Rear Tire Installation Failure

[Olgry1]

Getting ready for a road trip that starts 8/29 and heads west. My Bridgestone T31 tires have a good 1000 miles left in them, but the trip is going to be 4000. So new roasdsmart 3 were installed today. GG, I now understand why you had so much trouble using your new Cycle Hill machine. As you know, I use the same rig and have always had good results with it. So today, with the Dunlops I have to say this rear tire was the second hardest to get on the rim that I've done. Hardest one was a Hedenau(sp?) for a BMW GS bike a friend had. That thing was a monster. For this install today, I'm at my new condo. At the old place I had the cycle hill bolted to the floor. Solid as a rock. Here, I did as per GG with a 2x10 under the car tire and the cycle hill bolted to that. Very unstable, and I'm not gonna use that method again.

So the tire was **very** hard to get on the rim. Took me a couple hours to make that change. The front was a matter of 15 minutes. All balanced up and ready for a test ride. Along with new oil in the engine I'm ready to head to Colorado. Please put out the fires before I get there.

I have a No Mar anchored in concrete with four lag bolts. Even with that set up I've had a very difficult time trying to change tires with stiff sidewalls.

My experience has been similar to yours Bob as the front tire is difficult to change but not impossible. The rear tire is a different story and sometimes I can change it if there is someone to help me but usually not.

Dunlop Roadsmarts have stiff sidewalls as do tires that are geared for heavier sport touring and touring bikes

I am having Michelin Road 5 GTs mounted on my 1250 RT this week.