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A Bikers Garage. Roanoke, TX

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Bines

Bines

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Since Bikers Bay in Bedford is no longer Bikers Bay, I had to find a new tire shop. I liked BB for price and service. They did tires as a 'ride in, ride out' service. It was tires while you wait. Nice.

The new guy does tires, but I wanted something easier for me to get to. A Bikers Garage is nearly a straight shot from my house.

They didn't have the tire I wanted in stock. They did order it on Friday, and it was there the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I dropped the bike of that evening. It was ready about noon the next day. Since I had to work late that day and the next, they kept my bike garaged until Friday at no chagre. They give you three days before charging $10 a day.

Looks like they did a good job on the tire and putting the chain back on right.

Tire price was just okay. Not a stellar deal. $69 for mounting on the bike was a bit steep, I think.

8 out of 10.
 
And this is the reason I bought a tire changer. Prices kept going up, and service quality was inconsistent, not to mention just inconvenient. My time is worth a lot of money. Now I do my own tires in less than 30 minutes front and rear.
 
A convenient location that takes your bike apart, mounts the tire, then puts your bike back together then stores it....and someone complains about $70.
That is a good deal if you don't want to get your hands dirty.
 
Considering most shops labor rates are in the 80-95 an hour rate
I dont think that is bad at all.

He has equipment to buy an employees salary and all the additional costs that go with the take home portion of that, overhead for cost of the building, electricity, taxes. If I was unwilling or unable to do it myself I don't really see the issue with the cost.

Options, take the wheel off the bike yourself I am sure his labor rates are less if all he is doing is a mount and balance

Spend a little cash on a tire changer and compressor learn to or decide your time is worth less than the $69 bucks to change it and do it yourself.

Lots of low buck bead breaker plans on the internet that and a good set of spoons is all you really need for mounting, a pair of jack stands and your axle is all you really need for a balancer.

Many better easier and more professional tools out there as well, just decide if an hour or two in the garage is worth the 69bucks. Or if the outlay of cash for the proper tools is better money spent for you.

For me, mechanical is relaxing a way to get away from emails and deadlines so I don't mind, others it is more the other way around.
 
budzrex said:
Considering most shops labor rates are in the 80-95 an hour rate
I dont think that is bad at all.

He has equipment to buy an employees salary and all the additional costs that go with the take home portion of that, overhead for cost of the building, electricity, taxes. If I was unwilling or unable to do it myself I don't really see the issue with the cost.

Options, take the wheel off the bike yourself I am sure his labor rates are less if all he is doing is a mount and balance

Spend a little cash on a tire changer and compressor learn to or decide your time is worth less than the $69 bucks to change it and do it yourself.

Lots of low buck bead breaker plans on the internet that and a good set of spoons is all you really need for mounting, a pair of jack stands and your axle is all you really need for a balancer.

Many better easier and more professional tools out there as well, just decide if an hour or two in the garage is worth the 69bucks. Or if the outlay of cash for the proper tools is better money spent for you.

For me, mechanical is relaxing a way to get away from emails and deadlines so I don't mind, others it is more the other way around.
Click to expand...

Last year had one of those wild hairs, bought a tire changer.
Yup takes about thirty mins to change front, and rear. Run to woods or kent have them balance them.
The fun is doing them for friends and fellow riders.
Lunch, maybe a beer.
 
kirbykajin said:
And this is the reason I bought a tire changer. Prices kept going up, and service quality was inconsistent, not to mention just inconvenient. My time is worth a lot of money. Now I do my own tires in less than 30 minutes front and rear.
Click to expand...

Which tire changer did you buy? What about balancing?
I have two bikes, my neighbor has a garage full, a couple friends down the street have motorcycles ... might be a worthwhile investment for all of us.

In Granbury, I paid $100 to Granbury Motorsports to R&R the wheels from the VTX, mount new tires and balance.
But that was only if I bought the tires from them which added another 10% or so to the final bill.
 
Last edited:
These will pay for themselves pretty quick if you go through many tires.

Tire machine

QzkwQzE0NTI1NzhFNjA3NUIwQjE6OWJmYzQzOTAyOGRhMDJhNWU3ZTZkYzViMTEyMTM3M2E6Ojo6OjA=.jpg
 
Snap on,
And it will never pay for itself!
 

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I have a Coats Rim Clamp RC-100 and a Snap-On wheel balancer. They have both paid for themselves many times over. I mount tires for folks, pretty easy work with nice tools. Someday I will get them serviced. Then I will have more to work off.

IMG_18451.jpg


IMG_18461.jpg
 
Nice equipment!
But, I'm one of those shoestring guys. When I break a bead, I soap it, and use a clamp to bring it off at one point. Then, I take some BIG zip-ties and pull both beads together tight at about 5 points and spoon them off the rim together.
Balancing is 2 Homer buckets up=side-down. I rest the axle ends on the bucket and start with the air valve at 90*. I watch it roll to a stop which indicates the heaviest part of the assembly. I take two equal weights and clip them on the top of the rim. And see where they stop, normally at the bottom. Then i spread them apart until the rim does not turn any. I spin it a bit to see if I get a different high-spot each time. And turn the rim 90* either way looking for rotation. When the wheel is balanced, it can be turned to any angle and will not move on its own. The bubble balancer assumes the rim is even on the cone. If I use one, to check balance, I take the rim off and put it back on and compare the read.
But the axle over the buckets is all I use now.
This lets me ride while still charging my customers less for my services. I should charge more, but I don't.
Ask Scott Strance. I used to have some fun, free 'maintenance days' at my house.
 
kirbykajin said:
And this is the reason I bought a tire changer. Prices kept going up, and service quality was inconsistent, not to mention just inconvenient. My time is worth a lot of money. Now I do my own tires in less than 30 minutes front and rear.
Click to expand...

Have you tried a 240/40 tire? I paid $50 to have it changed & watched 2 guys with tire changer work for about a 1/2 hour
 
:tab In recent years, I haven't bothered with balancing tires for my 1200 GS, but I still do for the KTM 530 EXC. My GS rims are balanced without a tire on them. Most new tires seem to be pretty well balanced from the factory. I can't recall the last time I had a tire that felt even remotely out of balance at any speed on the GS :shrug: The same is actually mostly true for the KTM as well, but I generally still check it before remounting the wheel on the bike. I just have one of those static balance kits with a rod on a stand.

A Coats machine, or something similar, makes a HUGE difference. I used to do the simple bead breaker and tire irons all on the floor. My knees and back aren't up for that anymore. Going slow and being real careful, it might take 30 minutes to swap two tires, if that also includes removing and reinstalling the wheel on the bike.
 
julimike54 said:
Have you tried a 240/40 tire? I paid $50 to have it changed & watched 2 guys with tire changer work for about a 1/2 hour
Click to expand...

Actually yes I have. And in car tires I've installed many 30 series tires. While they are "harder" just like anything it is all about technique. On some tires I even get it out about 75% on the then use old fashion tire irons to complete that last bit while still held in place on the rim clamp and the foot holding down the other 75%.

Full disclosure I worked at Sears auto center in college and have quite a few tire changes under my belt.
 
I noticed the same thing Scott, I would pull old tire off and remove the weights but once the new tire was on it pretty much always required the same amount of weight in the same place, so I stopped pulling the old weights off.

the SV, the ZRX the GS's, put new tire on and put on balancer and they are always within a 1/4 oz.

figures I would figure out that you just have to balance the wheel once and be done after buying a whole box of stick on weights!

this is the balancer I use. http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-balancing-stand-98488.html
 
If you're looking for a shop to bring it to there's a guy named Jaxon Fyffe with a place near Golden Triangle Blvd and I35W who's very well known in the Super Tenere world. I believe he works on almost anything though. He's changed a couple of tires for me on the WR while I waited. He's a really interesting guy on top of it.

Anyhoo, if your interested you can reach him at 8 one 7 - 8 three 1 - ninety seven hundred or jaxon@wildcardcustoms.com
 
copb8 said:
If you're looking for a shop to bring it to there's a guy named Jaxon Fyffe with a place near Golden Triangle Blvd and I35W who's very well known in the Super Tenere world. I believe he works on almost anything though. He's changed a couple of tires for me on the WR while I waited. He's a really interesting guy on top of it.

Anyhoo, if your interested you can reach him at 8 one 7 - 8 three 1 - ninety seven hundred or jaxon@wildcardcustoms.com
Click to expand...
Here's his website.
http://rideonadv.com/

_
 
Yes. At toll way speeds, I want balanced tires.

I've put on pickup truck tires with long screwdrivers and rope. I had to wash my hands after. ;)

Thanks for the replies. A tire changing setup may be in my future. $25 for front and $50 for rear is fair for the job since it is a bigger mounting job than a car, even if you're not wrestling it between your legs with a rope. I get that. $70 is just a bit much, in my opinion.

All said, the shop did a great job.
 
OldTLSDoug said:
I have a Coats Rim Clamp RC-100 and a Snap-On wheel balancer. They have both paid for themselves many times over. I mount tires for folks, pretty easy work with nice tools. Someday I will get them serviced. Then I will have more to work off.

IMG_18451.jpg


IMG_18461.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that inside your house? Tell me that's inside your house.
 
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