hi guys well i live in a tiny western wimmera place ,,, where its hard to get stuff i want ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,so ebay come to help ,,,so like a fool i purchased a pair of motorcycle tyre levers,,,, 31bucks deliversd on monday .... 10 1/2" long x1" wide ,,,, how the hell am i going to get a dam tyre off a rim with these stupid things ,,, i,ve seen a tooth pick bigger than these things ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or am i still in shock ,,,is it possible they will work ok,,, let me know will i buy or make something bigger regards oldbiker ................... on the good side of ebay i also purchased an oil filter wrench for $13 with 3 serated jaws and i have tried it on an old filter it does work ...i don,t know how long it will last ,,,,i,m starting to build my own oil filter wrench.. i,ll see how i end up oldbiker
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another ruddy bloody mistake,,,thanks ebay ....crap
- Thread starter oldbiker
- Start date
Hey, oldbiker, here's a pic of my irons that I used in the shops in the `70s. Mounted hundreds of tires with them, mostly using the shorter pair. Would use the longer one for those tough/hard michelins. I did spend some time rounding/smoothing/polishing the tips of the smaller 2, very important, you don't want them sharp...
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................hi thanks for showing me those levers,,,, i will give these things a go,,,,, regards oldbiker
Brian902
XS650 Junkie
OldBiker,
I've worked for years changing rear tires with levers like the 9" ones shown here. And it was sometimes on the hardest sidewall tires you could imagine. Barum tires I believe, for a motocross bike. Lots of skinned knuckles.
Anyway, there is a technique to changing a tire. We used a garbage can at the time, too poor to have a tire changer stand. Not acceptable today, but at the time, given care, it didn't hurt the spoke wheels we were dealing with.
Tires are not like a rubber band like some people believe. They can not be stretched. The reason being is that the bead has to be so strong as to not pop of the rim when the tire is inflated, it must maintain a smaller circumference than the rim edge to stay on the rim.
Therefore the only way a tire comes off is that the side you are working on 180 degrees from where you are prying with these levers must be in the center of the rim so all the slack is available for you to pry the edge over the rim. That's the hard part, keeping that side down in the center of the rim.
With tubes even harder. Keeping a small amount of air in the tube helps to keep pinches to a minimum. When installing, baby powder the tube makes it slip in easier and a little air keeps it out of harms way.
We sold a lot of tubes and later sold the second tube which we installed because customers didn't understand how easy it is to pinch a tube. Good for business.
Good luck.
I've worked for years changing rear tires with levers like the 9" ones shown here. And it was sometimes on the hardest sidewall tires you could imagine. Barum tires I believe, for a motocross bike. Lots of skinned knuckles.
Anyway, there is a technique to changing a tire. We used a garbage can at the time, too poor to have a tire changer stand. Not acceptable today, but at the time, given care, it didn't hurt the spoke wheels we were dealing with.
Tires are not like a rubber band like some people believe. They can not be stretched. The reason being is that the bead has to be so strong as to not pop of the rim when the tire is inflated, it must maintain a smaller circumference than the rim edge to stay on the rim.
Therefore the only way a tire comes off is that the side you are working on 180 degrees from where you are prying with these levers must be in the center of the rim so all the slack is available for you to pry the edge over the rim. That's the hard part, keeping that side down in the center of the rim.
With tubes even harder. Keeping a small amount of air in the tube helps to keep pinches to a minimum. When installing, baby powder the tube makes it slip in easier and a little air keeps it out of harms way.
We sold a lot of tubes and later sold the second tube which we installed because customers didn't understand how easy it is to pinch a tube. Good for business.
Good luck.
Dieselchanic
Intermittent builder
I use small ones like that. They work good. Helps to grease up the bead a little too, dry you can mess up the bead trying to get the last bit over the lip.
+1 on technique... After changing 18 24.5 truck tires in one shot you'll realize that. Either you get the technique down or kill yourself working to death..
+1 on technique... After changing 18 24.5 truck tires in one shot you'll realize that. Either you get the technique down or kill yourself working to death..
Exactly, a practiced technique. I would crawl around the wheel like a monkey, knees on the tire to keep that side compressed while working the bead on the opposite side...
