The Hack is Running Again!

Last fall the hack was sidelined with a flat front tire. This was doubly annoying because I was hoping that I could ride it a few times in the snow and I couldn't find any reason that it was flat. Coupled with the facts that I don't have a heated garage, and we were doing a remodeling project over the winter, I just didn't get a chance to fix it.

Well last night I decided it was time to really look at the issue, so I yanked the wheel off and plopped it into the laundry tub full of water.

Just look at all the nice little air bubbles streaming to the surface from all along the bead area. And I mean ALL along the bead. It was leaking almost all the way around on one side and at least 30% on the other. Well, well, well.

So last night I taught myself how to remove and replace a tubeless tire.

I had heard that it was difficult and I had heard there were a few tricks to it. I already had a pair of tire irons that I bought a long time ago and used to carry in my toolkit on other bikes, but I had never used them. I have changed quite a few bicycle tires, so I have the basic concept down. But a tubeless tire is a little different.

The first step is to pull the valve out of the valve stem. For which you need a special tool. Luckily I knew that I had a valve cap on one of my bikes that had the tool built in, but where was it? A few minutes of searching turned one up on the R100RS. Excellent.

Then you need to break the bead. For this I laid the tire down on a couple of 2x4s to protect the brake discs and then used a 5 foot long piece of 2x6 to break the bead by jumping on it. That wasn't too hard.

Levering the tire off the rim, now that was a hassle. I knew that the key was to keep the bead on the tire down in the center of the rim while you worked off the other side, but it seemed a lot easier said than done.

Eventually I discovered that if you knelt on the tire to keep it squashed down into the center it was actually pretty easy. So I got one sidewall off.

Then I had to get the other sidewall off to get the tire all the way off the rim. This was another hassle until I figured out that putting the rim on a milk crate was a huge help. But it still took a bit of work and muscle to get the damned thing off.

Finally I got the tire off and proceeded to clean the rim and the bead of the tire with an industrial strength ScotchBrite pad. The rim was pretty dirty, but it cleaned up well.

When I started to put the tire back on I realized that I had missed a step in the removal process. I had forgotten to mark where the valve stem was on the tire, so I had no idea how to line it up so it would still be balanced! D'oh!

Oh well, nothing to do but put it back on anyway. So I did.

The tire is directional (as many front tires are these days) and I was careful to figure out which way to put it on. Using the milk crate to put on the first sidewall made it pretty easy, but it was still a struggle to get it over the rim.

Then I had to lever the other sidewall on again. Setting it on the 2x4s and kneeling on it was the trick here again.

Then I double-checked that the tire was on the right way. And it wasn't! Damn it!

I'll tell you what though, the tire came off and went back on again much faster the second time. I guess practice does make perfect.

Then, of course, the bead didn't want to seat. But I knew what to do about that. I rubbed the beads with soapy water and we were in business.

I put the tire back on the hack, filled it to the right pressure and went to bed.

This morning the tire was still full, so I fired it up (took a bit of cranking, but it started) and rode it to work! Whoo-Hoo! The front tire didn't feel too out of balance, but I should probably track someone down with a balancer and check it. The motor was running pretty strong too.

And now I know how to change a tubeless tire.

Next I should change the oil and filter, and give the rig a bath. It's filthy.