New Tires are mounted @ 29,016 Miles

Low:43 High:68 Sunny with afternoon rains.

I found out the tires for Maria had just arrived a little before lunch today. I ate quickly and headed out to Bavarian Motorcycles West to have them mounted on Maria, my 2004 R1150RT.

The weather was sunny as I rode to the mechanic but you could see the storm clouds gathering to the west of the Denver Metro area. The weather held good though till well after I returned to work at 1500. It took Pete, the owner/operator/mechanic at Bavarian Motorcycles to take the old tires off, replace them and put them back on.

Pete working on removing Maria's old rear tire

The Shop, thats a 1976 R90 being dropped off by truck

Maria sans her rear tire

Bikes awaiting repairs or parts

Here's Pete's 1100RT and more bikes waiting for repairs

I watched Pete work and he made it all look very easy, he also did not seem to mind me asking questions as he went. Now that I've seen the removal of the tires done, it does not look that bad assuming one has all the tools to do the job right. I'll probably continue letting Pete handle the tire changing business though. He got it all done, done right, for just $60.

I got Maria home by 1630, no issues with the new tires and she rides as fine as ever. I probably had a couple of hundred more miles on the old tires but now I'll feel confident of the tires ability to grip if I get caught out in rain. Must take it easy with the tires for a couple of hundred miles till I wear off the protective coating they have from the factory.

The new front tire

The New Rear Tire

So, final mileage figures on the old Metzeler 880 Marathons: Rear: 12,091 miles. Front: 9579 miles. Pete tells me the average on tires is about 6000 miles, mainly on the sportier bikes so the mileage I got out of these is pretty good. He also asked me what air pressure setting I was using on the old ones, told him 42psi on both tires per what the Sturgis dealer had said. He agreed with the 42 on the rear tire but recommended I do 40 on the front, so that's what I will try on this set.

If I can continue doing the riding I've been doing the last six months, I'll probably be needing a new front tire come this fall if not before then!