ok so i just bought a 05 honda cbr600 about a month ago, and i have noticed it has a slow air leak in the back tire, every few days i have to put air in it, not the tires are in very good condition and still has lots of thread (michelin pivots) and today when i went to add air, i noticed the valve stems were kinda worn out. Well when i kind of bend it to the side i hear air coming out, so i guess this is the culprit. Now i figuered, ok valve stem no big deal, i called 6 shops and i get prices from 60-75 dollars a tire! they all pretty much said the same thing, that "its not just the valve stem" is the labor of taking the tire off and the tire out and having to balance them again etc etc.

<watch your language - expletive removed> seriously? am i really gonna have to fork out 60 bucks to just to have the valve stem of my back tire replaced? no alternatives out there?

 

if you can get the wheel off the bike and bring it to them, it should be a lot cheaper. they dont have to dismount or balance the tire. they only need to break the bead on one side and change the stem. then just air it up. you could even bring it to an automotive shop that does tires......but its gotta be a loose wheel.

if you were in socal, i'd do it for you.

 

so if i take the tire off myself, it wont have to be balanced before i put it back on? i dont get that.

 

as long as the tire doesnt move on the bead, it wont need balancing. if you take the tire off the rim, mark the position of the stem with a crayon on the tire and put it back together in the same spot. but you only need to break one side down to change the stem. the other side will hold it in place. if you can get the bead to break, you can do it yourself.

 

by bead im assuming u mean the sides of the tire, the part that usually gets greased and goes pop when aired up? i saw a video on youtube of a guy changing the valve stem off his tire by using a c-clamp, on side was holding on to the rim (with a rag inbetween) and then he just tighten the clamp down on the other side of the tire until he saw the valve stem, then u just swamped it out, does that sound about right? Im sure i can have one of the local tire shops or even my mechanic do that for free even, if thats the case.

 

that is exactly how to do it at home. shops have better machines, but its the same principal. your mechanic should be able to handle it, if he is equipped to do tires.

 

thanks, im gonna go to the tire shop i usually go to and also call up my mechanic and see if it can get done, im pretty sure they do stuff like that on bikes, this is NYC after all. i knew there had to be another way around something so simple, thanks bro...