wr250X Tires

thanks!

Dancamp wrote:

Once you the bead is broken, it's pretty easy.

i've read a lot of horror stories about breaking the bead on the X

how do you think a C-clamp with some wood to distribute the load on the tire would work?

The side stand of the motorcycle is enough. You just have to make sure all the weight of the motorcycle is on the side stand + your own weight.

At least it works for me.

My tire bars are long so I can also use them as levers to break a bead.

Another thing to note is the fact that scratching the rims doesn't bother me. I saves time not to bother with that.

dan, i'm a little confused...

are you suggesting i use the sidestand to break the bead? how would i do this with the wheels off the bike?


maybe i'm missing something, lol

disclaimer: sorry for the shittay pics, didn't feel like busting out the real camera, so these are from the phone.




got some Bridgestone BT003rs's yesterday, and the tools to make an attempt at swapping them out myself. that didn't go so well. got the front tire halfway off the wheel before i gave up. tubeless street tires are just too firm to try and do this by hand.


sizes are 150/60/17 and 110/70/17. i had full intended to get a 140 for the rear, but accidentally ordered the 150, and by the time i had caught my mistake, they had already shipped the order... so i said screw it, i'll give it a shot.


tools... lol... worthless




tires







mounted






plenty of clearance here...







should be fun

Interested to hear your opinions on, if any, handling changes using the wider rear tire (its profile looks better then the OEM 140, which gets scrubbed right to the edge too easy/quickly in my opinion.)

Also, the 'tire irons' in your pic look more suitable as tongue depresors. Much too small for street tires.

I have a Harbour Freight floor mounted tire changer:
http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-tire-changer-attachment-42927.html
(I don't use the 'right-angle arm'.) There is a bead breaker near the base.

I use it with this:
http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm

That combination works well, no problem with 180/55/17 back tire on my Triumph.

Of course none of the above helps with repairing a road puncture far from home. Would love to make the X's wheels tubeless so the usual mushroom plugs and stiky strings could be used to get home....

yeah, those tire spoons are pretty much the gold standard for dirtbike riders. they don't work so well on tubeless street tires though, haha.



yes, the profile drops off much more sharply than the oem 140's, which should (correct me if i'm wrong) give me more contact patch while leaned over. but just eyeballing it, short of a lowside, i don't think i'm going to see the edges of these tires, lol.


here is what they replaced.

Vortac wrote:

yes, the profile drops off much more sharply than the oem 140's, which should (correct me if i'm wrong) give me more contact patch while leaned over. but just eyeballing it, short of a lowside, i don't think i'm going to see the edges of these tires, lol.


here is what they replaced.

You got it, you should not run out of tire with the new ones's better profile.
Nice 'gummyness' on the old tire!

anyone have any ideas on pressures? the dealer had it set at 29psi!! i backed it down to 22psi for now (95% track riding)

Vortac wrote:

dan, i'm a little confused...

are you suggesting i use the sidestand to break the bead? how would i do this with the wheels off the bike?


maybe i'm missing something, lol

Even with one wheel off, you have 2 points of contact with the ground. You lean the motorcycle the opposite way of the sidestand, slide the wheel under the stand so this one is as close as possible to the rim then lean the motorcycle the side of the side stand.

I don't own a bead breaker and that's the way I do it when I chane the tires on my motorcycles. Cheap, quick and easy.

i've been running bt-016 in 110F 150R for about 1500 miles, and so far i really like them. the bt-090 seemed greasy too quickly, whereas the -016 seem to like it hot. i'm quite a bit more confident with the -016 as well. i've been consistently dragging pegs and (oops) toes, whereas with the -090 i didn't like how they felt on the edge of the tread.

marty wrote:

i've been running bt-016 in 110F 150R for about 1500 miles, and so far i really like them. the bt-090 seemed greasy too quickly, whereas the -016 seem to like it hot. i'm quite a bit more confident with the -016 as well. i've been consistently dragging pegs and (oops) toes, whereas with the -090 i didn't like how they felt on the edge of the tread.

I'll bet they have a more rounded-side profile too, any pics of them mounted that you could post?
How are they wearing at 1500 miles?
I have 2500 miles on the original bt-090, and will need new tires in another 1000 miles or so. Trying to decide between 003 and 016.

i'll try to remember to take a picture. they aren't squaring off as bad as the bt-090s did (i live in the illinois flat lands) and they are pretty round, although they're slightly pinched to fit on the rim. i've got 3/4" chicken strips right now since that's where i start dragging parts.

I see that in the BT016 the 150 is only available in the 60 series profile, that explains your mention of "pinched off" because the sidewall is shorter. 150/60/17 has diameter 620 mm and 161 mm tread width (although those numbers would be on a 4.5" wide wheel)

Now I'm thinking about getting BT023: 150/70/17 which gives diameter 640 mm (therefore a little higher gearing because stock 140/70/17 is 627) and tread width of 156 mm. Not as sticky as the 016, but better in the rain (I take my WRX on longer trips once in a while.) I'm hoping that the 023 would be a rounder profile than the stock 090, which gets out to the very edge of the tire with far too little lean angle.

From your description of dragging parts and significant chicken strips, it sounds like your 150/60/17 on the 4" WRX wheel has an over-round profile: so steep at edges that you could never use the very edge ot the tire??

This is a decent link for tire sizes:
http://mc.bridgestone.co.jp/en/products/size/on_radial.html

deerHater wrote:

From your description of dragging parts and significant chicken strips, it sounds like your 150/60/17 on the 4" WRX wheel has an over-round profile: so steep at edges that you could never use the very edge ot the tire??

This is a decent link for tire sizes:
http://mc.bridgestone.co.jp/en/products/size/on_radial.html

yes, that is correct. like vortac mentioned, it would probably take a lowside to see the edge of the tire touch the pavement. i'll probably finish these off by the fall and will probably get bt-003rs (with a 140 for the rear) for next year.

edit - OT, but how to you like the street triple r? i've been thinking about selling my vfr and getting either the striple r or a monster 1100.

marty wrote:

- OT, but how to you like the street triple r? i've been thinking about selling my vfr and getting either the striple r or a monster 1100.

It's a great bike. Excellent handling, great brakes, very, very strong engine that has character too.
I've got 19K kms on it with zero issues.

Only things I don't like:
- turning radius is very Ducati-esque
- seat tilted a bit forward, replaced it with a nice Sargent seat

Some folks complain the throttle is a little too response just off idle. I think the throttle is very responsive at all RPM, which I like, so I learned to be careful just off idle. I've wheelied it in first and second gear, when not trying to and without clutch. Even in 6th gear at only 4.5 K RPM (about 55 mph indicated) I can wack the throttle open and it pulls hard right away.

I rode a friend's 1st gen Monster 1100 about 12 years ago. The STripleR feels faster, but the monster feels like it has a little better low end grunt.

See if you can get a test ride somewhere.

Vortac wrote:

tools... lol... worthless

sorry to break this to you bud, but that is all you need to change a set of tires on a bike, aside from a bead breaker. To break the bead I use a long 2x4 and my steps, usually I can pop the bead with creativity and body weight. Key is to use lots of lube and not to fight the tire, because it's a lot stronger than you are.

use the spoons to take small bites at a time to lever the bead over the lip of the rim, a few inches at a time. Otherwise just drop a pin through the wheel bearing, put a length of pipe over the spoon and spin it all the way around the rim to release the bead in one go. Second side can be more tricky but doable with lots of lube. Mounting is easy, lube up the bead and force the first side on with your body weight, and take small bites again with the spoons being careful not to pinch the tube.

I've changed countless sport bike tires (used to race) this way. My tire changing tools are cut up milk bottles, three 9" tire irons, and tire lube/soapy water. People who tell you that you need a 24" tire iron to do it are wrong. If you use too much force and ham fist it, you'll end up bending or gouging the shit out of your wheels. Taking small bites with the levers and only using the tip, not much strength is needed, only one hand.

twowheeled wrote:

sorry to break this to you bud, but that is all you need to change a set of tires on a bike, aside from a bead breaker. To break the bead I use a long 2x4 and my steps, usually I can pop the bead with creativity and body weight. Key is to use lots of lube and not to fight the tire, because it's a lot stronger than you are.

use the spoons to take small bites at a time to lever the bead over the lip of the rim, a few inches at a time. Otherwise just drop a pin through the wheel bearing, put a length of pipe over the spoon and spin it all the way around the rim to release the bead in one go. Second side can be more tricky but doable with lots of lube. Mounting is easy, lube up the bead and force the first side on with your body weight, and take small bites again with the spoons being careful not to pinch the tube.

I've changed countless sport bike tires (used to race) this way. My tire changing tools are cut up milk bottles, three 9" tire irons, and tire lube/soapy water. People who tell you that you need a 24" tire iron to do it are wrong. If you use too much force and ham fist it, you'll end up bending or gouging the shit out of your wheels. Taking small bites with the levers and only using the tip, not much strength is needed, only one hand.

Hi Twowheeled:

I have changed hundreds of bicycle tires in my day and tens of dirt bike tires but nothing has ever compared to the work I needed to remove the wheel and then break the WR's BT90's bead. Have you changed them let alone perform it on the road? I have performed two swaps to Avon Distanzia's and back again and what a bitch! I had a flat last month on the Ohio and PA border and the can of pressurized slime just made a mess inside the tube and rear tire. Pulling the rear wheel was the easy part. Thanks to a local RV shop that loaned me a 5-gallon bucket to get the rear wheel off the ground and a ride to a local Suzuki shop to get the tire removed and new tube installed. The Suzuki shop owner with over 35-years in the business took over 45-minutes to pull the tire, clean everything up and reinstall. And I brought him the wheel, not the bike.

I am glad to hear your BT90 changes have worked better than mine but jeesh, those BT90's are a bitch!

Good Luck

Wayne

I bet most of the 45 min was cleaning up the slime mess.
Then again anyone with 335 years experience is probably moving pretty slow...

I changed the stockers out to my distanzia's and it wasn't that bad.

Hi F3joel:

Sorry about that. It was 35-years. If you do have to change on the road, make sure you have a tough bead breaker as the BT90 is one SOB to break.

Good Luck

Wayne

my issue wasn't breaking the bead, it was getting the tire off of the rim. no matter which way i tried to make it happen, it just wasn't coming off.



hey, i bought the tools (still have them) and gave it a go. it didn't work out. maybe i'll give it a go at a later date, or maybe i'll just buy a NoMar.


glad it worked out for you.

Vortac wrote:

my issue wasn't breaking the bead, it was getting the tire off of the rim. no matter which way i tried to make it happen, it just wasn't coming off.



hey, i bought the tools (still have them) and gave it a go. it didn't work out. maybe i'll give it a go at a later date, or maybe i'll just buy a NoMar.


glad it worked out for you.

Try doing it under the sun. When the tire is warm and that you use a lubricant, getting the tire off the rim is really easy. One thing to keep in mind, once half of the tire is off, make sure the bead opposite the side you're working is in the deeper part of the rim. Keeping an eye on that is also important when you install the new tire.

I doubt that a NoMar would be of any help once the bead is broken.

i use a HF changer, a mojo bar and wheel blocks, lots of windex, and tire warmers to heat the rubber up. the longest and most frustrating thing is static balancing... usually it takes longer to balance one wheel than to change 2.

marty wrote:

i use a HF changer, a mojo bar and wheel blocks, lots of windex, and tire warmers to heat the rubber up. the longest and most frustrating thing is static balancing... usually it takes longer to balance one wheel than to change 2.

Viva dyna beads.