|
Well, I don't think any of the local dealers are worth a damn. So I
got tired of giving the "stealers" my money to not do what I wanted.
Thus I went out and bought some gear to make my life much easier and cheaper.
 | The first investment that I made was a Tire Changer. A Coats 220 to
be exact. Unless you live next to a very large shop, this is probably
exactly what they have. It uses leverage and to change a
tire. All you need is a compressor (which you should already have
anyway) to fill the tire back up. It's about 750 bucks delivered to
your door. I bought mine from Mile
- X equipment company and they can also be reached at
| Telephone |
FAX |
Address |
Email |
| 800/837-3818 |
419/678-2489 |
- 400 Hardin St.
- PO Box 145
- Coldwater, OH 45828-0145
|
milex@bright.net |
| I cannot say enough about how great this is.
Saves your 20 to 50 dollars per tire change. Means you can get
tires from the cheapest place. And it means no more waiting in
line. Get a couple friends together and go for it, you will be
amazed.
You can see the balancer next to it there on the left
although the adapters are out of view. All you really need is
a compressor to pop the bead back on.
The bead breaker is that bar in front. (we usually put a
rag over the area that has tape on it to keep from marking up the
wheels). And the bar that gets the tire on and off is the big
one in the back right. And that's really it. It sits on
a 4x4 piece of plywood, and that's about all the room that you
need. Go buy one, you won't regret it. |
 |
|
 | Now, along with a tire changer, you'll also need a balancer, especially if
you have a single sided swingarm. Got mine from Spec II, they are in
the back of every motorcycle magazine out there but you can also get one
from Competition Accessories, Rider WearHouse, etc. Make sure the one
you get has the adapters you need. Adapters don't fit every single
balancer, they are specific to each style. The balancer is about
100 to 150 bucks, plus about 40 dollars for each single sided swingarm adapter you need. (Ducati,
BMW, Honda VFR, Triumph) |
 | Stick on wheel weights you can get from JC Whitney for about 20 bucks for
a huge box. |
 |
| Now, that you have all the tire changing stuff, you need
to really step up and get a motorcycle lift. It sounds dumb, but
the instant you work on a bike with one, you find that you must have one. There
is nothing better than doing an oil change on a motorcycle while
standing up. Totally worth it. Try Handy
Lift Industries at 1-800-247-7594. Figure on about a
thousand dollars for the whole setup and shipping. |
 |
|
|
|
Bike stands, buy Pitbull,
the very best, well worth the money. Front, Rear, spooled rear,
single sided rear, front to lift up by the steering head, just great. Highest
quality stuff, easy enough to use one handed and extremely stable.
Also, they are wheeled so they work on a lift like that above.
(without the wheels, it's hell to get something up when the bike is locked
in by the vise. |
| Garage tools, esp. creepers and such, check out Griot's
Garage.
My favorite is the brake fluid changer, this thing is great.
Throw that Mity-vac away. And their work stools are fantastic.
|
 |
you can't have a bike without a dog, here's mine:
| This is Kat, he's a Great Dane, black lab mix and he's just a big
puppy. He's 8 years old now, so he's just starting to calm down.
Unfortunately,
you can't really get an idea of how big he is in this picture.
That's his woobie (like from Mr Mom) in his mouth. He's so spoiled
he has like 8 of those things. He loves them and wanders around all
day with them.
|
 |
|