Time for a Change

Not too shabby.  I was hoping to get 10K miles on these tires.  Due to underinflating them in the beginning I only eeked 8K on the front.  But I succeeded in sneaking 13K out of the rear.  I believe I could have gotten another thousand from the rear but Mr. Oilburner pulled out the ruler and sternly told me it was time.  Yes, I could probably get another couple hundred.  But my brother was coming next weekend to go riding and it wouldn't be good to spoil all that riding with a flat tire.

I had purchased the tire the weekend before.  Dunlop was having a superb sale if front and rear were purchased.  So I have a spare front laying around the garage.  I've got the space.  But I didn't have the time to take the bike to the shop and sit.  Nor the energy to get the trailer out and go through the process of tying it down.  So it was time to just take the wheel off and haul it and the new tire to the shop.  Luckily the shop is near work, making it so easy to drop off in the morning and just pick up on the way home.

I've begun the process of learning to perform maintenance on my bike.  I've touched and felt and torqued and screwed and adjusted...on someone else's bike.  But haven't yet taken the plunge on my own.  But I didn't think a rear wheel would be too bad.  See, I had already replaced the front one.  And that time I did replace the actual tire myself and balance it at home.  I thought I had written it up, but can't seem to find anything.  So just in case I have I'm not writing anything.  In case I haven't here is a picture or three:

I pulled out the Repair CD that seems to go into just enough detail without really answering some other questions you might have.  But I studied the little line drawings and decided I could handle this.

I rounded up the tools, popped the bike on the center stand and started wrenching.  Man I Love Swing Arms!  I would love the exhaust to either be smaller or placed a little more out of the way so the floating rim can be seen on the road.  But all I had to do was remove one screw and loosen a bolt and just rotate the exhaust can out of the way.  This gave me perfect access to the 5 bolts for the rim.  Cake and Pie man.  Cake and Pie.  (Now if I can just remember which King book I picked that little quote from...Easy as Cake. Piece of Pie.)

The rim was in and out of the shop the next day, reinstalled that evening and taken out for a little ride to verify assembly was correct.