Tyre Changer/Balancer machines

[RobC]

Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone knows how much a basic tyre changer and balancing machines cost?

I know it will be a big investment at first but over time it must save money and, perhaps, some time. I currently spend about £600/year on tyres on just the one bike. I will be buying a second bike soon so my tyre costs will increase a little. Plus, I will own bikes for many years to come so any machines would have to be compatible with different bikes.

I've found several UK web sites that sell the machines but none advertise prices.

It may be a long shot but it is something worth investigating. Although the garage is full I need to find a use for the spare bedroom

 

[Mouse]

Make sure any balancer you get can cope with the funny rear wheel on a BMW

 

[Noel]

The best way to balance tyres is by hand, more accurate than dynamic balancers, I made mine two high quality bearings each side that over lap then a piece of bright steel to use as an axle the only thing with the GS and other single siders, the best thing to do is get a hub machined to bolt to the wheel and slide over the axle on the machine. Then all that is required is plenty of lead weights and a bit of tape, gently spin the wheel, heavy part of wheel goes to bottom so tape weights at top then try again untill you can place the wheel in any position and it does not move, then affix weights.

 

[Possu]

No need to splash out on a tyre changer unless you're changing very frequently. Just buy or make a bead breaker & use tyre levers to do the rest. Once you've got the knack, doesn't take long at all.

I made a garage wall mounted bead breaker out of bits & pieces aroubd the garage, worked well for the past 7 years. Let me know if you want photos.

 

[Noddy]

I used my home made bead breaker last time I changed tyres.

Bit noisy, but did the job.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

get some 'tyrepliers' here for beadbreaking

http://www.tyrepliers.com.au/Products/bb105.htm

http://www.4x4partsmaster.com/shop_det.asp?pd_id=271&pc_id=3138&sec_id=245

Dynamic balancing is needed for wide rims to balance left to right - big sports bikes etc.

Manually you can get it close enough - but its not 'more accurate'.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Last year I went down the route of purchasing a tyre changing machine and a wheel balancer.

I bought the Australian market Chinese made version of the American Harbor Freight tyre changer. I'm sure it's available in the UK as the same company also manufactures two types of bike hoist that are available here. I have seen the same hoist for sale in the UK on websites so the changer should be able to be sourced in the UK.

If you go to the Adventure site in the USA and click on the hall of wisdom you will find an article of what one fella did to modify his super cheap tyre changer.

I more or less did the same thing and for the princly sum of $110.00 Australian I had a very useable tyre changing machine, which also has a bead breaker attached. It will if you don't permanently modify it also change care tyres, in fact that is it's original purpose. The Motorcycle tyre changer is an add on to the top of the base changer.

Very effective indeed.

I now change and swop tyres willy nilly, so to speak. I would also suggest that you go out of your way and purchase some tyre changing lube, the real thing. It lasts forever and makes the job so easy.

For balancing there are a myriad of ways to do so, most of them being a compromise in either cost, or space.

I eventually purchased the Marc Parnes Balancer from America and haven't looked back. I run an 1100GS and the combination that I purchased will balance the front and rear wheels off any flat twin since 1984 onwards, except for the 1200GS rear wheel. It's landed cost in Australia was $220.00.

The Marc Parnes balancer is a beautiful piece of fine engineering and works a treat out of the box.

The Chinese made tyre changer is a crude, primitive, but effective piece of equipment that requires one to have the use of a machine shop to cut and/or weld some modifications to make it work extremely well on our wide and very different rims.

I run the Tyrepliers bead breaker as wel and keep it permanently attached to my handlebars on the cross over brace. Yes it's not bad and I have used it to change tyres in the bush and also to change at home. However by comparison to a purpose tyre changer situation, it's a pain to use. You'll also need to purchase a 17mm spanner to use it when on the bike as the 1100/50 GS bikes don't run to this size.

I questioned the manufacturer himself about this choice of spanner size. His reply was that the most common size of spanner carried on almost every motorbike was a 17mm so he made that the size of the nut. About the time he released his machine, BMW came out with the 1100 machines with no 17mm spanner, ironic eh?

My suggestion is to go for it, you will not be disappointed.

Mick.

 

[RobC]

It looks like I have several options then. I will do more research as I may as well change the car tyres myself too. As I am soon to by the 1200GS I will have to be very careful about what I buy.

I will have to see if I can find a bankrupt stock sale somewhere.

 

[bmwrich58]

A lot of people have made bead breakers out of wood and connect them to the wall in their garage. Try this::::

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing-doc.html


A guy by the name of Marc Parnes (USA) makes affordable wheel balancers.

http://www.cyclesaddles.com/home/Accessories/Balancer.htm

 

[bandit]

I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS AS WELL.

Anyone got any experience of these things?

http://www.motoxtreme.co.uk/catalog...d=427&osCsid=9bf4a505b676c48297318c0f9887d0df

 

[Possu]

I made my bead breaker from:

Piece of steel plate with a couple of bits of angle iron welded to it,

Two short lengths of steel tube & an old trolley jack handle,

An old wheel spindle & a couple of large R'clips - works fine, no expense.

If changing your own tyres, worth nailing/screwing 3 lengths of 4"x4" together to form a triangle to keep discs etc off the ground.