Prince George Vintage Motorcycle Club
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dennis on April 21, 2012, 10:18:42 PM
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I have been working on motorcycles since 1981 and generally think I am fairly skilled. However, up until now I have always been able to avoid (1) changing tires and (2) changing spokes. I've always just paid someone to change the rubber, and have never broken a spoke... that was before owning a communist era Chinese motorcycle.
The rubber on the Chang's sidecar was bald. I got 8,000 km out of the Avon (about 800 km out of the Chinese original) so I am not complaining. I have a set of tire irons I bought for the anticipated but elusive "tech night" so I figured I was set. Watched some You Tube and jumped right in.
Russ told me that the main thing is to have the tires warm. That way they are more pliable. With this in mind I put the old tire (still mounted) and the new tire on the top of a step ladder about a foot from my overhead radiant heater. I cranked in thermostat to 11 and went outside to do some other tasks. I figured that after a couple hours, the rubber would be nice and bendy. 20 minutes later I thought I'd check the turkey, I mean tires. When I opened the garage it smelled like someone was doing a burn out. The air wasn't smoky but the smell was very strong. Alarmed, I hopped up the step ladder and grabbed the tires ...
Ever forgot your oven mitts when grabbing something in the over? I got a wicked burn on my left hand and knocked the tires off the ladder. I should have used something like a slow cooker... like Lauri's hot tub. Then again, the burn I got would have been less than the wrath from Lauri when she can't balance the PH and finds out that her hot tub is my new parts washer.
Other than getting burned nothing else was eventful. I used my floor jack and Jeep bumper to break the bead on the old tire. It was still a real job getting the old tire off. I didn't think to use penetrating oil until I was almost finished. Mounting the new tire was a piece of cake ... lots of soap and it slid on like a condom.
The Chang came with extra spokes (wonder why), and they went right in. Curiously they were all on the same side, and of the same lacing pattern.
Peace & grease, Dennis
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I am sure we all have stories we could tell....learning can be painful sometimes....