New Tires going on, but have a question

[Skywagon]

I shared a post about 10 days or so ago about having a flat and having to plug it to get home.  My T31's which were serving my needs well still had a lot of miles left, but I don't want or need to ride with a plug.

 

New T-32GT's will arrive at CycleGear near me tomorrow.  P.S. They are on sale and there is a bit of a rebate as well...purely coincidence. I will be taking my wheels to them for CycleGear to change out the tires.  I did confirm they have the adaptor for my wheels.  I filled out my dealer inquiry 3 times and never got a response.

 

A couple of questions.  Their website says they change out the rubber stems as part of the routine.  Mine have TPMS so they shouldn't change them?  Will the TPMS need to be recalibrated?....and the big question.  I was planning on taking one wheel in at a time.  Is there a way to safely take both in and not risk the bike falling.  I will tie the center stand.  I'm not sure where gravity would take it with both wheels off.  Thoughts?  Their shop is only 10 minutes from me.

[Geekmaster]

@Skywagon, your stems are not rubber so they shouldn't change them.  The TPMS on a 2014 RT is not attached to the stem.  No re-calibration needed after the tire change, but they should be careful when taking off the tires not to hit the TPMS sensors.  Also, you should be able to take both wheels off at the same time.  Here's the way I've done it.

• Put the bike on the center stand
• Put a jack (like a scissor jack) under the front part of the engine.  You will use this to jack up the front.
• Put some jackstands or support in front of the rear wheel.

 

Sequence-wise, you can put the bike on the center stand, and then take off the rear wheel.  Then put a support just in front of the rear wheel area and jack up the front using the jack under the front of the engine, making sure not to lift the bike off the center stand.  Then you can take off the front wheel, and it should be fine.  It's still quite stable that way, but just be careful with any heavy or sudden torquing, etc.

[Bernie]

Make sure you tell the Cycle Gear staff that your wheels have TPMS sensors near the valve stems.

They do not need to replace the valve stems and you do not have to recalibrate or relearn the TPMS sensors to your bike. I would apply some blue majestic tape near the valve stems of the rims and write on that it has TPMS sensors. Some times the desk staff does not talk to the tire changers.

That is only required if you replace the sensors.

 

[Skywagon]

Thanks Geek and Bernie...Bernie great idea on the tape over TPMS with label.

[JCtx]

When I remove the front wheel/tire, I put the axle right back in place, and place a jack stand in the middle of it (at the lowest setting), which leaves the front at the same height as with the front wheel in place. I only jack the bike up a minute or so. And you just need a millimeter or two of clearance to remove the front wheel/tire. Easy peasy. Hope this helps.

[wbw6cos]

Hey David, there should already be a sticker indicating the location of the tire pressure sensor.  Both set of rims for my RT have labels affixed by BMW.  The used set that I purchased from Brad also had the ID of those sensors written on the rim.  Had.  Must have washed off somehow.  

 

 

[Bernie]

On my silver or grey wheels the stickers came off after a few miles. On my 23 black wheels, I can’t see the stickers. 

[9Mary7]

9 hours ago, Skywagon said:

I will tie the center stand. 

 

Most important ^^^^

[wbw6cos]

@Bernie   "majestic" ??   Auto correct?  If not, I need to get me some of dat majestic tape.   It sounds better than duck tape or gorilla tape.    

[Stresspuppy]

@Skywagon I just did this and it was a little easier than I thought. Here is info from Bernie in my thread, with dirtriders take right below it as extra info to add to what is above.

 

 

[dirtrider]

10 hours ago, Skywagon said:

I shared a post about 10 days or so ago about having a flat and having to plug it to get home.  My T31's which were serving my needs well still had a lot of miles left, but I don't want or need to ride with a plug.

 

New T-32GT's will arrive at CycleGear near me tomorrow.  P.S. They are on sale and there is a bit of a rebate as well...purely coincidence. I will be taking my wheels to them for CycleGear to change out the tires.  I did confirm they have the adaptor for my wheels.  I filled out my dealer inquiry 3 times and never got a response.

 

A couple of questions.  Their website says they change out the rubber stems as part of the routine.  Mine have TPMS so they shouldn't change them?  Will the TPMS need to be recalibrated?....and the big question.  I was planning on taking one wheel in at a time.  Is there a way to safely take both in and not risk the bike falling.  I will tie the center stand.  I'm not sure where gravity would take it with both wheels off.  Thoughts?  Their shop is only 10 minutes from me.

Morning David

 

Good info above.

 

I will just add that personally I like to beak the bolts loose (especially the rear wheel bolts) before removing the other wheel. In fact I usually break the rear wheel bolts loose with the motorcycle in first gear & on the ground. If the rear wheel bolts aren't real tight then in first gear & on center stand with center strapped  to not collapse.

 

Most people that have a small jackstand have 2 (I have many) so personally I like to run a metal rod (usually a 3' 1/2 drive extension as that is handy) through the front fork axle holes then place a small jackstand on each side well outboard of the forks. This is just another layer of tip-over protection. There will usually  be some slop in the fork axle holes to the metal rod but even with the slop it allows a much wider front triangle to limit lean or tip-over.

 

A couple of years ago I saw a rider flip a hexhead off of the center stand heavily onto it's side (center stand was tied to exhaust) by stepping backwards onto the turned out muffler. 

[Skywagon]

Thanks all. Will tackle today. I’ve always just done one at a time. It will be nice to have them both done at the same time. 
 

DR… I have a 2ft extension I’ll plug in the front axle.  

[wbw6cos]

A 3-footer?   Sounds like an awesome tool collection.

 

Due to my tire machine being in my shed, I just replace one at a time, but have removed both a long time ago;  I used a metal rod for the front axle with the help of a jack stand.   Now that I cannot locate it, I just do one at a time.  

 

Cheers!

[JCtx]

9 hours ago, wbw6cos said:

Hey David, there should already be a sticker indicating the location of the tire pressure sensor. Must have washed off somehow

Yeah, mine 'washed off' the day I bought the bike. But like Bernie said, they weren't that visible anyway. Next time I'll put a 'post it' note with 'TPMS HERE' where the sensors are. I told dealer rep to remind tech wheels have sensors, but sometimes they don't relay that. So better to put something bright to remind them. Fortunately, both of my sensors 'woke up' and pressures showed up on the dash, so I assume all is well in there.

[Bernie]

Sensors wake up better then some kids do.

 

PS: by the way if your wheel has weights at 2 different areas of the wheel, it most likely was not balanced correctly. Or the adapter was not installed properly.

[Skywagon]

A couple of pictures for fun.  Due to the plug, I am changing both tires.  See the rear with the Nealy plug which has worked perfectly for me twice now.  After about 150 miles to get home last week, it has worn so smoothly I had a hard time finding it.  It's easier to see in the picture.  This is my T31GT with just shy of 7000 miles.   See the tread depth...Center is 4mm and outside edge is 6mm.  New T32 GT's go on tomorrow.

[alexvtr]

I can see you already removed your wheels / changed your tires so my post is too late but I'm putting this here in case it can help someone else later...

 

When removing the front wheel, the colored portion of the front mudguard should be removed (just 2 screws).

Then, by barely lifting the front of the bike (jack under the engine) the front wheel can be rolled forward.

Great bit of design that avoids the need to lift the front of the bike too high and make it more unstable on the centerstand.