New Tyre fitting disaster...

[Anti-Dive Dave]

What started of as an easy job, turned out to be a disaster.

I managed to track down another Metzeler 120/80 VB16 CompK for the front (same as what was on it previously)

Wasn't easy, as Metz don't make em anymore as frar as I'm aware.  I liked the performance of the tyre, so was hell bent on hunting another down.

Anyhoo - I booked a slot at the local garage to take my pre-removed wheel and replace with the new rubber boot.  How long?  5 minutes?

1. Raised front of bike with paddock stand, undid fork-brace nuts and removed front mudguard. Put mudguard to one side, forgot, stood up to go into house and answer phone....and stood on the f'king  thing.  A loud crack and much swearing followed.  By the time I got to the door, the phone stopped ringing. 

2. Back to bike. Undid the calipers, pinch bolts etc and removed wheel by tapping axle through with the drift. Spacer fell out and rolled into drain. Wheel dropped down completely as I was occupied with watching where the spacer went. As wheel dropped with the weight of it, it landed and knocked the left fork - which now turned away from the paddock stand.....

3. Fork decided to not like the paddock stand supporting it by just 1/2 a millimeter (thats all it was gripping by now), so........it thought "fk it", and the whole front end slid off it completely. 

4. Panic, and get neighbour to fetch his axle stands and the car jack.  Jack up one side of frame, insert axle stand, and repeat other side.

Bike now secure, and back to the tyre fitting.....

Front tyre fitted by mechanic, and blown up with nitrogen.  All good.  NOT.

Came home, and discovered trye fitted the WRONG way round (well, you assume they'd do it right and no need to check) 

Garage now closed for the night (I was the last customer).  Bike outside, blocking the public path, so can't shift that.

Called the area manager to get a dork back down and refit my tyre.  Yes, I demanded they open up the garage just for me, and they pay for the stupidity.

He agreed, and arrived within 10 minutes.

It took him 3 goes at putting the tyre on the RIGHT way (even he screwed it up.  Despite me marking the rim with arrows to show them which way it goes).

Then, he couldn't get it to seat on the rim with blowing up.

Up, down....batter it with a rubber hammer.....nope...still not seating right.

I told him to break the side again, add more soap, and re-inflate (I've fitted many a bike tyre in my time when helping out on a saturday at a bike shop) .
Nope - he wasn't having it - and upped the tyre pressure to 80 PSI in the hope it would pop on the rim. 

Eventually, he did what I suggested, and 2 minutes later the tyre was good to go.

All in all, I was there AN HOUR with him faffing about with what should have been a 5 minute job.

Anyhoo, wheel back home, fitted, but bike not ridden yet due to heavy winds and icy roads (not a good combo for a new tyre to bed in).

I'm sorry I can't write anymore, as this is doing my head in - the web page box where you write keeps jumping up and down, and I can't see what I have written.  Anyone else get that glitch?  Its driving me mad.  You use the slide bar at the side, and work the mouse to where you can see where you are on the line, and as soon as you type again, BANG, it jumps back up about 10 lines and you are writing blind!

[FJmonkey]

Wow!!! What a day and ordeal just to get new rubber. I get that problem on my work computer, really annoying, it prevents me from getting any work done having to keep pulling the bottom of the screen back into view.... I need to file a complaint with the IT department.

[Pat Conlon]

Dave, I know that you don't want to hear this, but, be careful buying tires that have been discontinued.
Tires age. They get hard. They can sit around for years before you buy them.

Do you know the month/year Metzler made your tire?

[Mark Olson]

It seems to me that every shop i go to for tires always has the dumbest ,lamest ,retarded,helmet wearing dipshit working the mounting and balance machine.

with something that is so important ,why put a dumb-ass in that position?

[Anti-Dive Dave]

Do you know the month/year Metzler made your tire?

It's ok, I don't mind hearing the advice - I was very wary myself before seeking one out, knowing that rubber can crack and harden.  But, the options out there for my 16 inch front was very limited, and more over, the funds would not allow a new £100 ($120) tyre.

So, I made the choice to hunt for another tyre the same. Sort of on a "stick to what I knew".

The Metz I bought (using the tyre code on the side) was made in Feb 2008 (the code is 208)

According to Metzeler dating, the first number is the month, followed by the year.

I'm hoping that as it's the ME33 CompK, it may have aged slightly better on the shelf, due to it being a "softer" compound.

Time will tell, and I hope all goes ok when I manage to get the bike out on the road this week to see that's it does what it should.

For the price I paid, if I get at least 1000 miles out of it before it cracks or leaks, I'll be a happy bunny. (the front tyre I just replaced was already on the bike when I bought it and had covered approximately 600 miles, and I added just under 3000 miles more on it)

----------------------------------------------

As for the garage what fitted it - it was the British ATS tyre exhaust centre - ONLY for cars and vans and trucks.

They DO NOT do bikes, and have no means to balance the wheel afterwards.

They will fit a bike tyre though, but they charge you for a car fitting.

Where I stay is a bit of a pain, as there are only 3 garages in town, and they all are for cars/vans or agricultural tractors etc.

It's a gamble as to whether they fuk your rims up on the machine with the removal and fitting - so far, I've been lucky.  Rim protectors?  don't make me laugh!

They fitted a new valve into my front tyre and now I can't get the airline on it due to it being well above the disc line! - they fitted a tubeless CAR valve.  Which will explain why they also struggled to attach their airline onto it.

[Anti-Dive Dave]

I get that problem on my work computer, really annoying, it prevents me from getting any work done having to keep pulling the bottom of the screen back into view.... I need to file a complaint with the IT department.

Could you file one with this IT dept too please Mr. Mon?  It happens on every post I reply to.  I get on ok with maybe 5 or 6 lines, but after that, it just stops following you down the page.  Yes, you can keep typing, but you can't see it.

The only way to find what you've written, is to use the mouse and drag the page down.  Then, as soon as you hit any button, the page jumps back to the point where it originally sticks.  It's like the whole page/text box you are working in is "stuttering".  It's damn annoying and a nightmare to try and see what spelling mistakes are there, in order to correct them.

If I had hair left, I'd be pulling that out at this time.....

[Dan Filetti]

I'm sorry I can't write anymore, as this is doing my head in - the web page box where you write keeps jumping up and down, and I can't see what I have written.  Anyone else get that glitch?  Its driving me mad. 

I've had this problem on an iPad.

Dan

[Anti-Dive Dave]

I've had this problem on an iPad.

Hey there Dan!

Do you mean you get that problem in general, as in, "thats an i-pad glitch", or did you mean you are having the same problem when using THIS site, when using your i-pad?

I'm just running a home computer.  Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, with IE-8.

If I resort to 32bit and try compatability mode, it still happens. Hopefully, someone can fix the bug/glitch/problem. One for the Admin to scratch their heads over methinks!

H2H

[tmkaos]

I'm just running a home computer.  Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, with IE-8.


H2H

Try using mozilla firefox as a browser. Been using it for about 3 years now, off IE for life. Firefox has less glitches by far than IE in my experience. Computer runs faster too.

James

[Anti-Dive Dave]

Try using mozilla firefox as a browser....less glitches than IE...Computer runs faster too.

I shall look into it and have a browse in the morning James.  Thanks for the recommendation Sir! 

[FJmonkey]

I log in to this sight from 4 different devices, the only one that has this issue is my work PC, WinXP 32 with IE 8 I think. My home PC is Win7 64 with FireFox.

[andyb]

In firefox, you can disable autoscrolling and/or change the zoom level to often fix that.  In Internet Explorer, it's probably possible, but it's polishing a turd at that point.

2008 tire?  It's junk.  Might be better than what you had, but that's old enough that even the tire companies will suggest you don't use it.  Tires don't soften, they harden as they age.

[racerman_27410]

its really not that hard to build a bead breaker with some 2x4 ....A valve core tool, 4 tire irons and bleach bottle rim savers would do the trick. Then you would just need a small compressor to blow it back up = Job done right the first time.

A ratchet tie down strap around the center of the tire means much less air pressure required to seat the bead  (smaller compressors will work this way)



I just refuse to pay someone to FK up my stuff.


KOokaloo!

[Mark Olson]

I just refuse to pay someone to FK up my stuff.


KOokaloo!

WORD 

[yamaha fj rider]

Sorry to hear about all the problems with installing the tyre, glad you got it all worked out. I would not be afraid of a four year old tyre. Enjoy

Kurt