After the restoration: 19200-mile service [page 4] New front tire
Friday, Jan 8, 2010 [18,904 miles]
Wheel stand
Assembled
lift
lift in use
Getting ready to change the front tire. The bike wasn't parked in the best spot for lift placement, but I was too lazy to move it.
Brake disconnected
Front axle
Wheel ready to remove
The bike was stable enough with the jack where it was to remove the front wheel. As is normal it took a few love taps with the dead blow hammer to free the brake hub from its slot in the frame.
Wheel on stand
Breaking the bead
Other side
No fancy tools needed to break the bead on these tubed tires. The tire irons (cheap clones of the 16 inch motion pro irons) are all that is needed.
Levering the tire
One side done
Both sides done
I levered the tire over the rim on both sides. This lets me push the wheel into the tire to get at the tube. Once the tube is out the tire pulls off the rim with little effort. I dont even have to use any tire lube.
Rim cleaning
Talc for the new tube
Before mounting the new tire I clean up the inside of the rim. Then I stick the valve stem back in the tube, lightly inflate it, and stick it inside the new tire after dusting with talc (baby powder).
Valve stem in position
Tire lube helps
The new tire goes on easy. The hardest part was getting the valve stem through the rim far enough to start the nut on the threads.
Ready to balance
2 oz
30 PSI and the tire is ready to move from wheel stand to balance stand. I checked with the old weights. No go. I remove them and did some more general rim cleaning before finding out I needed 2 oz of weights.
Rust
More RTV
As with the rear tire, I stuck the weights on with a bead of clear RTV. While that was curing I notices some rust on the edges of the brake drum. A bit of rubbing with emery cloth got rid of that. I alse cleaned the brake surface with brake cleaner, and took the brake hub outside to spray with the same.
Wheel installed
Ready to ride
I put the wheel back on the bike and cleaned, greased, and re-connected the front brake cable. The bike is ready for its test ride. That will happen tomorrow on the way to Joe's. If the weather isn't too bad I'll take the bike on some grooved highway to see what it feels like after brunch.
Direction?
This picture shows the one question I have about the new tires. You can see that there is a slight pattern to the tread. I haven't a clue if it makes any difference which way the tires are mounted. For what it's worth I mounted the rear one way and the front the other.
