Buy in @ the Busted Knuckle Garage?

Have we done the tire changer thing yet? If so i have a new rear tire showing up today.


If not i think i might try to make something in my basement out of a few 2x4s like my friend has made. But still will need rubber lube, tire spoons, and wheel weights and I can make a balancer too. We can probably build both for about $50-$60 with all the supplies, Motorcycle changers are fairly rudimentary anyway and i have seen a few basic setups that work.
 
If I can get a welder, we can make something easily, well, a welder AND a metal bandsaw. No, have not done anything yet, but WBW had a review that Admin posted up a while ago on a new cheaper model that was as good a rating as the $550 no-mar one I was looking at. The new one was under $400 too. Maybe I need to set up a donation toward that and see what we can gather from us locals?
 
Great idea, If you were closer to the MA/NH boarder I'd be joining in. Dover is a bit further north than I normally venture. Move to Seabrook :)
 
Have we done the tire changer thing yet? If so i have a new rear tire showing up today.


If not i think i might try to make something in my basement out of a few 2x4s like my friend has made. But still will need rubber lube, tire spoons, and wheel weights and I can make a balancer too. We can probably build both for about $50-$60 with all the supplies, Motorcycle changers are fairly rudimentary anyway and i have seen a few basic setups that work.

A while back I saw a great 'DIY' video on building / using a beadbreaker/tire installer out of 2x4's. Leverage is king. I wish I knew where the vid was.
 
A while back I saw a great 'DIY' video on building / using a beadbreaker/tire installer out of 2x4's. Leverage is king. I wish I knew where the vid was.

That is the one i am building in my basement.


it is very simple and i will post a how to. I am planning on buying and building probably tonight/this weekend. At least the bead breaker part, the balancer is in the works
 
Cheapest bead breaker I can think of is this:

3 parts:

1) 2 x 4 lumber, 60" long. (longer if you want more leverage)
Notch a 1/4" wide x 1/4" deep groove 1" from one end across the 2" top, and a 1/4" hole 1' away from same end dead on center of the lumber's 4" width.

2) 2 x 4 lumber, 8" long.
Cut a 2" width x 4" deep notch and drill holes through both sides of the notch dead on center and 2" from the edge. Trim a 2" x 1" bevel to the foot that will push the tire off the rim.

3) 1/4"-20 x 5" long bolt and nut

Looks like this: Assembly should be self-explanatory. Use the under-carriage of a car placing the notch where you jack the car up.
 
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That is the one i am building in my basement.


it is very simple and i will post a how to. I am planning on buying and building probably tonight/this weekend. At least the bead breaker part, the balancer is in the works

I made up some plans for one a month or so back for somebody LINK
 
I'm going to pick up some square stock and make one out of steel. I have good solid 4"x4" angle aluminum already to attach it to the wall, so I'll just need to make a no-mar shoe to push on the tire without damaging the wheel. :D Cheap enough and thanks all for the time and effort to design a working model!
 
I dug up a photo I took at a wrenching session in 2004. About 20 pairs of tires were mounted that day, including my sv650 tires, using the "high tech" tools in the photo.

The leverage the bead breaker could apply made it trivial to break the bead.

The mounting was done by putting the rim over the treaded rod, then the motorcycle wheel, followed by a big washer and nut. The tire was the muscled on using tire levers and various pieces of plastic. The rim was padded using 1" pipe foam insulating tubing. A large wire brush was used to clean the rim before mounting the tire. Some sort of spray was used to help get the tire on the rim.

The balancer was just a couple pieced of metal strips attached to 2x4s. The key was to make sure the boards were perfectly level. The heavy part of the tire would roll to the bottom. Weights were masking taped on until the tire was balanced, then they were attached more securely.

The cost of all this was next to nothing and it worked well.

John

original.jpg
 
Thanks John! Simple but worked! I like the way you think! :D

So, now I know where to mount the device for breaking.

Still considering this one though.... Cycle Hill Motorcycle Tire Changer - webBikeWorld

That tire changer looks pretty sweet. If its as easy as the video makes it out, it is definetly less work than the low cost method I used in the photograph.

John
 
I might buy it next spring and then just have a donation bucket for anyone who wants to come use it... no mandatory fees, just help keep the supplies for it going.... like tire lube, wheel weights, replacement parts, etc.... Sound fair?
 
Here's the tire changer I was looking at it is a little cheaper than the no-mar and cycle hill but not as cheap as the harbor freight one. Tire Stripper .:. Shop Online
This design wouldn't be hard to copy if you wanted to build your own and could even get some of the part from there.
As for the tire balancer I am just going to buy the one at harbor freight, its only 60 bucks and those are kind of hard to screw up.
 
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Here's the tire changer I was looking at it is a little cheaper than the no-mar and cycle hill but not as cheap as the harbor freight one. Tire Stripper .:. Shop Online
This design wouldn't be hard to copy if you wanted to build your own and could even get some of the part from there.
As for the tire balancer I am just going to buy the one at harbor freight, its only 60 bucks and those are kind of hard to screw up.

I did look at that one but after some research discovered a lot of bad reviews of it. Most of the comments were "This is one case of you get what you pay for..." ;)

It's not bad for one person though who might change tires every couple of seasons. I think my biggest issue with it is a lack of spare parts where the Cycle Hill one has them all readily available and the parts that wear or would break are very cheap to replace.

Plus, the Cycle Hill changer is the only one designed by motorcyclists. :thumbup:

Thanks for pointing that one out though. It can work but I'm looking for something heavier that will see a lot more use with guys stopping by.
 
Well that saves me the trouble of reading reviews, looks like I will just save some more and get the cycle hill changer.
 
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