No way I could change the rear tyre on my Iron, but I'm hoping I can do the front tyre myself. Has anyone changed their own front 19" tyre?

 

Front will be harder than the rear.......

 

Foreign brand and independent shops are usually cheaper than harley, under 50$ per tire with balance and the harley shops around here make you replace the tube whether it needs replacing or not (insurance forces them) they claim. Money well spent in my opinion. No damage to wheel and balance is important to me.

 

There are those around HDF who change their own tyres, even buy themselves a proper tyre changing machine. Over here I wouldn't bother old chap. I order my Harley/Buell tyres at my local Yamaha dealer (they're in walking distance from home) and take the bare wheel in. They fit it in a jiffy, give me coffee while I wait and I thank them for being one of the best Harley people in the County! Easiest way by far, especially with tubeless tyres.

 

Us sport bike riders change our own tires all the time. Very easy with the proper tools.

Soapy water for lubrication
Shovel to break the beads loose
A few tire irons
Something to protect the lip of the rims when using the tire irons
A few pieces of wood to put under the tire so the center hub doesn't get all scraped up on the ground.

Youtube some videos. It is really easy.

 

Agreed, front tires are worse than rears. Haven't done one by hand in a while, but I know they suck either way.

 

Have someone do it,not worth the hassle.

 

This is true in a lot of ways. But sport bike tires are way easier than Harley approved tires......Just putting that out there.

 

My thoughts -

Fatter rears are easier to change than skinnier fronts - the skinny 21" on my 1200C was a pain even with a tire changer, tight stretch, not much room to get tools in.

I'd never re-use a tube. They're not that expensive, and I also only use metal valve stem types. Unless it's almost perfect, I get new rub strips, too, also inexpensive. Tubes tend to go flat almost instantly, and getting a flat at 60mph was more excitement than I ever want to have again.

Put short pieces of 2x4 or quart motor oil bottles in the tire for a day if you can, to expand them. Some have the sides really tight together, especially if they've been wrapped or taped, makes it harder to deal with. A few hours in the sun helps soften them, too, if they've been stored cool.

Don't forget talcum powder on the tubes, really helps sliding them in and positioning them without wrinkles.

19" front wheels are easy with the right tools...



It's a good time to check bearing condition and pop a seal to check for contamination and grease condition - a lot of today's bearings don't have near enough grease to satisfy me. That doesn't mean stuff them completely, but they should have some grease in the bearing cage, not just a barely detectable film on the *****. Any doubts about their condition, I replace them. And I never use hammers on a bearing. That's a new wheel in the pic; I cleaned a little surface rust inside, and found a crack across the butt weld that didn't show from outside on the original stock Harley rim. Pull that rub strip, clean and check inside the rim!



I don't use wheel weights, like dyna beads and plan to try RideOn next but I do position the tire on the rim where it's the least out of balance; I haven't seen a tire with that dot on it in a long time. Then stick on weights temporarily to see just much out of balance it is, and use about an ounce more dyna beads. Their weight per tire size chart is sometimes not enough for real out of balance tires, overkill for others.



I always use a torque wrench. And hate it when it's all together and I realize I forgot something....

 

Yup, that's exactly what I do normally, but the back wheel I just couldn't beat and even the tyre shop struggled to get it to seal!

Anyway, I did it and it was pretty easy really.