[DUC748]

I recently acquired all of the tools I'd need to perform tire changes myself and found the complete procedure online laid out nicely with step by step details but only now did I see this little bit of important information...

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, and those of you with single-sided swingarms (VFRs, Ducatis, Triumphs, etc.) ... I bet you thought that single sided swingarms were pretty cool, huh? Well, not when it comes to tire changes. You won't be able to put the wheel on the balancer shown in this document, nor will you be able to use the wall-pivoted bead breaker without a helper to hold the wheel on the stand. But unless you plan to do without balancing (not recommended!), you'd either need to make a jig that'd let you slide a 5/8" threaded rod through the center of the rim, or you'd need to take the bike to an Authorized Dealer for your marque to get your tires balanced. It's OK; the rest of us won't laugh at you. Much.

[/ QUOTE ]

:flame:

Do we have any Superbike owners on here that are doing their own tire changes? What did you do about the rear wheel when it came down to balancing it? There is a solution for the VFR and it's mentioned that one is being developed for Ducati but there is no mention of it on the site yet. I'm going to drop them an email I guess but also wanted to see if the answer could be found here. Thanks.

 

[mmeans]

Not a superbike owner but have you seen this: http://www.azionemoto.com/mall/product.asp?pid=229 and this: http://www.marcparnes.com/Ducati_Motorcycle_Wheel_Balancer.htm

If you have the balancer you may be able to have a local machine shop cut you some cones to use on the supplied balncer axle. Habor Freight (new location north of MVA) has a static bubble balancer. It operates on the horizontal plane not the verticle. I'vew actually used a bubble balancer when I was working in a gas station. The results were very good.


Michael Means

 

[DUC748]

I have a nice balancer already so I'm after just an adapter at this point. Those two links offer choices of $50 or $90...of course the $90 deal looks really nice. :tongue:

Thanks for the links.

 

[erik996]

My best friend and his brother have a manual changer and balancer. The brother is an R&D engineer at Hewlett Packard and has access to a machine shop, so he made a custom delryn spacer for my wheel, and it works like buttah! Free is a very good price.

 

[Nottobright]

If only DUC knew someone with a machine shop...

 

[DUC748]

[ QUOTE ]
erik996 said:
My best friend and his brother have a manual changer and balancer. The brother is an R&D engineer at Hewlett Packard and has access to a machine shop, so he made a custom delryn spacer for my wheel, and it works like buttah! Free is a very good price.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Erik, any chance on getting the specs/plans on that spacer. I think I have access to a machine shop so long as the worker isn't surfing porn. :laugh: :wink:

 

[erik996]

He said making the spacer was pretty easy. He took a piece of round delryn stock and put it on a lathe and milled it down on each side to the measurements he took from my wheel, then drilled a hole through the spacer.

Another option is to take a spare OEM axle assembly (minus the brake disc) and cut off the extra length of axle on the sprocket side. You could then mount the wheel to the modified axle assembly, put on the axle nut and balance the wheel. The inner axle hole should be small enough to work with the standard tapered flange on the balancer.

 

[DUC748]

Hmmmm....can you get a digital shot of your spacer for me by chance and put it up here? That should be sufficient to get something made up as you did. Thanks. :waytogo:

 

[erik996]

John, I'll try, but it may be a while. The spacer is with the balancer, which is 30 minutes away........I'll see what I can do.

 

[Mirage]

Duc~ Need a helper? Yet another reason (i think #412) to move to my neighborhood. Hell, VTL's here also so you'd fit right in. :wink:
Notto~ Wish I knew someone who had access to a machine shop. :frown:

 

[DUC748]

Thanks Erik. :waytogo:

Mirage, if the PA opens a NY office then there might be the chance of moving but I can't leave this job just yet; too many reasons to stay. LI to DC is one hell of a commute too. :wink:

 

[shamar1]

duc7... mr. and mrs. America... and all the ducatisti at sea. you will be surprised to learn that a fairly prominent ducati tuner (who shall be nameless) actually does ALL of their customer's tires by hand... :shocked: and i mean by hand... just tire irons, protective gaurds, and a wall bead breaker. nope, no coats 220... no pneumatic machines. but wait it gets better. not only do they do them all by hand, they also do upwards of 3,000 tire changes a season :shocked: with some rims being carbon fiber (cf is probably best done by hand anyway). and i have this on good authority because a buddy of mine is one of the techs working there actually doing them. :laugh:

 

[DUC748]

Is this your friend? :lol:

I have a bead breaker, irons, rim protectors (sounds kinky :blush, weights and balancer from Tire Qwik plus the Harbor Frieght tire changer. I will be happy doing a few sets at the most in a season. :laugh:

 

[Nottobright]

Even one set is a lot of work :crazy:

 

[DUC748]

TireQwik.com does in fact carry the adapters for the Ducati Superbikes even they aren't listed. The price is $15 plus $4 for shipping and handling.

 

[MarcParnes]

Hi Guys,
If anyone needs a special cone or whatever made just let me know. It's what I do all day anyway :wink: For that matter, if you need some particular machine work done that is applicable to my equipment I'd be more than happy to do it for you. Just let me know.

 

[Mirage]

MarcParnes~ See, now that's what I call a good person. :waytogo:

 

[cam2]

You may be surprised just how easy changing your own tires really is. You will never, ever have a dealer do it again. I used the same internet procedure you have and it worked like a champ, I have the adapter for the RC-30, for balancing. I mounted my tire changer on a Workmate type bench, and only needed two tire irons. The wheel rim I found at a tire changing center, free(at the time, I did buy two tires for the car)
As a bead sealant I used a bottle of the bubble stuff kids (my daughters) use to blow bubbles with, mixed with equal parts water, put into a stay bottle, works well. Don’t get too much water inside the tire. Take your time; make sure the tires are warm (inside room temp). Leveling the last ¼ part of the tire over the rim is the tough part, but not to bad. Again, take your time and take a small amount of tire to level over the rim at a time.
If your sweating profusely and scratching our rims(havens forbid) take a break and think of what your doing wrong, remember, it all technique.

 

[DUC748]

Thanks for the info Cam; especially the bubble soap. :laugh: :waytogo:

 

[cam2]

DUC-
The best tip I can give you is this;

I made five or six small wooded blocks to keep the tire off the rim. As I level the tire on, I place the block in between the tire and the rim, and keep going around like that the entire rim. The trick is to keep the tire bead in the middle of the rim, in the space they call the well. The bottom bead tries the seat, but don’t let it, try to keep both beads in the center of the well,(as best you can, remember your dealing with 180mm tires here) but it make a world of deference when trying to level that last little bit over the rim, refer to his internet instructions step six, read the “Hint. Read this part twice!

Also, on my first tire change the beads took set and only 25 pounds of pressure, but the second time around I had to use 35 pounds, just be careful and keep track of where your fingers are resting. When the beads pop into place….you’ll know it. Never use over 40 lbs.