Which Tire Changer?

[metallion]

1 hour ago, koth442 said:

That might be a thing for me. Getting a back tire mounted recently has been a fiasco of the driving all over town variety... 

I see you're in Knoxville. There is a Cycle Gear store there that mounts tires fairly reasonable from what i remember. Whenever i am down that way on vacation i usually stop in there for something. 

[koth442]

2 hours ago, metallion said:

I see you're in Knoxville. There is a Cycle Gear store there that mounts tires fairly reasonable from what i remember. Whenever i am down that way on vacation i usually stop in there for something. 

If you buy the tire from them, it's $25. If you don't, its $50. Therefore, I went on the "drive all over town" fiasco. 

[piotrek]

21 hours ago, tktplz said:

They do have an attachment for the No-Mar that mounts it to the 2 inch receiver on the rear of the truck or car for that matter. Then put it away when done. Just a thought. 

Yes, I saw that and was tempted. It is an add-on that can be purcha$ed with the floor mounted kit I believe. The ship has sailed and I am crossing fingers hard. The gizmo comes apart pretty small. I will be super happy if this works out.

 

[tktplz]

12 hours ago, koth442 said:

That might be a thing for me. Getting a back tire mounted recently has been a fiasco of the driving all over town variety... 

For me it got to $110.00 to have the front and rear tires off the bike, mounted and balanced. Started at 40 bucks a tire off the bike and at that point riding the ZRX1100 and using some super sticky Avons. I was getting about 1,800 miles out off a rear and 2 rears to a front. As the last 3-5 years has gone by I do a lot of counter steering. And now am lucky to get a rear and a half out of a front. Been just changing them both at the same time now. Did the best with the Angel GTs on the FJ. Got 3,200 on a rear. BUT, isn't there always a BUT? BUT, now that I have a tire changer I can put a new set of super stickies on for each trip and ride the remains off in between. I love the confidence the sticky tire give you. So I got a set of the Bridgestone S22s for my Eureka Springs, AR trip coming up. We'll see how they do. I'll be looking at Q3s and Q4s soon!

[tktplz]

3 hours ago, piotrek said:

Yes, I saw that and was tempted. It is an add-on that can be purcha$ed with the floor mounted kit I believe. The ship has sailed and I am crossing fingers hard. The gizmo comes apart pretty small. I will be super happy if this works out.

 

That does break down small. If you find you want it later you can get the mount/dismount bar with the special end on it from No Mar. And remember, technique, technique, technique! 

[koth442]

10 hours ago, tktplz said:

For me it got to $110.00 to have the front and rear tires off the bike, mounted and balanced. Started at 40 bucks a tire off the bike and at that point riding the ZRX1100 and using some super sticky Avons. I was getting about 1,800 miles out off a rear and 2 rears to a front. As the last 3-5 years has gone by I do a lot of counter steering. And now am lucky to get a rear and a half out of a front. Been just changing them both at the same time now. Did the best with the Angel GTs on the FJ. Got 3,200 on a rear. BUT, isn't there always a BUT? BUT, now that I have a tire changer I can put a new set of super stickies on for each trip and ride the remains off in between. I love the confidence the sticky tire give you. So I got a set of the Bridgestone S22s for my Eureka Springs, AR trip coming up. We'll see how they do. I'll be looking at Q3s and Q4s soon!

Depending on the track surface, I shred a sticky rear like Q4 or Q3+ in 1 - 3 trackdays. Fortunately, getting tires swapped at a racetrack is pretty cheap. It's when I have to get tires swapped from home it gets tricky. The NoMar really helps there... 

I get what you're saying though. It's nice to be able to swap tires at will with whatever preferred rubber you want! That freedom is nice... 

[piotrek]

Tire changer finally all done and tested. I did the rear in mid July, but had to order a different size shaft for the front... and that took 5 weeks. Installed anchors in the garage floor in the meantime… probably the way to go most of the time methinks. I split a length of ½” copper pipe and slipped it over the 15mm shaft to take out the slop. The wheel bearing ID is 17mm.

The tool works great, and it stores away small and out of sight. I am very happy with the outcome. A rim clamp and a thin tire iron came handy with this. Tire lube of course, and some technique.

[2and3cylinders]

My NoMar breaks down to almost nothing space wise IMO.  I leave the base assembled (excluding the 3 way rack, etc) and put the yellow things, helping hands, bolts, etc in a cardboard box on it, then a 5 gallon pail on that against a wall for the shop garbage can; so that really takes up no added space.  All the other components I hang or lean tightly against a wall amongst other stuff stored in the garage; so no real space issue with them either.  The 4 drop-in floor anchors are flush and I stuff a bit of backer rod in them and then cover them with a patch of duct tape to keep them clean.

Technique is everything but with my bad back I had to pay a shop $90 very recently to mount my latest set of T22s on the FJ; it just killed me to do so!

I'm now recovering from my lumbar fusion surgery nicely but asap must have my second rotator cuff repaired, then likely my forth prostate procedure but should be ready to rock n roll again by next spring!  Then I have to replace the front on my VTR with the S22 I've had waiting since I did its rear earlier this year before my back totally cried foul; my shoulder didn't like that much either.  The rubber on my RD will finally get changed then too.  You know you have to get things fixed when you can't roll the bikes around without major pain, if at all; among other major limitations! LOL

[whisperquiet]

I owned the original NoMar Cycle Hill changer from 2009 to its sale this spring when it was replaced with the NoMar Cycle Hill HD Plus.  I have mounted and balanced more than 250 tires since 2009 which has saved me (and friends) so much time and money that the machine pays for itself in a short period of time.  I kept my NoMar balancer, cones, Yellow Thing, and tire irons from the first machine.  Mine is permanently mounted to the garage floor as I have the room.

it sure beats dismounting and mounting tires on the concrete floor like I did for thirty years.👍

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by whisperquiet

[2linby]

I've been using the Harbor Freight cheap for years. Have the mojo lever and blocks. Bull snot or Ru-glide is your best friend when it comes to both removing and remounting the tire. A good high volume compressor really helps and a large 3"-4" ratchet strap can help in setting the bead if required. Pre-warming your tires up really helps as well.  The No-Mar, if you have the money, is a better option. 

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, whisperquiet said:

I owned the original NoMar Cycle Hill changer from 2009 to its sale this spring when it was replaced with the NoMar Cycle Hill HD Plus.  I have mounted and balanced more than 250 tires since 2009 which has saved me (and friends) so much time and money that the machine pays for itself in a short period of time.  I kept my NoMar balancer, cones, Yellow Thing, and tire irons from the first machine.  Mine is permanently mounted to the garage floor as I have the room.

it sure beats dismounting and mounting tires on the concrete floor like I did for thirty years.👍

 

 

 

 

 

Except it appears with the Cycle Hill it appears you need to kneel down / bend way over to break the beads but not on the regular NoMar...

[whisperquiet]

54 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

Except it appears with the Cycle Hill it appears you need to kneel down / bend way over to break the beads but not on the regular NoMar...

Using the Cycle Hill to break beads on the floor next to the machine is way easier than doing it without the attached breaker bar.  It does work pretty good.

[piotrek]

Understandably there's lots of love on here for the No-Marr, and I am sure it is a quality product... made in the U.S.A. and all, but for occasional use and limited space... I deemed it too big, too heavy, too complex... and too expensive. The footprint and ease of setup of the EVOX and the No-Marr just don't compare IMO. Could be that the No-Marr will do a wider range of wheel sizes... but that would be of no use to me.

To set the bead on the rim I use a small Makita MAC700 compressor. Bought it to do hardwood floors in my house... and it just keeps coming in handy. I thought that it might run out of breath inflating the rear tire enough to set the bead, but it did just fine.

[jcarruth]

Like most things, I have figured out the hard way re: mounting tires. Technique, heat and lube are your friends. When mounting, or dismounting, keeping the bead down into the wheel channel is rule #1. There are several tools available to help with this, I use the NoMar "Yellow Thing".

Get a strap and go through the wheel  and tie to the changer, to keep the wheel from spinning while working the tire on or off.

Bridgestones are by far the most difficult tires to work with. Bias ply touring tires are very difficult due to their very stiff sidewalls.

Michelin/Pirelli/Metzlers radials are all relatively easy.

My setup is the old style HF tire changer, with Mojo Blocks installed. The HF changer is a direct copy of the much more expensive Wikco changer. I use their tire bar from which the  Mojo bar is copied.  I know the folks at Wikco are bound to be pissed that their excellent products are being copied. I feel kinda guilty about using the HF changer, but it has served me well for over 20 years and hundreds of tires.

My balancer is a Marc Parnes, excellent tool. I also have an old Coleman compressor that is 5hp, 20 gallon, loud as hell but gets the job done.

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, jcarruth said:

Like most things, I have figured out the hard way re: mounting tires. Technique, heat and lube are your friends. When mounting, or dismounting, keeping the bead down into the wheel channel is rule #1. There are several tools available to help with this, I use the NoMar "Yellow Thing".

Get a strap and go through the wheel  and tie to the changer, to keep the wheel from spinning while working the tire on or off.

Bridgestones are by far the most difficult tires to work with. Bias ply touring tires are very difficult due to their very stiff sidewalls.

Michelin/Pirelli/Metzlers radials are all relatively easy.

My setup is the old style HF tire changer, with Mojo Blocks installed. The HF changer is a direct copy of the much more expensive Wikco changer. I use their tire bar from which the  Mojo bar is copied.  I know the folks at Wikco are bound to be pissed that their excellent products are being copied. I feel kinda guilty about using the HF changer, but it has served me well for over 20 years and hundreds of tires.

My balancer is a Marc Parnes, excellent tool. I also have an old Coleman compressor that is 5hp, 20 gallon, loud as hell but gets the job done.

 The bridgestones are a bitch to change and having them warm the Moore before you start is a must

 Technique is the answer for sure!