Silly Question: Tire arns??

 Decided to mount and balance my own tires from now on!  Now that I've
got that settled..Er.. I see references to tire arns on websites, but
nobody really mentions whether a pair of 6 inch arns will do the job,
or do you really need 11 inches?  These are fairly low profile street
tires.  I found Aerostich sells 'em in titanium.  Yikes!  Anyway, let
me know your experiences.. Thanks!

Slip

 wrote:

Made one attempt at this with Metzler Tourance tubeless tires
and decided it was way smarter to pay my local tire guy the
$20 or so every 10K miles when the tire gets replaced.

I've helped a friend unmount then remount a tube type tire
and found this to be way less painful than my tubeless ones.

Tube type tires require patching a tube. Tubeless typically get
fixed in the field using an automotive type string plug so I
carry a tubeless repair kit and air pump but don't carry irons.

I kind of like the Aerostich combo wrench and tire iron but
don't carry any.

 wrote:

I saw a professional pull a 6-inch iron out of his shirt pocket and
lever the 2nd bead over the edge.

He knew a secret that I didn't know.

When installing a new tire, you want to get both beads into the
smaller diameter "drop center" in the middle of the rim, instead of
letting the first bead slide over the retainer.

This doesn't work very well if you have a sport tire with a very low
and stiff sidewall.

 
Much success to you.  My wheels are mirror polished and clear coated
aluminum and I ride in teh salty winters...  So I'll trust my local experts
to the job of changing the tires without removing the protective coating and
ruining all that good looking wheel art...

Plus...  My bike is too darn heavy to lift up without a bike lift and I
don't have one.  :)
--


Joe in Northern, NJ  -  V#8013-R

Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"
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 GuppyPilot wrote:

According to many emails I receive on a daily basis, yes....

But as for your actual question, I used to use tire irons, but it was
way too much work.  I also purchased a Harbor Freight tire changer, and
love it.

--
"Outback" Jon  -  KC2BNE
outback_jon@ver.no.sp.am.izon.net
AMD Opteron 165 (@2.5) and 6.1 GHz of other AMD power...
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