Tires, buy online or locally?
- Thread starter Trax
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WoW, thats cheap. Here they want around 100 bucks to to mount both tires.
methyman
Never Forgotten
$100 is crazy! Need to shop around any cycle repair shop that can do tires. I brought the bike in they pulled them off, changed tires, balanced then reinstalled them on my 2011 Hayabusa for $40 labor. I can change the tires myself but would have to take them to get balanced so I let them do it!
Ludicrous Speed
Registered
Nobody in my local area will mount tires you did not buy from them. And it was costing me double for rear tires mounted and balanced.
Luckily one of my friends bought a tire changer and I have him do them for me now
Luckily one of my friends bought a tire changer and I have him do them for me now
Price online from from Competition Accessories and see if your dealer can match the price. If not buy them from CA and have them mounted. Wheels off and in hand Cycle Gear will do it for $20 each here.
I say buy from your local dealer if you can, even if you have to pay a few extra bucks. It's very difficult for your local dealer to compete with the big online warehouses that buy tires by the truck load. Many times you can purchase tires on sale at a discount house for less than your dealer pays through their distributor.
I buy tires online and my dealer allows me to use his tire machine and balancer to mount them. Every now and then I toss the owner a hundred bucks and tell him to have dinner on me. I send him a considerable amount of business and it works quite well for both of us. I do mount tires there for my friends as well for ten bucks a tire and give the money directly in cash to the owner. If my friends buy tires from him I mount them for free. Helps everybody out and I don't mind. If the wheel is off the bike I can have a tire mounted and balanced in less than five minutes.
I buy tires online and my dealer allows me to use his tire machine and balancer to mount them. Every now and then I toss the owner a hundred bucks and tell him to have dinner on me. I send him a considerable amount of business and it works quite well for both of us. I do mount tires there for my friends as well for ten bucks a tire and give the money directly in cash to the owner. If my friends buy tires from him I mount them for free. Helps everybody out and I don't mind. If the wheel is off the bike I can have a tire mounted and balanced in less than five minutes.
The local indy shop I use is very competitive. I buy tires thru them, take them the bike and get it back ready to ride with new shoes. $40 to pull wheels off bike, swap for new and get bike back ready to ride. If I buy tires online it is $35 per tire for the same service.
I try to do as much of my work on the bike as possible mostly because I like working on the bike as much as riding it. But I like to let someone else look at it from time to time just in case I missed something. So I take the new tire time to have my dealer's people give the bike the once over. Right now I'm doing 1-2 sets of tires a year so I let that be the checkup.
I try to support local shops... However, the ones that are most convienant to me are not my favorites for a variety of reasons - But if they're in the ball park I will buy their tires, recently I found them a lot more willing to match tire prices and that's a good thing because whether I likem or not I'm not paying a extra forty or fifty a tire, which seemed to be the norm just a few years ago.
SoCal Blur
Registered
I tried to support my local shop but the best they could do for a set of Dunlop Q2s was $340 and that didn't include $80 for balancing and mounting. I ended up buying them online for $218 delivered. The shop charged me the $80 for mounting and balancing so I saved $122.00.
I buy them locally. Shop I get them from mounts them for free when I get them there (bring the wheels to them), charges $25 ea. to mount if I buy them elsewhere. Might be able to save a few bucks (usually very few) online somewhere, but I know these people and support them if at all possible.
I got sick of $40 to mount and balance one tire...off the bike.
I have friend who will mount the tires for me at his auto shop for free, and another auto shop I used to go to that'll mount them for $10 a piece.
Most car tire machines can mount bike tires too, so it's worth asking.
Alot of the newer car tire balancers can balance bike wheels also(theirs can't).
So another friend bought one of Redline's tire balancers for around $120...and it is excellent. Tires balance perfectly and all the bikes are smooth all the way to top speed.
A BIG bag of stick-on weights is only $7 and available in black or unfinished.
I have machine mounted and balanced countless car/truck tires, and hand mounted too many dirtbike tires.
There is no way it's worth $80 to mount and balance 2 tires, especially if you only get 2k to 3k miles per set, or less.
I don't care enough for the local dealer anymore to get raped by their ridiculous prices.
If you can find an auto shop that'll mount your tires for a a fair price(and maybe even balance them). Or buy a balancer if they can't,
it'll pay for itself in no time.
You can even buy an inexpensive hand tire changer if you like, but I'de rather not put forth the effort in that if I don't have to.
To you guys that take the bike somewhere but wish you didn't have to;
The money you spend on stands, hand tools, and a balancer, (and changer if you like), will save you a fortune in the long run.
The service manual and all the help you need is here
I have friend who will mount the tires for me at his auto shop for free, and another auto shop I used to go to that'll mount them for $10 a piece.
Most car tire machines can mount bike tires too, so it's worth asking.
Alot of the newer car tire balancers can balance bike wheels also(theirs can't).
So another friend bought one of Redline's tire balancers for around $120...and it is excellent. Tires balance perfectly and all the bikes are smooth all the way to top speed.
A BIG bag of stick-on weights is only $7 and available in black or unfinished.
I have machine mounted and balanced countless car/truck tires, and hand mounted too many dirtbike tires.
There is no way it's worth $80 to mount and balance 2 tires, especially if you only get 2k to 3k miles per set, or less.
I don't care enough for the local dealer anymore to get raped by their ridiculous prices.
If you can find an auto shop that'll mount your tires for a a fair price(and maybe even balance them). Or buy a balancer if they can't,
it'll pay for itself in no time.
You can even buy an inexpensive hand tire changer if you like, but I'de rather not put forth the effort in that if I don't have to.
To you guys that take the bike somewhere but wish you didn't have to;
The money you spend on stands, hand tools, and a balancer, (and changer if you like), will save you a fortune in the long run.
The service manual and all the help you need is here
dsbunton646
Registered
This.
FlatlandBusa
Registered
I buy mine from tireexpressdotcom, and mount and balance them myself on a nomar setup. Also mount and balance for friends for $10 per wheel.
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