Hitchcocks Forum

"Easy" tyre removal tip? (The old hands hear will already know this)...but for us amateurs...

The first time I tried to remove the rear tyre on my Bullet, in 2012, was a real chore. Refitting was much simpler.
The second time, on the front wheel earlier this year, was just as fraught, with the refitting entrusted to the local tyre shop so as to be balanced too.
But I've just read something in the Pitman's Book of the Royal Enfield by W C Haycraft, first printed in the early thirties.
The advice on page 103 of my copy: How To Remove a Tyre Without Struggling With It, is absolutely rock solid and worked a treat. No struggle at all yesterday, and the "cover" was off the rim in less than five minutes.
The advice in these old manuals from people of the older generation is so priceless, and works as good today as it did 80 years ago.
Alas, it is sad to say, with many of these older engineers and craftsmen being very hard to find these days, the internet and still, a good book, will glean that much needed advice and handy tip. And of course, there is the other phenomenon that is Youtube...(Is there no subject on earth NOT covered on Youtube!).
The useful tip was: Working opposite the valve, push both sides of the beading into the centre (well) of the rim, and try and keep them there, with your knees is best, and then start levering from the valve area outwards, right to left, left to right, a little at a time. And hey presto...nearly as easy as my pushbike! This one tip has changed my opinion of doing a roadside repair in one hit. Try it in your shed next time!

If you don't mind me asking - How else would you remove a tyre? Only problem I have is the initial
breaking of the seal on the bead - If anyone has any sure-fire roadside tips for doing that - I'm all ears!

Zippy, place the tyre under the sidestand if you have one and pull the bike toward you and the weight of the bike will break the bead. It can be done with the centre stand but will often need someone to help unless you are unusualy agile.

I would have thought it was impossible to do it any other way.
You have to have the beads in the well.

Things that are obvious to some are not obvious to others.

... and may only be obvious once you know it. The first couple of times I took tyres off my Bullet, I struggled so much I nearly bent the tyre levers. Any such simple advice is worth posting, there'll always be someone like me who didn't know it.

Your views are noted? As with most things Bullet related, issues can be infuriatingly simple and blindingly obvious but WE still go around the houses more times than we need to? Having only ever dealt with Jap bikes before the Bullet, fixing British type iron was a revelation? Eg; Jap Tubeless tyres would only be done by a shop. With the Bullet tyre, I did the usual and sweated and cursed on trying to get my first one off. That one simple tip for the Bullet novice was pure gold. Breaking the bead was not such an issue, just exasperated by the bonding of rust/rubber. The side stand/centre stand tip I've noted. The tip in other older publications was to support the rim, either side of the hub whilst on the deck, with two pieces of timber if available, and then place your feet on each side and start jumping up and down. This also works very well too. As mentioned, infuriatingly simple and nothing ingenious about the average Bullet....
(I'm based in Maidstone and support some MC clubs but don't belong to any!).

I wasn't meaning to say it was obvious, just that I thought it would be literally impossible without the beads in the rim well.
Another tip is some soapy water (soap seems to be better than detergent) just on the bead and rim. There's a proper soap for the job that tyre fitters use but ordinary household soap does the trick.

Pledge or similar spray furniture polish makes a good tyre lube. Another tip is to leave the new tyre in the sun in summer or warm indoors before you fit it, makes an easy task even easier.

But please, whatever you do, do not use anything with wax, silicone or similar in it or it will cause the tyre to slip and pull the valve out of the tube.