You see, the Metzeler Tourance pusher tire that had come with the V-Strom when I bought it had worn down quite a bit as expected and had performed very poorly in snow during the recent snow storm. Not a big surprise of course but still, a bit disappointing nonetheless.
I had ordered a General Exclaim 205/55R17 M/S rated car tire shortly after I'd purchased Yoshie and today was the day to swap tires on the rear wheel before the next snow fall.
No pictures of the tire changing procedure itself, those are available to you from the posting I wrote when I first had the use of Craig's tire changer: LINK
The removal of the old tire and installation of the new one went without a problem. It's quite easy actually with two people and the tire changer itself of course. We did however, discover a fitment issue when I went to install the rear wheel/tire back onto the tug.
Turns out, the right leg of the center stand contacted/dug into the right sidewall of the tire! This had not been an issue when I had Vikki since I'd removed the centerstand from here on the advice of Dauntless Motors, the makers of the sidecar. (Turns out, you don't have to uninstall the center stand).
Craig suggested cutting off a little bit of the right leg, to gain clearance. I agreed, as removing the center stand would be a huge PITA and I didn't have the time or inclination.
Craig broke out his grinder, and in a few minutes had the flat portion of the right center stand leg off:
Once the leg was cut, we then tried putting back into place. It still touched the side of the tire!
We then decided to quit kidding around, and we decided to cut the portion of the leg down from the center brace. This time, Craig broke out his Dewalt Saws All tool, that thing cut through the tough steel of the center stand leg like it was butter! I've really got to get myself one of them saws alls!
Now, there was plenty of clearance for the new tire. My only concern now is if there's enough clearance between the drive chain and the tire wall once I install the snow chains I ordered last week. They're supposed to be here in the next day or two so I guess I'll find out then huh?
Got everything put back together, had some nice conversations with Craig about this and that and then I departed for home.
Here's the new tire, I hope it does well on mud and snow.
Note the small shiny donut, that the cutoff end of the right
center stand leg. A little paint on the exposed metal is now in order.
So, the whole thing took a couple of hours, but we weren't moving fast and there were lots of chat breaks....pretty good way to change a tire eh?
6 comments:
I like helping friends change tires with the changer. Its easy :)
It might have taken a couple of hours, but that sounds like a fun time. Changing tires, grinders, saws, cutting bits of here and there - thats real man fun. Nice one!
I was trying to figure out what was the "Dark Side". Running a car tire or allowing Yoshie to visit a Ural...
Have you looked into the low profile cable chains?
When I read your posts about your bad encounter in snow of CO, I thought about suggesting a DS tire, but decided against it. Glad to see you're already well informed on the subject.
Ride Safe!
-Jared
www.UtahMotorcyclist.org
Dom,
An angle grinder and a clever mind? My kind of project. All of you boys working on your motorcycles with your garages. Jeez. I'm feeling left out of the club these days.
Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
www.behindbarsmotorcycle.com
I'd forgotten you run a car tire. They look odd on a motorcycle at first glance. Not in a bad way! :)
Ron just changed the rear tire on my bike, and noticed I needed a wheel bearing replaced. Caging it this week, waiting for the parts.
I'm glad you had some guy-time...grinding, sawing, and making sparks!
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