SETO - the DR(D4-7R) Moto

[Overland Hadley]

Wish you were a little closer, here in Bemidji we have "tire changing parties", several local motorcyclists get together two or three times a year to mount and balance our new tires. We have a lot of fun. Which tire did you buy?

Oh, that would be nice. I must say that I am more than a little intimidated by this tire. I do not like messing with my mountain and road bicycle tires, and those are totally manageable. I have friends in Bemidji, maybe I can swing by. Sending PM!

 

[ober27]

Replied PM.
Yeah, off road tires are a lot stiffer and harder to work with. With the right tools and good lube it goes on decent. Balancing is also more difficult. some of us use lead weights, while others of us really like Dyna-Beads or some other form of dynamic balancing system.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Well, I took a deep breath and remembered that you can learn almost anything from YouTube or Google.

Went through a couple videos on changing an offroad moto tire, I found the one from Motorcycle Superstore to be the most helpful. (Link)

First task, taking the old tire off. Unfortunately I already had the rear wheel off the bike, so I started with the harder one. It was a huge task that included lots of grunting and gnashing of teeth. The tire was the original and had never been taken off, it was stuck hard. Finally with C-clamps, my girlfriend standing on the tire and me kneeling and prying with the tire irons the bead popped in. That was a bugger. Now it was time to work with the new rubber.


All set to go
View attachment 269279


Went with the Dunlop D606 as I could go up one size on the rear, and I set up for that with the sprockets I ordered.


The tubes
(did I make a mistake going with the Ultra HD tubes? should I have gone with the normal HD tubes? I hate these post instal worries. buyers remorse does not bother me, I get installed worries. I plan on carrying one 21" regular tube as my spare.)
View attachment 269280


Made sure the valve stem was lines up with the yellow dot



Rear wheel finished! The bead set just fine with a bunch of windex and a bicycle foot pump.



Reinstalled the brake rotor and checked the cush drive dampers while I was in there, they are fine. Installed the new rear sprocket, not sure about the black color. If it holds up then it will be just fine. And it does kind of look good with the black JNS chain guard.



And for the sake of saving the info, here is the rear sprocket I installed.



Things were going good and I had more time, so I decided to do the front wheel. Breaking the bead was super easy, a warning of the fun to come. Everything went great until it came time to pump it up and set the bead, the bead did not want to set. I pumped it up and deflated it several times, with huge amounts of windex sprayed on for lubrication. Finally after putting 60psi in and still having a small section of bead not set, I took a break to look online for answers. A couple minutes latter there as a nice little pop and the bead had set itself. Sometimes it really is best to sit back for a minute.

Front knobbied.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Questions:

How important is it to balance this kind of DOT knobby? I am not as worried about long tire life as I am about keeping it solid at highway speeds.

Both sets of brake pads rub on the rotor, not evenly as it seems the rotors are slightly warped. They do not rub enough to cause much drag, they just make noise. Is this normal?

 

[Overland Hadley]

The tubes
(did I make a mistake going with the Ultra HD tubes? should I have gone with the normal HD tubes? I hate these post instal worries. buyers remorse does not bother me, I get installed worries. I plan on carrying one 21" regular tube as my spare.)

Maybe I should have used Bridgestone as those are made with natural rubber. But I think I read that natural rubber slowly looses air, thus the Michelins.

Sorry, I am lost in my mind. I need to stop thinking and go to bed.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Why such big knobbies for road riding?

 

[Overland Hadley]

Why such big knobbies for road riding?

My riding will be 80-90% dirt forest service roads.

I really do not plan on riding much pavement. In the spring I am hoping to do a two day ride, and I will only be on pavement for the first three miles from the garage. So the first three and the last three will be pavement, the rest of the two days of riding will be all dirt. Will not even have to cross a paved road.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Un-upholstered the seat in preparation for the new Seat Concepts parts.

 

[ober27]

Questions:

How important is it to balance this kind of DOT knobby? I am not as worried about long tire life as I am about keeping it solid at highway speeds.

I personally would use Dynabeads. I've never owned a bike with knobbies that I used on the highway, but for the minimal cost of the beads it couldn't hurt. A couple of guys in our group love the beads for their dual sports because there aren't any weights to be torn off in the woods. What ever you decide you can always add or change weights later.
Good for you tackling the tire changes on your own, now you know you can do it. Those big knobbies with stiff sidewalls are much more difficult than street tires.
Darin

 

[Cabrito]

Questions:

How important is it to balance this kind of DOT knobby? I am not as worried about long tire life as I am about keeping it solid at highway speeds.

Both sets of brake pads rub on the rotor, not evenly as it seems the rotors are slightly warped. They do not rub enough to cause much drag, they just make noise. Is this normal?

Since I've started changing my own tires I stopped balancing my wheels. I've burned through one set of knobbies, and partially through another and noticed no difference in freeway or low speed handling. I also have some Avon Gripsters on my second set of wheels that were not balanced and have not noticed anything.

 

[Overland Hadley]

I personally would use Dynabeads.

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around how 1oz of beads inside the tube balances everything. I understand how they say it works, but it just does not make sense.

Do the guys in your group who use them have any problems with the beads getting stuck in the valve stem? From what I read it seems the filtered valve stems do not fit moto tubes.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Since I've started changing my own tires I stopped balancing my wheels. I've burned through one set of knobbies, and partially through another and noticed no difference in freeway or low speed handling. I also have some Avon Gripsters on my second set of wheels that were not balanced and have not noticed anything.

Thanks for the input. Do you still have the weights on your wheels from the last time they were balanced?

 

[Cabrito]

Thanks for the input. Do you still have the weights on your wheels from the last time they were balanced?

Probably do. Not sure what good they're doing. They tire guy us used to use always takes them off and starts fresh when he would change my tires.

 

[ober27]

None of us have used the the filtered valve core, I don't think they work for most most motorcycle applications because of stem length requirements. I don't believe any of us have had a problem with air loss due to beads in the valve core. I've ridden about 20,000 miles since I started using beads, BMW with tubeless tires.
The only time one of us had a problem, was when we used a lot of soap to help mount a very difficult tubeless tire. After about fifty miles he started to experience some pretty serious shakes from rear tire. The next day we removed tire and found that the soap and the beads had congealed into one solid mass. Thats when we started using real tire lube, haven't had any problems after that.
I'm not trying to talk you into, or out of anything, just my experiences. Some of the guys in our group will never try beads, some never mount without them. Do your research and do what your comfortable with.
Darin

 

[Overland Hadley]

None of us have used the the filtered valve core, I don't think they work for most most motorcycle applications because of stem length requirements. I don't believe any of us have had a problem with air loss due to beads in the valve core. I've ridden about 20,000 miles since I started using beads, BMW with tubeless tires.
The only time one of us had a problem, was when we used a lot of soap to help mount a very difficult tubeless tire. After about fifty miles he started to experience some pretty serious shakes from rear tire. The next day we removed tire and found that the soap and the beads had congealed into one solid mass. Thats when we started using real tire lube, haven't had any problems after that.
I'm not trying to talk you into, or out of anything, just my experiences. Some of the guys in our group will never try beads, some never mount without them. Do your research and do what your comfortable with.
Darin

Thanks Darin. I am just trying to learn as much as possible from other peoples experience.