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Anyone changing tires in Austin proper?

Joined
Jul 27, 2011
Messages
58
Reaction score
1
Location
Austin
First Name
Miriam
Last Name
Hayes
Anyone changing tires in Austin proper? I can go North or South too, just live in Austin city.
 
I used a reliable mobile tech named Fabian Kale, a couple yrs ago. His phone 512 663 0747. Good luck
 
Depending on your schedule and what you have I can probably do it. My only thing is the CoA bulk pickup will only take 4 tires so I may request you take the old tires (or pick them up at a later date).
 
I use Milestone Moto...

Tire mount and balance
Front Tire $50
Sportbike Rear Tire $60
Cruiser Rear Tire $80
Loose wheel (off bike) $30
Tire disposal $5 each
 
Top Dead Cycles will do em for 35 off the bike if you're in south Austin. Mainly Harley crowd run by husband wife but real nice folks.
 
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I've done one set of HD tires for a colleague... never again... **** those sidewalls are stiff. You really do need a proper machine, the manual changers don't work very well at all.
 
I haven't personally confirmed, but a friend recently tried to have it done at Cuznbob's and was told they are only changing tires if purchased from them.

There's a small scooter shop in western Cedar Park (Bat City Scooters) that will do loose wheel tire changes $25/ea. It's kind of a hole in the wall place- but it's listed on google. Right across the street from Shady Oaks indoor range. The guy is friendly and will pretty much drop what he's doing to help you out. I usually call first to make sure he's around, but he always says just stop by whenever. Good option for the cedar park area.
 
I haven't personally confirmed, but a friend recently tried to have it done at Cuznbob's and was told they are only changing tires if purchased from them.

...
This was not my experience last month. Be sure to do your own homework.
 
Sign at his shop says he won’t mount things brought in, if it’s something he sells.
I stand behind my statement. Be sure to do your own homework. Maybe take two minutes to talk to the man.
 
There's a small scooter shop in western Cedar Park (Bat City Scooters) that will do loose wheel tire changes $25/ea.

Wait a minute. You mean, somehow there is a scooter shop right here in my home town of cedar park and I didn't know about it? And right across the street from shady oaks, where we go all the time, and our vet is right next door...

I do remember seeing place with some old Vespae out front. Web site says they specialize in 2 stroke scooters. Anyway, that's going on my list to check out, maybe today.

Certainly next tire change we need, this will be the place. I wonder if they so more than repairs.
 
Not sure how this wasn't mentioned in this thread either, but Cycle Gear at Burnet & 183 will also do them as long as they are off the bike.
 
Lots of shops will do them off the bike and at excessive prices. Cycle gear included. Last time I had a shop change a tire for me was at RideNow Georgetown before it was RideNow, they changed it on the bike for free. I rode there with the old tire, rode away with the new one an hour later. That's how it's supposed to work. I think they will still do that for tires you buy in their store. If they had carried the tires I wanted, I would have happily taken that deal on my recent tire purchases.

It's no surprise motorcycle shops don't stay in business.
 
At $30 a wheel, off the bike, I'll never change another tire (in Austin) myself...
 
FYI... I have new rims that I ordered for the Pan America, they are different in that they have an extremely wide lip and extend away from the rubber. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but whatever. Anyhow, my Cycle Hill changer won't work out of the box with these rims and so after muscling on the front and spending way too much time messing around with the rear, I gave in and called Cycle Gear... $50 a tire if you didn't buy it from them. Ouch... As usual, Robert at Cuzinbob's saved me (he helped press in the rear bearing when my manual tool failed there too due to design)... He agreed to do the tire for me. But YMMV. But again a huge shout out to Robert and I did notice he is a dealer for the next set of tires I want to try on this bike, so I'll probably just let him do the entire thing.
 
Yeah my problem with all of this is that removing the wheels from the motorcycle and transporting them is more work than just changing the tire yourself. $30 per wheel no matter where you bought the tires might be worth it if you ride in with the old tires and ride away with the new. But no way will I pay that and have to do 80% of the work.
 
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I agree with you, but depending on how things are sometimes you have to get either better tools or pay somebody to do it. But I agree it's a lot of work removing tires to have somebody else finish them up for you.
 
I agree with you, but depending on how things are sometimes you have to get either better tools or pay somebody to do it.

A lot of shops flat out won't change the tires if you bring in the bike with wheels on it, no matter the price.

Again, this is part of why motorcycle shops don't last. Imagine if Discount Tire required you to remove the wheels from your car and bring them in to get new tires. I could get into the economics of it and why this doesn't make any business sense, but nobody cares. This is a case where the current generation of business owners sees low demand for something, and they think the inelastic piece of the equation is revenue, so since demand is low, they raise the price to try and keep revenue flat. Like, "I can't afford to keep this shop open if I don't charge this much, because I only do one tire change a week". Then you can't afford to keep the shop open, because you don't have a business model that supports your costs. Period. Your shop is already failed, you just don't know it yet.
 
But let's take a motorcycle. I've done enough tire changes on enough bikes to know taking off the wheel can be easy or a pain because they are all different. A car is easy. lugnuts free and you're done. Turns out I didn't even have the proper socket to get off the rear nut on the HD PA because I've never had a Harley and have never needed a 36mm socket... lesson learned, now for a bike shop they probably have all that, but still puts you in the position of needing a ton of tools just to change tires (HD also has an interesting method for ABS sensors... again just something different). All in all, I think if you're not willing to change your own rubber, you just bring it into a shop buy the tire and have them mount it. Otherwise buy your rubber anywhere and mount it yourself without expecting somebody else to help you.
 
But let's take a motorcycle. I've done enough tire changes on enough bikes to know taking off the wheel can be easy or a pain because they are all different. A car is easy. lugnuts free and you're done.

Actually what makes it difficult is supporting the vehicle with no wheels on it. And they do that with cars, easy, with a lift, because very few home mechanics have a 4-post lift in their garage. The same applies for a motorcycle. You need some kind of stable lift and a place you can leave it unmolested for hours with no wheels on it while you drive to get the tires changed. Assuming, of course, you have a vehicle besides your motorcycle with no wheels on it to take to the shop.

Making an excuse that it would require the right tools to remove the wheel, I mean, isn't that the point? Having the right tools is precisely why I would pay someone to do it. I think this is a major impediment to motorcycle ownership. I mean, if we want more women to ride, like we keep saying we do, why do we force them to do their own service like this just for a simple wear item? What's next? You can get the brake pads changed but only if you remove the calipers and bring them in?

The whole point of running a motorcycle shop is that you have the tools and expertise to do repairs. If you don't, you're doing it wrong.
 
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