it mentioned here once or twice. Personally, I didn't want to mess with it, so I took mine to the shop.

I mounted my own with some soap and a tire spoon. Ok, I lied. I used a screw driver... The manual tire changers are awesome. I have the full size machine. I paid $30 bucks for it and have already made my money back on it.

PS... HF is giving away stuff today. Got your coupons? Going for my free multimeter today.

OMG! $40 for that. I am so there!

Matt, we thought about doing ourselves but didn't think it was possible or even very easy without a 'machine'. I like the Harbor Freight one. Kevin saw the ramp and bought it....so we'll just get this tire changer.

I vote that you get the Harbor Freight Mini tire mounter: $29.99. That way I can come and visit you when I need to change a tire!!! I'll even split the cost with you!

Found a MV how-to thread on using it: http://modernvespa.com/forum/topic10771

teacherquinn wrote:OMG! $40 for that. I am so there!

Matt, we thought about doing ourselves but didn't think it was possible or even very easy without a 'machine'. I like the Harbor Freight one. Kevin saw the ramp and bought it....so we'll just get this tire changer.

I cave-manned it with hand tools.

Taurus. Stubborn.

Skootz Kabootz wrote:I vote that you get the Harbor Freight Mini tire mounter: $29.99. That way I can come and visit you when I need to change a tire!!! I'll even split the cost with you!

Found a MV how-to thread on using it: http://modernvespa.com/forum/topic10771

Justin, it says that it's on back-order. I may run by the local HF tomorrow and see if they have it in stock. NOW you really have a reason to visit us more often!

Wow, I'd no idea you could get a tire mounter/bead breaker so cheaply!

I'm not so confident in all the Harbor Freight heavy hardware, but as infrequently as I'd use this… Hm…

Skootz, it may be time to start thinking about a local collective. I've loaned out my tools a few times. Maybe we can start up a collection, find someone with a garage. (I have one, it's just full of stuff!)

ericalm wrote:Wow, I'd no idea you could get a tire mounter/bead breaker so cheaply!

I'm not so confident in all the Harbor Freight heavy hardware, but as infrequently as I'd use this… Hm…

Skootz, it may be time to start thinking about a local collective. I've loaned out my tools a few times. Maybe we can start up a collection, find someone with a garage. (I have one, it's just full of stuff!)

Ok, Kevin picked one up on his way home from work. We'll (he'll) try it tonight and let you all know. Now you guys have to ride up and use it!

Hey Eric, you ignoring my texts?? Nothing important...just another dumb question!

Not a bad little tool, but only one issue, it DOES drag on the rim surface, so If you have pretty rims its not a good idea.

Most GOOD bike or scooter shops have machines that don't touch the rims...just FYI

The key to the manual machines is to use lots of lube.

teacherquinn wrote:

ericalm wrote:Wow, I'd no idea you could get a tire mounter/bead breaker so cheaply!

I'm not so confident in all the Harbor Freight heavy hardware, but as infrequently as I'd use this… Hm…

Skootz, it may be time to start thinking about a local collective. I've loaned out my tools a few times. Maybe we can start up a collection, find someone with a garage. (I have one, it's just full of stuff!)

Ok, Kevin picked one up on his way home from work. We'll (he'll) try it tonight and let you all know. Now you guys have to ride up and use it!

Hey Eric, you ignoring my texts?? Nothing important...just another dumb question!

Awesome Linda. My next tire change will be done at your place. Psyched! We could have tire changing parties every few months! I'll bring beer. Of course a simple tire change might very well turn into an all weekend event that way.

Eric, I'd totally be in to finding a work space. Or (he said hopefully), I could help you clear out your garage in return for being able to work there from time to time...

Skootz Kabootz wrote:

teacherquinn wrote:

ericalm wrote:Wow, I'd no idea you could get a tire mounter/bead breaker so cheaply!

I'm not so confident in all the Harbor Freight heavy hardware, but as infrequently as I'd use this… Hm…

Skootz, it may be time to start thinking about a local collective. I've loaned out my tools a few times. Maybe we can start up a collection, find someone with a garage. (I have one, it's just full of stuff!)

Ok, Kevin picked one up on his way home from work. We'll (he'll) try it tonight and let you all know. Now you guys have to ride up and use it!

Hey Eric, you ignoring my texts?? Nothing important...just another dumb question!

Awesome Linda. My next tire change will be done at your place. Psyched! We could have tire changing parties every few months! I'll bring beer. Of course a simple tire change might very well turn into an all weekend event that way.

Eric, I'd totally be in to finding a work space. Or (he said hopefully), I could help you clear out your garage in return for being able to work there from time to time...

Yes! We just need to invite Julie. And Matt. He's pretty handy too.

Kevin just got home with the thing so we'll watch the video and give it a shot. He also bought a gallon of lube.

Suggestion for protecting your rims, wrap the claws of the tire-changer with electrical tape, that way it will tear up the tape before it demolishes your rims! The tape is thin enough that it won't interfere with the function of the tool, but soft enough that it will be damaged before the rim. I recommend two layers, and checking to make sure it hasn't torn off before you do each wheel. Ya know, since electrical tape is a lot cheaper than a new rim!
Or whatever part is touching the rim, if there aren't claws... wrap it up!

I never thought a thread about changing tires would have so many..but sure, I"ll add to the mess...

More lube is ALWAYS a good idea...

and practice practice practice

My tires are tubed, so i got a tire iron no beads to break.

and my last tire change, for 1 tire was 50.00 so i will be doing them myself, they refused to patch the tube had to get another one, which they did not have in stock.

Don't Stella rims split and unbolt into two halves, negating the need to pry the tires with an iron?

izark47 wrote:My tires are tubed, so i got a tire iron no beads to break.

and my last tire change, for 1 tire was 50.00 so i will be doing them myself, they refused to patch the tube had to get another one, which they did not have in stock.

^^^ Ouch, you need another shop...$50? to change a tire??? The shop I owned? We charged $20..and kept most tubes in stock, but yeah...I would NEVER patch a tube for a customer...too much liabilty these days...Think about it.

For reference on the Harbor Freight tire changer. I ordered one on line a few weeks ago and it totaled to $41 after the "20% discount on one item", plus shipping and tax. The only catch is they told me it was backordered until 11/11/11 - yep, November. Oh well.

viney266 wrote:

izark47 wrote:My tires are tubed, so i got a tire iron no beads to break.

and my last tire change, for 1 tire was 50.00 so i will be doing them myself, they refused to patch the tube had to get another one, which they did not have in stock.

^^^ Ouch, you need another shop...$50? to change a tire??? The shop I owned? We charged $20..and kept most tubes in stock, but yeah...I would NEVER patch a tube for a customer...too much liabilty these days...Think about it.

Yeah I understand the liability thing, I did ask for the old tube and will patch for a spare.

I used a combination of the No Mar Bar, and the mini changer from HF. Getting the tire off was not a problem, getting the one side of the tire over the rim no problem. Getting the rest of the tire over the rim was a head ache. I couldn't get the mini changer to clamp down tight enough to prevent the wheel from turning while mounting. It took two of us one trying to pry it back on and the other using the the bar. I tried the one that came with the HF changer as well and it didn't help any for those last few inches.

here is the link to the no mar bar http://www.nomartirechanger.com/products/6, I also ended up getting their yellow thing in order to keep the tire from coming back off the rim. When I bought it they had a deal that included their lube which worked fairly well. They have videos on their site which show how it works.

The HF changer was good at breaking the bead, but now I wish I'd bought their discontinued motorcycle specific changer, it gripped the rim instead of trying to clamp a nylon cone washer down on the center of the wheel. I may get the tire spoons from No Mar to help with that last little bit.

But once it was on and re-aired up it felt good to have done it myself.

Another option for protecting your rim is to cut up a plastic milk jug and put it around the metal bits of the tire changer that will come into contact with the rim.

That tire changer from HF might be neat, but has anyone done a tutorial on how to get the rear wheel off? I've heard it's a royal pain in the arse.

Here are a couple links, in the first scroll down to Kurt's post, it's pretty minimilastic. I took the exhaust off of mine. Link two is a little more detailed and has pics. Link three has a pdf that can be downloaded and is pretty comprehensive with pictures you can print off and take outside with you.

viewtopic.php?t=10096
topic9215.html
topic11038.html

Thanks for the links dsmith65!

Help! Those of you have have used the Harbor Freight mini tire changer - do you have to knock out the center part of the front wheel? I got one this weekend and successfully changed the back tire, but the front tire doesn't fit over the shaft. It looks like there's a sleeve that could be removed, but I'm hesistant to hammer at it without knowing what I'm doing.

As for a quick review of the changer - it certainly works. It takes quite a bit of elbow grease, but it does the job. At least, it does when you can get the wheel onto it!

That's most likely the wheel bearings and you don't want to just hammer on them. If you hit the inner race, you'll ruin them.

If there's not an adapter that comes with the mini tire changer then you're going to have to either press the bearings out or use a bearing puller.

Hopefully someone with specific experience will chime in.

Just remember: No Hammer!

Is mounting a tubeless tire that much harder than one with tubes?
I have been shown by the mechs at my dealership how to mount the tires for my stella and all I'll need is a vice grip and a small crowbar, plus access to an air compressor.

Yep, they're different. A tubeless tire has a bead that must seat in the rim for it to hold pressure. As such, it's much thicker and stiffer and needs a lot more leverage to go into the rim. After that, it takes a decent shock of air pressure to seat the bead.

Lotrat wrote:The key to the manual machines is to use lots of lube.

When in doubt, use more lube.

[quote="viney266"

^^^ Ouch, you need another shop...$50? to change a tire??? The shop I owned? We charged $20..and kept most tubes in stock, but yeah...I would NEVER patch a tube for a customer...too much liabilty these days...Think about it.[/quote]

Why can't the shop give the option of patching up the tube and say that because of liability issues, the work is not guaranteed. Do laws not even allow for that?

Lokky wrote:Is mounting a tubeless tire that much harder than one with tubes?
I have been shown by the mechs at my dealership how to mount the tires for my stella and all I'll need is a vice grip and a small crowbar, plus access to an air compressor.

I didn't think Stella/PX wheels needed even that many tools - don't you just unbolt the two halves of the wheel?

A thought came to me:

From reading the forum, it seems that sometimes getting a scooter tyre changed is taking an inexorable amount of time even though the job is relatively simple. The amount of time spent is because the scooter is sitting in the shop for days just waiting. My thought was how difficult is it to strike up a relationship with the scooter mechanic and pay him personally to get the tyre changed during his off hours? If changing a tyre cost say $20, I wouldn't mind paying a little more to get the tyre changed so that I don't have the scooter sitting in the shop for days on end. I can imagine that for many here, the scooter is not just a toy for recreational use. Many use it as their sole or main form of transportation. Of course, for this to happen, the mechanic musn't be using any of his/her boss's tools. I wonder, how would one approach asking a mechanic for this possible option?

teabow1 wrote:A thought came to me:

From reading the forum, it seems that sometimes getting a scooter tyre changed is taking an inexorable amount of time even though the job is relatively simple. The amount of time spent is because the scooter is sitting in the shop for days just waiting. My thought was how difficult is it to strike up a relationship with the scooter mechanic and pay him personally to get the tyre changed during his off hours? If changing a tyre cost say $20, I wouldn't mind paying a little more to get the tyre changed so that I don't have the scooter sitting in the shop for days on end. I can imagine that for many here, the scooter is not just a toy for recreational use. Many use it as their sole or main form of transportation. Of course, for this to happen, the mechanic musn't be using any of his/her boss's tools. I wonder, how would one approach asking a mechanic for this possible option?

COMPLETELY depends on your shop and mechanic. Lokky's tires needed changing during a kind of busy point for our shop, and we have a great relationship with them. He paid for a tire change, and they let him watch and taught him to do it himself. He changed the other tire and home by himself when he got the time.

But every shop is going to run differently. Shops make more on labor than most other things, so what happened with us should not be considered the norm.

teabow1 wrote:A thought came to me:

From reading the forum, it seems that sometimes getting a scooter tyre changed is taking an inexorable amount of time even though the job is relatively simple. The amount of time spent is because the scooter is sitting in the shop for days just waiting. My thought was how difficult is it to strike up a relationship with the scooter mechanic and pay him personally to get the tyre changed during his off hours? If changing a tyre cost say $20, I wouldn't mind paying a little more to get the tyre changed so that I don't have the scooter sitting in the shop for days on end. I can imagine that for many here, the scooter is not just a toy for recreational use. Many use it as their sole or main form of transportation. Of course, for this to happen, the mechanic musn't be using any of his/her boss's tools. I wonder, how would one approach asking a mechanic for this possible option?

First of all, there's no reason for a scooter to sit in the shop for days on end for a tire change. Unless it's an emergency, this is something that can be scheduled ahead of time and done pretty quickly. When I did mine at the shop, I left it for one day, but that was only because I can't sit there while they change it on a weekday, nor can I drop everything to head over there mid day to pick it up. That being said, I did successfully change both tires at home this weekend. It took a while to accomplish because this was my first shot at it and because the tire changer we bought wound up not working for the front tire; we had to do the front tire manually. Now that I've done it once, I can't see paying someone to do it unless they did it really cheap, say 20 bucks or so.

I'll be needing to change my tires soon and was going to see if a local motorcycle shop will do it. With that said, if I decide to buy the mini-changer and do it myself, how do you balance the tire (or do you)?
Also which changer is best?

I change mine easily with the Harbor Freight rig and have not ever had to balance.

You shouldn't have to balance them.

Tazio - were you able to change your front tire with the Harbor Freight changer? Mine wouldn't fit on the shaft - the shaft was too thick. We wound up doing the front tire the old fashioned way, with a couple of screw drivers.

FWIW, I would still recommend the mini tire changer. It worked fine on the back tire, and it pays for itself on the first change vs paying a shop to do the job.

PeteH wrote:

Lokky wrote:Is mounting a tubeless tire that much harder than one with tubes?
I have been shown by the mechs at my dealership how to mount the tires for my stella and all I'll need is a vice grip and a small crowbar, plus access to an air compressor.

I didn't think Stella/PX wheels needed even that many tools - don't you just unbolt the two halves of the wheel?

I thought the same thing. One of the things I find attractive about the Stella is how much stuff you can do for yourself.

What kind of mileage do you typically get out of tires, anyway? My MC does good to get 8 to 10k out of a set, with the rear going first.

I think I'd rather change a tire on a scoot than a full-sized MC. I ain't thinkin' about snatching the wheels off my behemoth.

teabow1 wrote:[quote="viney266"

^^^ Ouch, you need another shop...$50? to change a tire??? The shop I owned? We charged $20..and kept most tubes in stock, but yeah...I would NEVER patch a tube for a customer...too much liabilty these days...Think about it.

Why can't the shop give the option of patching up the tube and say that because of liability issues, the work is not guaranteed. Do laws not even allow for that?[/quote]

^^^ Its scumbag lawyers..If, as a shop, you put in a patched tube, and Johhnny crashes his bike due to a flat tire. The lawyers would OWN your shop, house, wife kids..EVERYTHING..EVEN if you had a signed agreement from the customer begging you to use the patched tube...WE REALLY need reform in this country for liabilty. It is crippling businesses with things like this. Things you would even like to do, sometimes you can't. It really is bad.

viney266 wrote:
^^^ Its scumbag lawyers..If, as a shop, you put in a patched tube, and Johhnny crashes his bike due to a flat tire. The lawyers would OWN your shop, house, wife kids..EVERYTHING..EVEN if you had a signed agreement from the customer begging you to use the patched tube...WE REALLY need reform in this country for liabilty. It is crippling businesses with things like this. Things you would even like to do, sometimes you can't. It really is bad.

+1 for truth.

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife...

The last time I replaced my tires, I took it to one of those "we sell almost everything" shops that carries all the Japanese brands, Vespa/Piaggio, Bid Dog choppers, Can-Am, etc.

Their deal is that if you get the tires through them, they will mount them at no additional charge. I would rather use my local shop but it made quite a difference. For a $20 per tire charge, I wouldn't have bothered , but $50 is pretty tough.

Oh, and their tire price was about average as well, even though they had to order mine.

When changing the front Buddy tire on the Harbor Freight device I used a smaller diameter steel rod I had laying around in my garage.

The other change I made was using the Mojo levers rather than the HF, as they have nylon sufaces and don't scratch the paint.

Tazio wrote:When changing the front Buddy tire on the Harbor Freight device I used a smaller diameter steel rod I had laying around in my garage.

The other change I made was using the Mojo levers rather than the HF, as they have nylon sufaces and don't scratch the paint.

Thanks! I think I'll look for a small rod to add to my changer for the next time around. It should be quite a while as I had almost 8k on my front tire with plenty of tread left. I only changed it because I moved to a really different tread style in the back. As for the HF changing tools, yeah, they did do a bit of paint damage on my rim. Fortunately, my scooter has never been pristine, since I bought it with some preexisting damage. So I don't fuss too much over cosmetics.