Third hand tire changing tool.

Wowser!! I just changed my first tire using the "Rubber Coated Bead Keeper Tire Changer Yellow Tool" from NoMar. Man, does that thing work like gangbusters. It keeps the tire from creeping around the rim when you're trying to get it on. No more fighting the tire with one hand and using the mounting tool with the other. I LOVE IT!!! I've been changing my own tires with a HF motorcycle tire changer and this just makes it sooooo much easier to mount a tire.

No company affiliation, but I like to pass on the good news if a product was as good, or better than expected. They sell them from their Ebay store with free shipping.

 

Yes I love my "Yellow Thing" too. Well at least it used to be yellow. Now it is the color "dingy"

Rollin

 

No report or write up......:noidea:

 

Sorry, didn't think of it.

I changed my flat rear tire, a Continental Road Attack, since it was about due with a touch over 8200 miles on it. Dunno if it picked up a nail or what, I couldn't see anything in the tread. It looked to be good for a few hundred more miles but I didn't want to mess with patching it. I probably could have gotten 9000 miles out of it total. And I decided to replace the front tire while I was changing tires since the profiles would be very different: the front was starting to flatten out in the center and the new tire, a Michelin Pilot Power 2CT, is more triangular in shape. The rear tire was definitely starting to flatten in the center, but the handling was still pretty good with no noticeable uncertainty when transitioning from upright to leaned over. It still felt pretty solid, but I'm no "Ricky Racer" so you can take that with a grain of salt. :biggrin:

My tire changing equipment is a Harbor Freight motorcycle tire changer bolted to the floor, with sunken anchors so I can easily remove it. I have a Coats mount/dismount bar, and the Marc Parnes balancer with the VFR adapter. And now I have the NoMar "Rubber Coated Bead Keeper Tire Changer Yellow Tool" too!! I installed the nylon rim retention blocks to keep from scratching the rim. They do the job but it's tough to keep the wheel from spinning, so I need to address that problem. I've always had a problem with the bead creeping up on the wheel when mounting the tire, which can be really annoying. The Yellow Tool goes over the rim of the wheel after you've got the tire bead below the rim. The bead simply doesn't move any at all, which makes mounting the tire a freakin' breeze. Takes all of about 10 seconds to run the Coats bar around and mount the tire, and a little less time if I can get the wheel to completely not spin.

As an aside, I had to buy some new wheel weights, so off to O'Reilly's we went. All they had were the non-lead weights, and I've discovered I don't like them at all. Just too big and hard. You can't trim any material off the weight, if 1 is not enough and 2 is too much, you're just SOL. So I'll be getting some lead weights ASAP. I've checked the balance on the wheels without tires so I always have an idea how out-of-balance the tires are. Both the Road Attacks and the Pilot Power tires are nearly neutral. Believe it or not, the light spot on both wheels is very near the valve stem. Apparently the material removed from the wheel for the valve stem hole is more than the weight of the valve stem. It was closer when I had the heavy chrome 90° valve stems. Both wheels took about .5 oz. to balance, which is about right for the bare wheels.

I also installed the lightweight 90° valve stems in black. I had the chrome 90° but decided to give the others a try. They seem to be holding air and didn't break when I installed them, so a win/win. So far anyway.

So there is how I spent part of the day yesterday. Enjoy. :drum:

P.S. Anyone needs tires changed just give me a shout. I'm glad to help out.

 

The easiest way to keep the wheel from spinning is to use a tie down strap and wrap it around one of the wheel spokes and then attach the other end(s) of the straps to the wheel changer arm.

Rollin

 

Yeah, I like that. Simple and effective, thanks.