Spring 2024 

In February, Break’r Bikes, my longtime trusted tire-change shop, posted notices on social media that they would be closing up shop for good. Despite being located in rural southern New Hampshire, I made the trek up there every year to have them change out the darkside (car) tires on my rear wheel. Not all shops will install car tires on motorcycle rims, so I was now faced with the dilemma of finding a new one within reasonable distance.

This bad news came on the heels of a policy change at my nearest Honda dealer (Bettencourts) where I had front tires changed when I didn’t need a rear. They would now only install tires ordered through their parts dept. (at roughly twice the price of ordering online). I liked having a connection to the local shop, but yeah, I don’t think so – that capricious policy and the price difference just isn’t going to work for me. Not to mention their labor fee increasing by over 50% in the last few years. So instead of receiving a very small amount of business from me, they will have none.

Besides finding a new shop, the other option would be finally learning how to do my own tire changes. Some riding friends of mine have been using tire changing stands to successfully change their own tires for years, even on car tires, so this was something that had already been on my radar. I’ll be needing a change of rubber before this year’s nine-day LDX Rally in June, so it seems like a logical time to make the investment.

I placed my order on March 1st directly with No-Mar Tire Changers of St. Louis for their Classic HD Ultimate package, including a balancing stand, and several clamps and accessories that were recommended. A huge heavy box was delivered a week or so later, which I manhandled into the garage. There it would sit for a couple months while I decided on how/where to set it up.

These No-Mar stands are fairly simple devices, but require quite a bit of space, plus a good solid floor attachment for the heavy-duty main post. The kit would take up a bit less space if mounted directly to the cement floor of my garage or basement, but I wasn’t ready to commit to drilling concrete just yet.

Time passed and when May rolled around, I needed to get this new apparatus ready to use, one way or another. My friend Marc had built a simple base for his changer out of plywood and 2×6 boards, which sounded like a pretty easy project. So after getting some details from him, on a sunny spring Sunday afternoon I headed down to Home Depot. I got the lumber I needed cut to size right there, as well as some big galvanized lag bolts for mounting the base.

It took me about an hour to construct the base, using two 4′ squares of 3/4″ plywood screwed together for firmness, and lengths of 2×6 underneath to raise it up enough for the mounting bolt heads to have clearance.

Assembling  the tire stand itself took another two hours (I tend to read every instruction, that’s how I roll). Then another half hour to get it mounted roughly in the center of the platform.

At this point, things went on hold for a couple of weeks. I had the Ride Around New Hampshire already planned for next weekend, and the tires had plenty of tread left for that. On a weeknight following that ride, I removed the rear wheel in preparation to attempt my first ever motorcycle tire change, solo. In this case, however, I’d actually be installing a car tire – my very last Goodyear TripleTred.

Car tires in general have stiffer sidewalls than motorcycle tires and by all account are harder to install. This TripleTred model is known for being particularly stiff, and often presented a challenge for Break’r Bikes, even with their pneumatic tire changer machines. Marc insisted it could be done however, and that it was all about technique and ensuring that both beads of the tire stay in the center well until the second bead is on the wheel.  OK, whatever all that means… here we go!

First up was removing the old tire, which went fairly badly. I’d watched most of the YouTube videos that No-Mar has produced for using their machines, but obviously they were using machines that had already been set up properly with the mounting blocks in all the right places and firmly tightened down. They make it look so easy!

Needless to say, as I tried to apply their techniques on my newly assembled machine, the stiff sidewall of the car tire resisted my attempts to hook the bar tip under the bead, the wheel kept popping out of the mounts, and my temper spiked quickly from level zero to eight in just the first 10 minutes. Maybe doing this myself wasn’t such a good idea after all. I was feeling quite clueless and discouraged, unsure that this could even be possible to do.

Luckily, Marc was available via text and helped talk me down and through the process, including cranking the mounting blocks to what I thought was an extreme amount to hold the rim…surely this thing is going to crack! But no, it really could take the tension. Eventually, with much encouragement and photos texted, I got the first bead off and from there it went fine. I was only just starting to realize how much brute force need be applied during this type of work. I’m so used to working gently  on the bike so I don’t break things.

I decided to take the win and call it a day, spending just an hour or so more trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to clean up the bead area on the wheel rim with Scotchbrite and Simple Green. I’d pick this up again tomorrow.

Following day, watched the videos again. Now to install the new tire!

Um…now to install the new tire!

Grrrr…now to install the new f*@!cking tire.

Gaaaarrrrrrrgh, m’fer!

Taking a few breaths, I next attempted to wedge random blocks of wood under the beads, to try to keep them pushed in towards the rim center. Trying to push UP on the lower sidewall while keeping the tire gripped in the mount was proving impossible due to the amount of force needed.

Char tried to help at one point by pushing on the sidewall while I worked the bar, but the tire was just too stiff for human hands alone to really affect it under tension. My mood was truly foul by now, but I was not giving up quite yet.

Time for a Home Depot run! Bought three of the biggest trigger clamps they had. Still needed to use wood blocks to compress the clamps enough to clear the edges and get any leverage on the lower bead.

OK, this is just ridiculous! Near tears of frustration and pain, my hands were absolute hamburger at this point, after 3.5 hours of trying to rotate the lever tool and pop that effing bead down on the rim. I felt more exhausted and dispirited than on day 9 of an Iron Butt Rally, so that’s saying something.

Marc had offered a few times to help, so I abruptly decided to take him up on the offer. We agreed to meet at his house in the Newburgh NY area the following evening, so he could show me how to do this, on the same model changing stand. So the following afternoon, a Monday, I took off work a bit early and drove my truck 200 miles straight through Connecticut, along with the wheel, tire, clamps, and anything else I could think off.

Marc has changed dozens of tires on his No-Mar, and it was quite a learning experience to see how he went about using the tools with confidence and a lot of physical force directly smartly. We got the wheel rim ready and secure, then mounted the tire quickly back to the maximum position I’d be able to reach. Marc knew exactly which parts of the tire need to have additional pressure applied, both from top and bottom to get the beads into the well area of the rim, which provides the necessary slack to get the second bead on.

With the aid of the clamps and wooden blocks, plus both of us pushing in the right places, he got the mounting bar finally to go past the point where I’d been closest to succeeding. Just. One. More. Pull….aaaand it’s on! From my arrival, the bead on in less than 30 minutes, with probably about 10 minutes of actual effort. This victory pose is me pointing back at him in thanks and recognition that (at least for today), he was the man!

Thanking my savior profusely with words and a couple 4-packs of craft beer, I hopped back in the truck for the long ride home, stopping for sustenance at the Red Line Diner, including a celebratory piece of Dutch apple pie. It was hard to believe how little time it had taken once you know what the eff you’re doing. I’m hoping I learned enough by watching it done now that I’ll have better luck on the next go-round.

The following Saturday morning, I balanced and reinstalled the wheel onto the bike. Seeing as we were experiencing some beautiful spring weather and I had just run out of real Vermont maple syrup, I decided to ride out on an errand to the Green Mountain State for provisions prior to tackling the front tire. I headed up to Grafton to get what was needed from the general store. The new rear tire felt great and it was a nice day riding.

On Monday after work, I decided to get the front wheel done. It couldn’t possibly be as hard as that car tire had been, right? Right, it absolutely wasn’t! Now that all the blocks were properly cranked down and I’d used just about every muscle and gyration in my body to do that first tire, getting the much more flexible rear Bridgestone BT46 motorcycle tire onto my front rim was cake.

Balanced and mounted, my proof of concept was done. Now that I’ve invested in this tool and gotten through the first experience of changing my own tires, it felt good to think I’d no longer be dependent on a shop for any work needed for my STs going forward (barring something truly catastrophic). In a few years, the saved labor should more than make up for the cost of the machine – if the next darkside tire doesn’t kill me first, that is!