Good question, I just spent $330.00 to have a tire installed.

 

$330.00, ouch

get a $60 lift and pull the wheels and drop the new tires and the wheels with old tires off at a indy shop. should be about 40-50, total, to have them mounted (and balance if you are into that)

 

definitely not from bitter experience you will scratch your alloy wheels with the levers , and breaking the beads is mission.

 

Actually breaking the bead is a cinch. I bolted something similar to this to my garage wall stud.

 

Yes, this was at the Harley dealership that wanted an extra $150.00 to fix my rear brake light switch.

 

Having been riding for over fifty years I've done my time changing tyres, also repairing punctured tubes on the road side, many times. What made me change my mind is two things: tubeless tyres; also the much larger cross-section tyres that are now popular. Using normal hand tools the darned things started putting up more of a fight, especially to get the old one off, also there is increased risk of damaging the bead when putting a new one on.

A further consideration is that having a tyre replaced became cheaper, especially when taking the wheel to a shop and buying the tyre from them. I have a local Yamaha dealer close by and have had them supply and fit my Harley tyres for many years now. Indeed their head mechanic is a Harley owner.

So an alternative approach is to foster favours with a local shop. I may pay a little over the odds for my tyres, but they are still discounted and fitting charges are modest. Plus I get coffee while I wait! I leave the butch stuff to the younger generation now.....

 

If you're serious about changing your own tires, get the right tool and make it easy on yourself. I've changed a lot of tires on this one.

 

You're going to buy all the gear and change a tire maybe every 2-3 years ? You know sometimes you just have to 'bite the bullet' and pay to have a job 'professionally' done. Are you gonna change your car tires too ?...b.