tell me about some of the most PIA bikes to swap wheels on

Working on some motorcycles today, & remembering some bikes I've had, or worked on that the wheels were just a complete pain in the fucking ass to remove & replace. Tight spacers, brake pads, odd angles, etc.......

What bikes come to mind for you?

 

Goldwing comes to mind.

 

RC51. Some days, it took 30 seconds. Some days, it took 30 min. Things are getting a little foggy by now, but I'm almost positive it was the real wheel. Front wheel was fine.

The only motorcycle that frustrated me more than that was in stock. PM wheels on a FUSA-spec CBR900. The front wheel spacer would just drop inside the hub and the axle couldn't slide in. Some days, I cried a little bit.

 

Front wheel on the Buell XBs. The ZTL rotor is cool and all, but a bit of a PITA if you are trying not to nick up the wheels against the caliper.

 

whats the bimota that has the swingarm front end?Tesi?
my elite 250 has to drop the muffler every time I want a new rear tire.
Any drum brake rear cruiser...ugh!

 

So I'm not the only one who thinks the 51 is a pain. Like he said, sometimes it just goes, but most times it takes like 3 tries.

 

The Hondas arent hard but they are generally a bigger PITA than every other sportbike.

Come hang out in the shop in April when all of the Goldwings, VTX1300's, Vulcans and Boulevards come in for tires. Thats when I really hate motorcycles.

 

That damn top mounted rear caliper. Always a pain in the ass.

 

Any motorcycle with a shaft drive. :down:

 

The carburetor on my CRF-250x.

 

I can't think of which shaft drive bike right now, but there is one of them that we have to remove the whole shaft and rearend from the motor. Along w/ the damn exhaust pipe.

 

What does it have to do with swapping wheels?

 

Have to get to the wheels somehow.

 

Rear wheels on most of the Kawasaki 1000's and 600's...took me a while to learn the trick of only using spools that are sorta wide because you need to pry the swingarm apart because it seems to be 1mm to tight. I also use a Dyke on the brake side to hold it all in place and push the axle in from the sprocket side.

 

I'm sure if you try to take the wheels off using the carburator it's quite frustrating.

 

Nah, I was just bitching about that damn carb. You do need to remove the rear subframe and suspension to get to it. I frequently remove the rear wheel at that time and it just reminded me.

 

Maybe a majority but I can pull the rear wheel on my vtx 1800 in about 3 minutes.

 

The rear on the shaft drive GL1800 is super easy. Single sided swingarm. Front is a bit of a pita though with all the plastic...

 

2008 ZX10
Just about needed to use cargo straps to spread the swing arm 10mm to get the wheel and spacers in.

 

Yamaha 1100 V-Star. The first time I had one come in the shop for a back tire I started on it and started saying to myself " they didn't do that did they ? " Yes they did ! Same bike you have to take the exhaust off to get to the oil filter :wow: Great enginering there Yamaha. 2 hr. oil change. :down: