Alright... I've been successful, and frankly it went MUCH better than I thought it would! Even with the 105 degree day yesterday (notice fan in the picture!) it was a fun day tinkering on the bike.
I started with this:
The rear fender had been chewed up by the wide knobby tire, so I found a clean replacement for only $25 on Ebay! It doesn't have the cool black paint with white pinstripes but I figure I'll pull it and paint it like my father-in-law had when I get the fuel tank repainted.
I also had to replace the tail light because one of the lens mounts snapped, leaving the lens rattling around. Additionally, this has been a bit of an eyesore and I was thankful that the new tail light assembly I got on ebay had an untouched wiring loom. So that was on the agenda to replace.
After a frustrating hour or so trying to remove the saddlebags and rear fender, I'm finally making some progress!
Found out why the rear tire had a slow leak... embarassed to admit I hadn't been diligent in checking the tires for damage, etc. I certainly will from now on. It barely went through the tire, and put the tiniest pinhole in the tube. I'd lose about 4lbs pressre per week.
I was very relieved to see the splines looked perfect! That isn't rust but old grease. Cleaned it up and put on another very thin coat. The rear brake pads have a lot of life left in them, too.
I had plenty of 2x4s lying around so I thought I'd try this method of popping the beads off the rims. Worked like a charm!
Rear tire mounted very easily with a little light misting of window cleaner and three tire irons.
And my ghetto tire balancing setup. From removing wheel from the bike, greasing splines, removing the tire, new tire on, and pumping up with a bicycle pump... about 40 minutes.
And now for the front tire. As you've read above, I had a bit more trouble with the front tire. The knobby didn't come off without a struggle but that was mostly because I couldn't get enough leverage with the brake discs in the way. Then, after getting the new tire on, it took me a bit to get the bead to seat, but it eventually was defeated. Balancing... didn't even need it!
And done... new tires, rear fender and rear tail light! The new front tire is actually wider than the knobby. It BARELY clears the fender brace arms.
All in all it was a very long day... took me probably 6 hours but I did take my time and much of it was just fighting the small bolts that held on the fender! The tire changing itself was very easy and took about 45 minutes for the rear tire, and maybe 1.5 hours for the front, just fighting the bead. But that included having to run to the local convenience store to use their compressor as I don't have one at home.
And a little walkaround movie. Sorry it's a little dark... I shot it with my little point-and-shoot digital camera.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovQ1Ypw5aMk[/media]
