Use A Little Lube

I was getting ready to go for a little ride the other day, and noticed the weather checking on the rear tire had gotten worse.  Running Gypsy over max weight load probably hasn't helped, but until the wife and I  find a good way to lose weight, or I make the bike uncomfortable for her to ride Gypsy will just have to deal with it.  But that's another story...

I do have another tire that I could use in a pinch.  It's probably even older than the Metzeler that's on Gypsy now.  But without the sidewall weather checking.  It's an old Dunlop Qualifier, on an old rusted up Sportster spoked rim.  So the plan yesterday was to pull it off the rim, and swap it for the Metzeler with the checking on the sidewalls.  Like I said, that was the plan.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to break the bead on one side of the tire.  Then I added dish soap to the mix, and that helped a bit.   After about another 20 minutes with no bead breaking, I soaked the bead in DOT 4 brake fluid and let it soak for about 20 minutes.  

When I came back I spent about another 10 minutes working the bead breaker and an 8 inch C Clamp trying like Hell to get the bead to pop.  Smacking the sidewalls with a rubber mallet as if it were Thor's hammer Mjolnir striking down an ice giant.  Then tightening the clamp and bead breaker some more.  Then, when I wasn't expecting it to, or even tightening anything up, she 'popped', and the bead broke all the way around the rim.  After about an hour and a half, I was finally about 1/4 of the way finished with the job I had planned.  

I looked inside the bead, and realized why it had been such a bitch to break.  Even with the soap and the DOT 4, it was nearly dry as a bone, and covered in a fine powdery rust.  I was hoping the other bead wasn't going to be as  big a pain in the ass.  That was a forlorn hope it turned out.

After another almost 3 hours of fighting that other bitch of a bead, I soaked it in DOT4 one more time, and figured i'd let it soak over night.  Then in the morning hit the sidewalls with a 4 pound sledge I have a few times, then the rubber mallet a few more times, then hit it with the bead breaker.  Did I mention that during the 3 hour fight with the bead I bent one of my 8 inch C clamps?  

I don't take shit from a machine (or parts of one) so I will get this bead off.  It just might take some time...until then, I'm going to soak the sidewalls of the checked tire in brake fluid, since there is a tube inside the "tubeless" tire.  I'll run that until I get this other one off, or buy a new 140/90 16 to replace it.

Catch ya on the road sometime...