Harbor Freight bead breaker and wheel balancer. An assortment of tire irons, and a set of rim guards. Spray bottle with dish soap and water. Tire valve tool.

I've found that big skinny tires (19 and 21") are the biggest PITA. Using cable ties to keep the beads tight together helps. The rim guards are also a PITA, but critical on profile rims. You can get a way without them on aluminum "mags" if you're careful.

If you get the Harbor Freight balancer, check it over carefully. My first one had a bent axle: instant low spot. The "good" one still has a problem unless you align the set screws on the cones, otherwise the wheel wobbles. The ID of the cones is a little too big for the axle. Some day I'll make my own... when I get a round tuit. That said, every balancing job I've done with it has been fine. (Haven't tested it over 100 mph, though...)

 

same here, for years I changed my own tires but now with cycle gear near by, buy your tire there, 20 bucks to change it. now if it were 50 bucks, I would likely break out my tire irons again.

 

its worth the 20 dollars to have someone else do it. Its the biggest pain in the ***, especially if you are dealing with spoked wheels and tubes. Every time I have done it I have used a minimum of 3 tubes per tire before I got it right.

 

Bead breaker can be made from 2x4's ( google search) just get good irons and wheel protectors. My wife used her bicycle pump to set the beads.

Have the pride in doing it your self.

 

Tire spoons. I made a bead breaker out of a couple of 2x4's I had laying around, a handful of drywall screws, and the small bottle jack I've had forever. Worked like a champ. Saw a guy on YouTube make one, but not quite as "finished" as I did mine as he struggled to keep the jack and the "shoe" from slipping. Bought a set of American Elites from JP Cycle for my Low Rider. Came with a $50 rebate from Dunlop, so my out the door price was just under $300.
I used to have a Harbor Freight tire changer, but it was almost more work than it was worth. Sold it for $50. Unless you spring for something like a No-Mar changer to keep your rims nice, spoons and rim protectors work really well.

 

I like doing my own. It gives me the perfect opportunity to check brakes and bearings.

 

oh heck yes.... Do this ^^^
I've done my share and done with mounting my tires. I take the wheels off, clean them, check everything and let someone mount the rubber. Sort of a good thing to keep in touch and support your local shop. Tires at my local was just a little more than mail-order, plus mounting.

 

I have the No-Mar tire changer. Picked it up about 2 years ago. Not cheap, but am super happy with it. It makes tire changes SO easy. I will never wrestle a spoon or wheel again...

 

Done that with the old school post car jacks back in the day on a few grungy rusted on 16" rims back in the day, used a length of 2x6 and drove up to bust few beads too.

 

I got a used Cycle Hill (budget NoMar) when my old wrists and hands started really complaining with tire irons. Worth every penny to me, and I've done enough tires I've probably saved money by now, not to mention I can get the tire I want online way cheaper than local dealers. Money wasn't the driving reason, main reason to do them myself is so I know they're done right, I don't trust shops or dealers for tire or wheel bearing changes, that's often low man on the experience ladder, too. I clean the wheels, remove any rust on the inside of spoke wheels (usually some), and found a 21" Harley wheel with about a one inch crack throught the rim butt weld under the rust once, doubt any shop mechanic would have even looked.

I've never pinched a tube, take your time, powder it good, inflate a till it fills the tire without the valve core, bounce it all around the tire to spread and seat it, then inflate, always been good first try. I always use metal stem tubes or metal stem valves in tubeless, seen rubber ones snap off. To inflate tubeless tires, I took the stem out of a cheap chuck and drilled it out as big as I dared to get maximum airflow, and with a 200psi compressor, that usually pops them on with little effort.

I occasionally have a helper that works for cheeseballs.





It's important to get the right size tire for the rim, too


I do have to supervise him pretty closely, he tends to do things out of order...


A wheel changer makes a nice holder for changing bearings and polishing wheels, too


I don't let mechanics ride my bikes, but this one snuck in a test ride