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Hop-Ups
for Dummies - Trading the Tread, A Tire Odyssey
by
50ccchick
Here
is some good info to know if you have never had your tires
changed out on your fiddy before.
1.
If you are going to have someone change your tires out for
you, buy the tires from them and you will get a better deal
on installation, and maybe even free installation. If you
buy the tires from someone else and try and have the tires
installed, they may charge you more than the cost of the tire
to install.
Here's
how one recent tire change broke down for me when I tried
going to motard tires from the stock knobbies.
Mail
ordered Kenda tires - $45
Cost to get them installed locally - $20 per tire!
Total cost of $85 eeeeeek!
Bought
the tires in a local shop - $35 for Cheng Shen
Cost to get them installed at that shop - only $4 per tire
Total cost of $43 - whew thats better!
So,
I saved $42 by buying and installing at the same local shop.
Of
course, you can save on the mail order by installing them
yourself. You'll need some soapy water to help slip the tires
off and on and a couple of good tire irons. DON'T USE A SCREW
DRIVER as you can pinch the tube and end up having to replace
it.
2.
I also bought rim locks because the tires were a bit tall
and I was a little worried about slippage. However, if you
have stock rims, BEWARE! I could find 0 out
of the 5 places I went to to install them on my rims because
my rims are stock and have no rim lock hole already. If you
have time, you could de-lace your spokes and drill a hole
and then lace the wheels back up and true them yourself. I
didn't have that kinda time or patience, so I just decided
to go it without rim locks and see what happens.
3.
If you get bigger tires, like even 3.0 or bigger, you may
need to get a new chain. My 3.0s barely fit with my stock
swingarm with the stock chain. A little bit bigger and I'd
be looking at installing a new chain so I could move the wheel
on the swingarm out further.
Dano has a nice write-up on replacing a chain on
his site here:
http://www.danosbikeshop.com/technical.php?OID=t0011
About
the Author: Pam aka 50ccchick, your MTTM site
hostess- I started riding motorcycles when I was about 5.
We had a little Yamaha 80, street legal, that I used to tear
around the backyard on. That was, until I got more interested
in riding and raising horses. So the motorcycle went by the
way side for years until my ex got an old Yamaha 750 at a
garage sale and set about fixing it up so we could take rides
together. Course I wanted to drive, so after my divorce, I
went out and got a Honda Shadow 600, then an ACE 750. One
night while watching TV I saw these old people riding around
on kids motorbikes and it looked like a hell of a lotta fun.
So, I went out and got a fiddy and since then I've been having
a blast fixing it up and riding and racing it around.
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