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Motion Pro Bead Breaker Tools


Adrenolin

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Back in my high school and college days I worked in a motorcycle shop and among other things, changed tires. Probably did 5-10 tires a week, of all types, for several years. I like to think my technique is pretty refined, and that I’ve seen the spectrum of what you might encounter dealing with motorcycle tires.
 

When I changed the tires on my T7 recently, the rear stock STR was among the most difficult beads to break that I’ve dealt with. Glad I was dealing with it at home and not on the trail. I think it was a combination  of the rim bead and the compound of the STRs, but it was a tough one to break.  I ended up getting my hands on a rabaconda, and it still took some effort. 


Although I used to the ink of the as unnecessary, I’ve been thinking of ordering and carrying these MP breaker irons since.

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7 hours ago, loneranger700 said:

As someone who just swapped tires two days ago with some windex and the smaller beadpro tools, good god christ almighty I can't begin to tell you how much I hate Pirelli's Rally tires on this bike. It took two hours just to remove the dang tires off the rims. 

 

But I will say damn it's some work. How do people ride solo?

I’m on my second set of Kenda Big blocks.  I took the Pirellis off at 1000 miles and even though they have plenty of tread left, zero chance of them going back on. Those tires where damn difficult to remove from the rims for sure. 
 

I did add a set of the MP bead breakers to my kit for this bike because of the initial difficulty I  had with the stock tires. Didn’t want to go through that BS on the trail for sure.   
 

The bead breakers work great for breaking the bead and work better than decent as spoons. Even though I can manage with just the MPs,  I also added a medium length tire lever and bead buddy. 
 

On a different subject, I am also a big fan of the Baja No pinch tire tool. 

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On 12/28/2020 at 3:50 PM, luke2152 said:

I've got the aluminium motion pro ones and they break the bead really well. That was the easiest part of swapping the stock tyres and I found actually getting the 2nd bead over the rim to be far more of a challenge (but I have limited experience swapping dirt tyres). They even make easy work of bead breaking on sportsbike  tyres.

Fixing a flat trail side the MPs work without issue on the T7 rims breaking the beads on both front and back with relative ease. If you are going to have to remove  the rear tire from the rim I found it best to use a long lever for that. That second bead over the rim of the rear tire is a real beast for sure especially with short levers. I use the aluminum MPs as well. 
 

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I like having a third, longer lever available as well. I’ve been playing with the Eastbound tire levers and bead breaker recently. I like the interchangeable wrench heads and tire spoons and the ability to make levers shorter or longer as necessary.

 

I absolutely agree with other posters that some tires are harder than others to work with. I really think that the tougher tires expose flaws in our skills. Seeing my own progress in changing tires, and then watching others, who have as much or more experience, continue to struggle with the same issues over and over without getting any better tells me that they are just repeating the same mistakes without learning from them. If I’m struggling changing a tire, I try to slow down and figure out why rather than using force to solve the problem.

 

I was recently helping a friend improve his tire changing skill and I found a great video that helped to explain areas he was consistently struggling with. Although not every aspect of the video applies to our T7’s, there are a bunch of excellent tips:

 

Edited by Desert Mariner
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Well i ordered the MP aluminum levers and changed the rear tire on my dual sport bike.  It made the tire change really easy. I know the T7 rear tire wont be that easy when the time comes but I’m confident i can do it 👍.   One thing i know I’m going to want is some sort of pad to do this on. The research on that is next. 

 

 

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38 minutes ago, DT675 said:

Well i ordered the MP aluminum levers and changed the rear tire on my dual sport bike.  It made the tire change really easy. I know the T7 rear tire wont be that easy when the time comes but I’m confident i can do it 👍.   One thing i know I’m going to want is some sort of pad to do this on. The research on that is next. 

Good to hear!

 

I often carry a small piece of ensolite sleeping pad. It makes a decent seat or kneeling pad on hard ground, it can be folded flat, and it makes a good base for an improvised splint if needed. In my tools, I carry a small light piece of tarp for laying out parts and tools to keep them from disappearing into sand and as a tire change mat - Tyvek or nylon works fine.

Edited by Desert Mariner
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