My experiences with Front tire mounting...

[Revrent]

I called Discount tire about mounting new front tires. There was a possible issue since these were not car tires. Then I went to Walmart. No issues except it cost $31 a tire to mount, balance, and get rid of the old tire. I thought that was a bit high, but I was already there, so I had them done. Not sure if I will use them in the future. Walmart did tell me that I have free balancing for life, so I've got that going for me.

John

[BajaRon]

That is a bit high, but you got it done. Not sure what the problem was with Discount tire. Their reasoning is a bit strange.

[Cobwebs]

Insurance implications maybe Do they normally sell or fit motorcycle tyres?

[CloverHillCrawler]

I went to all of the big tire chains around here with a no go from all of them.

I then went to the HD dealership where they were full to the gills with spring work but the HD mechanic that was there had a side by side and referred me to a local tire shop that does can am side by sides.

They take care of all my tire needs including my 4 wheeled vehicles now. They were nice enough to do my spyder so they get to do my truck and car now.

Look around for a local tire shop that does work on side by sides and utility vehicles and they will most likely have the equipment to handle mounting and balancing tires on a Spyder.

[BajaRon]

Insurance implications maybe Do they normally sell or fit motorcycle tyres?

I don't see the relevance as no one was asking them to sell, fit, or mount a motorcycle tire. I think they just didn't want to do it and made up an excuse in place of just saying 'No'.

[Cobwebs]

I don't see the relevance as no one was asking them to sell, fit, or mount a motorcycle tire. I think they just didn't want to do it and made up an excuse in place of just saying 'No'.

"I called Discount tire about mounting new front tires. There was a possible issue since these were not car tires."

Or Discount tire know what's printed on the sidewall and don't want to find out in court what that means if it goes pearshaped.

[BajaRon]

"I called Discount tire about mounting new front tires. There was a possible issue since these were not car tires."

Or Discount tire know what's printed on the sidewall and don't want to find out in court what that means if it goes pearshaped.

In other words, you're saying they have no clue what they are doing. I guess that's pretty much what I was saying.

[Bfromla]

A lot of its butt coverage & a far distance from anything motorcycle. Have had couple techs ignore the motorcycle label on the side wall (& fair $tip) & patch where others would not (within reason - treated as car tire - no sidewall risk) but for balancing, I honestly don’t remember. I didn’t have any issues, Kenda’s low mileage didn’t apply. Yokohama from SpyderPops did fine, now on my next set, 4K no results yet.

[Snoking1127]

I have had local Discount tire and Big O mount car tires of my front rims. Both did not have a proper cone to balance them(after the fact). Both the Federals and Vredesteins ran true without balancing, so they remove that charge for the bill. My local Can Am dealer installed, balanced, and disposed of the old tire my when I brought the rim with Kenda to them, to have the General installed. 27 dollars and change. I will find out in the fall if they will do it again.

[Cobwebs]

In other words, you're saying they have no clue what they are doing. I guess that's pretty much what I was saying.

Do they need extra insurance to be covered for fitting a tyre that says motorcycle use only?
If not covered, in court it would probably come down to the J bead makes it a car tyre versus the motorcycle use info on the sidewall argument.
Easier to forego the risk or cost for the small amount of fittings they would do.
Yes complete BS but amongst the biggest BS artists are courts and insurance companies so pays to be careful if you're under their rules not yours.

[PW2013STL]

If you're close to Mesa, Two Guys Garage will mount and balance your tires. They also do non-warranty work on Spyders.

[Snoking1127]

If you're close to Mesa, Two Guys Garage will mount and balance your tires. They also do non-warranty work on Spyders.

Good idea, i need to go meet them sayway! I have heard nothing but good reports about them.

[slhanks004]

These bikes come with car tires and the wheels are car wheels, not motorcycle rims. The only issue I know is some tire machines need an adapter due to the smaller hubs in these wheels.

[BajaRon]

I have had local Discount tire and Big O mount car tires of my front rims. Both did not have a proper cone to balance them(after the fact). Both the Federals and Vredesteins ran true without balancing, so they remove that charge for the bill. My local Can Am dealer installed, balanced, and disposed of the old tire my when I brought the rim with Kenda to them, to have the General installed. 27 dollars and change. I will find out in the fall if they will do it again.

I wonder about this. Not saying they aren't telling the truth. But the cone for our Spyders is a fairly common one. Our tire machines came stock with the correct cone. It may be that larger, heavier duty machines don't. That's possible. Since we don't run our machine 24/7 like a tire shop would. We didn't need the biggest, baddest machines available. Ours is a lighter duty machine so maybe that is why they supplied the smaller cone. I can say it works fantastic.

And now with Ride-On or Balance Beads, a spin balance is not always necessary. This is what we do for rear tires as it takes a custom setup to spin balance those.

[rjinaz86323]

I just used the local mom & pop tire shop and no problem with mounting or balancing.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I wonder about this. Not saying they aren't telling the truth. But the cone for our Spyders is a fairly common one. Our tire machines came stock with the correct cone. It may be that larger, heavier duty machines don't. That's possible. Since we don't run our machine 24/7 like a tire shop would. We didn't need the biggest, baddest machines available. Ours is a lighter duty machine so maybe that is why they supplied the smaller cone. I can say it works fantastic.

And now with Ride-On or Balance Beads, a spin balance is not always necessary. This is what we do for rear tires as it takes a custom setup to spin balance those.

X's 10 about the cone wheel size thing .... I've had dozens of tires done (front and rear) .... and from different shops (Auto/truck) and no one said they couldn't or wouldn't do a Spyder wheel/tire. I have only had ONE rear tire balanced (out of 8+) and never felt ANY difference with those I didn't. Mike

[BuddyMack]

Smart cars have 3 lug wheels as well. That'll usually end the questions and let them proceed free of guilt.

[Snoking1127]

Big O just mounted Vredestein on another set of PPA wheels for me on Saturday! They did the first set for me a while back as I noted in an earlier post.

[pegasus1300]

I have a local tire store in Mt. Pleasant that has to deal with everything from a wheel barrow to riding lawn mowers and big 4 wheel drive Case and John Deere Tractors, besides cars trucks and trailers. they have no trouble mounting with mounting my Spyder tires. I just bring them the rear wheel and tire and they go to work.

[K80Shooter]

I bet that if you removed the front tires/wheels from the unit and took them to the tire shop along with the replacements, that they would do it, no questions asked.

It's when they see or hear the word motorcycle that they become wary of the task.

[JohnRuckus]

I called Discount tire about mounting new front tires. There was a possible issue since these were not car tires. Then I went to Walmart. No issues except it cost $31 a tire to mount, balance, and get rid of the old tire. I thought that was a bit high, but I was already there, so I had them done. Not sure if I will use them in the future. Walmart did tell me that I have free balancing for life, so I've got that going for me.

John

This may be a silly question, but by mounting are we referring to tire on rim only or the whole shabang of installing on the Spyder?

[BajaRon]

I bet that if you removed the front tires/wheels from the unit and took them to the tire shop along with the replacements, that they would do it, no questions asked.

It's when they see or hear the word motorcycle that they become wary of the task.

I believe that you are exactly right. The problem is that the Spyder/Ryker are designated as 'Motorcycles'. It's a chess game that the manufacturers play with the DOT to avoid emissions, sound, and safety requirements. Though the Spyder is not a motorcycle in the pure sense of the word. It still has to be put into a legal cubby hole. In this case, they had to shove a little harder to get it to fit. Legal and reality don't always meet up. In a world where you can sue someone for using the wrong pronoun to address them. It's easier to turn you away than to risk a lawsuit.

This may be a silly question, but by mounting are we referring to tire on rim only or the whole shabang of installing on the Spyder?

Just the mounting of the tire to the wheel and balancing. Removing the fronts is no problem. Removing the rear wheel and re-installing it is a bigger job and I don't know of a tire shop that would do that, other than a dealership or and independent repair shop familiar with the Spyder.

[DickB]

I took my rear wheel to the local tire shop. They said they could mount the tire but not balance because the hole was too small. I got it done at a Can Am dealer, they wanted the brake rotor on to balance properly.

[Knizar]

I took my rear wheel to the local tire shop. They said they could mount the tire but not balance because the hole was too small. I got it done at a Can Am dealer, they wanted the brake rotor on to balance properly.

Which makes sense to me, and should probably have the drive sprocket and rubber cushion bumpers installed too.
As much as to say a spin balance with the rear wheel mounted on the motorcycle.
That brings us back to balancing beads or a centramatic balancer, which I happen to use.
JMHO , Bill