Review: Motorcycle Tire Workstand

[Biketographer]

This chinese made tire changing work table is sold under many brand names.

I recently bought one and thought people might be interested in my experiences.

30 years of racing and never used one of these.  That meant that putting the rear wheel on the ground would get serious scratches on the rotor and sprocket.  Plus fighting the wheel trying to get away from me.  I used C-clamps to knock down the bead.

This thing makes tire changing so much easier.  Not as pleasant as a 'real' tire changing machine, but it was thousands $ cheaper.

Remove the large wing-nut, set the wheel on the 'table'.  Adjust the wedge-thing that will push down the bead.  This can accomodate quite a range of wheel sizes.  Push the lever slowly to push the bead down.  Rotate the wheel a bit, push bead down, repeat until the bead is all the way off. 

With trial-and-error, I found that I like the wedge to be on a bit of an angle, not perpendicular like in these images.  I settled on a maybe 20 degree angle away from straight vertical.  In these photos, move the wedge adjustment a little to the right.  So the wedge wants to keep itself against the wheel as you push down.  Too much angle, and you will not be able to push the wedge.

I suppose that the best angle might vary with wheel type and tire types.

Flip the wheel over and knock down the bead on the other side.

In my case, the 'axle' was not long enough to install the wingnut, but I found out it was not necessary.

Once you have the beads knocked down, use your favorite 'tire spoons' to remove the tire.  Using this table made this task much easier than the job with the wheel on the garage floor.

It also makes installing the new tire so much easier.

These things are darn cheap and come un-assembled.  The included directions are only a little helpful; the photographs are much more informative for assembly.

Next project:  A wheel balancing jig.  I will not tell you the horror stories of the methods I have been using.