Tuesday, July 23 2019 [10,885 miles]
I had a dentist appointment this morning and rode the DR650. When I got home I tweaked the carb idle mixture and idle speed again. The bike rides fine. Now it’s new tire time.
I put the new old – or is it old new – tire in the sun. I ordered this tire two years ago because I was sure that I was going to need a front tire “soon”. The rear that I ordered at the same time was put on the bike over a year and a half ago. I knew the front was going to last longer, but not this much longer.
I strapped the rear wheel down then jacked up the front and removed the part of the Condor chock that as in the way. Removing the front wheel is then pretty easy.
I didn’t bother mounting the bead breaker attachement to my tire stand. All I needed were tire irons to break the bead and remove the tire. I spent a little time cleaning the wheel before mounting the new tire.
I checked at least twice that the tire dot was next to the valve stem and the direction of rotation was correct.
The existing weight was too heavy and not in the right spot. I removed it and cut it down in size to make it lighter. About three tries later I had it light enough to give me very good balance.
The wheel is back on the bike. Axle and pinch bolts have been torqued to spec with the pinch bolts torqued after bouncing the front end up and down a few times. The bike is ready for another 3500 miles. The new front tire should make them feel better than the last thousand or so.