I find it generally much cheaper to buy tyres on line for both cars & bikes. But I find it that it is getting more & more difficult to buy the bike tyres and then take it to a fitter and the latter only tends to fit tyres they supply. What's the solution??
never had issues with fitters putting on tires i supply...maybe try some others? even my local honda dealer was happy for me to supply the tyre.. ps - this is the for sale section..
Either find someone that will or fit them yourself My tyre garage will fit tyres to loose wheels for £10 a pair
Depends how many tyres you get through, but with 4 bikes in the household plus "mates", I just bought my own kit to do it, saves no end of time and over a short while, its saves a lot of money, and the amount of grief it saves trying to find someone open, wont rip you off, is there when you are out of work etc, priceless But as mentioned, wrong part of the forum for this......
Thinking of going down this route myself what kit you using just tyre lever's and a balancer or have you gone a bit more upmarket
I use the sealy motorcycle changer, it was about £150 delivered (I think )and is handy to make the job a bit easier. I use a £19 balancer which is very easy to use. I bought a job lot of weights and new valves from eBay at next to nothing prices. The only thing I would recommend is a decent bar that has protection on it and maybe some rim protectors, I couldn't get hold of the Sealy bar at the time so bought a similar one from a guy on eBay who makes them, think that was about £50 or £60 delivered, but essential as you cant use the stuff that comes with it, it would wreck an alloy rim in seconds. its come in so handy for punctures, no waiting till the weekend, just pop to the shed, take the tyre off, find the hole, drill it ( I say drill but its actually a 3mm file but cant remember its proper name ) and the plug it with a mushroom, pop it all back together, job done. I was lucky enough to already have a compressor, so that saved a little bit too. I should also mention that my "local" tyre changer (who is 25 miles away!) charges £50 a pair to fit and balance wheels, paid for its self already
+1 on the DIY element. Plus if I have a load or car wheels that need balancing then I just call eTyres or take them down to KwickFit.
How do u change tires you self? Kwickfit are a bunch of twats..wouldn't trust em with a screwdriver..
My local one is quite good, but I still do as much as I can myself. These pics have done the rounds before, but this is what I started with. and this is what I use now
About £150 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-To...302963?hash=item2ee8354d73:g:6~MAAOSwYHxWQKzz But I added a £60 walk around bar too.
some of you guys sound like real hard-core pros. my needs are not frequent enough nor is space in the garage to warrant investing in a tyre changing equipment. What are your thought about manual wheel balancing vs computerised one ( you see in tyre fitting shops and usual operated by a monkey!!)
My opinion is that balancing for car wheels should be left to the monkeys, but bike wheels can easily be at home. Some people don't bother balancing bike wheels. There was a debate about this, but I prefer to balance mine, then it's one less thing for me to worry about.