Bridgestone Hoop PIA!!!

When I had purchased my Silverwing in May of last year, the prior owner indicated that he’s had swapped out both tires for new, and they were both Bridgestone Hoop tires in the factory sizes. Of course, shortly after I bought the scooter, I got a screw in my rear tire, but I used a Nealy rubber plug kit, and it actually worked quite well for nearly a year. Last week, I noticed another screw in the back tire (I was leaving on a three hour trip and my TPMS indicated that the back tire pressure was only 23 psi), and this one had a diagonal path in the tire (not a straight in puncture). For that one, I used a dynaplug, and although it was holding air, I no longer trusted the tire because it had two holes in it.

To avoid mixing tire brands, I bought the same Hoop tire from Chaparral ChapMoto.com) and the price wasn’t bad at about $116 with the taxes (old one swapped out at ~ 3K miles). I went to install the tire today and had substantial difficulty doing so. I have an Olmax motors tire changer and I have done several tires on my ST1100s and it works quite well for those size tires (17 and 18” diameter wheels). I tried several methods including my tire changer and was able to get the first bead off but not the second. I tried everything I could think of and ultimately, I wound up having to saw through the tire until I hit the bead, and then I had to use a Dremel to cut through the metal of the bead. Getting the new tire on was a challenge as well. My tire changer is mostly for tires between 14 and 21 inches and obviously the back tire on the Silverwing is a 13 inch diameter so no joy in that department. Ultimately I did get it properly mounted using my tire changer but I just wonder if a smaller diameter tire is more of a challenge to install on the appropriate size wheel. When it comes time to do this again, I’m not sure I will want to do it and will likely just take the wheel off the scooter and bring it to the shop for them to mount it. I started at 2 PM today and didn’t finish till 9:30 PM , so 7 1/2 hours including a trip to Lowe’s for the Dremel and some wire ties (I tried using the wire tie method to cinch down the bead, thinking I could install the tire easily, however, that failed as well. I am aware of maintaining the drop center of the wheel, and I have the appropriate tools to do so, but even with all of the appropriate tools, I had substantial difficulty. I will say I did use a Motion Pro bead breaker, and that actually worked really well and I had the bead broken in just a minute so that tool gets high ratings from me.

I wonder if it’s just the tire as I have read on the ST board sometimes people have difficulty with certain brands of tires because of a stiff sidewall. Even with the new tire, I left it in the sun all day long, so it would heat it well.

I wish I could help you but I have neither the tools or desire to change my own tires. Out here in the West we have Ridenow dealerships that IF you buy the tire from them, mounting et al is free. Failing that I have a bike shop that can and will mount and balance tires for me...yes I pay but it is worth it. My Silver Wing has always had IRC oem tires so I have no experience with the Bridgestone Hoops. Good luck.

The smaller the tire the harder it WAS, even GL 1800 radial tires were TOUGH. I have a changer and the tools but tire changing is now a thing of the past. Like you I have resorted to using the cut the tire bead to remove tires. You won that round by not tearing up the rim, yourself nor your equipment. I never did do the Silverwing tires just for the reasons you stated.

First real proper tools #1 lots of lube diluted dish soap works fine #2 proper bead breaker---market has several #3 long tire irons make up for age #4 flat work surface #4 compressor to blow up and seat bead on new tire. #5 spare exhaust gasket in case---#6 I use Ride on as balance medium---it works and may profide some seal on small leaks. Changing tires on big scooters=good exercise---do it yourself and you know done right. Poor modern scooter design makes getting wheel off hard----guess designers do not ride----current Honda Navi allows rear wheel removal without taking exhaust off or partial swing arm removal=nice!

Actually, I found removal of all the bits to get to the wheel pretty easy and straightforward (to take it all down again will take me ~ 10 minutes since I now know what’s involved). The only nut that was tough was the main axle nut- for that I used an impact gun and although it took a few seconds to break it free (torque spec is 102 ft-lbs), it did. As for breaking the bead, my tire machine has that attachment (but as above the tire machine is for 14-21” wheels, so the back one is a 13” and I wasn’t able to use the peg that prevents the wheel from turning on the machine- I bought a Motion Pro Bead breaker and that worked VERY well (that’s a tool I do recommend as I had the bead broken in about a minute per side of the wheel). The rest was the pain of getting the old tire off and then getting the new one on- if I had to do it again, I assume the technique would be better (but when I change MC tires, I can usually easily push the first bead over the rim with relative ease, then use the tire machine to get the second bead on and keeping the tire in the drop center- to change the last set of tires I did took me ~ maybe 10 minutes per tire for the ST1100) - I assume smaller diameter = more work as John above said. I used the machine to get both beads on. Then getting them to seat was an issue as well (minor)- I normally can just leave the valve core in and get the MC tires to seat quickly- not so with the SWing wheel using my air tank pumped to 100 PSI (but I did get it done after removing the valve core, seating the tire, then reinserting the core and took it ~ 140 miles this AM to scuff in the tire). The front will be no challenge as it’s a 14” wheel. For the 13, I may just take it to the shop next time (which I hope is a long time from now assuming no other punctures).

If I do attempt this in the future, I will break the bead, protect the wheel, just cut the old tire off (I bought a Dremel last night- I have a couple of others but they’re weaker- the newest one is a great cutter and it’s ultimately what saved me more hassle getting the old tire off), then just deal with getting the new one on- interestingly, it required no weight on the wheel to balance (just matched the dot on the tire to the valve stem, and this worked really well and when riding today, no shake in the least).

I was looking at a set of Metzeler Roadtecs for the future (they are sold in the SWing tire sizes), so I may try those next time.