Tired of tires
The Africa Twin came with Michelin T66 tires but since they were kind of worn out and stiff, I’ve decided to replace them with Metzeler Tourances. Since I have no experience with tire changing I thought it would prove useful down the road if I’d change the tires myself.
So I bought the tires, new tubes, some KTM tire irons (these should add at least 5 hp to the old AT), and set to work.
The front wheel took me about 2 hours, until I was almost finished but I pinched the new tube with the tire iron so I had to start all over again. The second time it was even easier 🙂 , so in under 3 hours the wheel was installed with the new tire on.
The back wheel was an entirely different story. First, I could not break the bead so after an hour I’ve improvised a press and managed to take the old tire off. Then, the new tire was unbelievably stiff, and I just could not force the last few inches on the rim (even with the help of Len), so finally I’ve cheated and went to a tire shop 🙁
Let’s just hope that we won’t have many back tire punctures on the road.