wrote:

>> Take a look at that biker's concept of a "pocket knife" at 53 seconds!
>> https://youtu.be/M5_nK8V-nU0?t=53
>
> Compared to what's in my pocket at the moment...
> http://www.coldsteel.com/recon-1-tan...0-50-edge.html
>
> After using it for a few years, I'm not that crazy about the tanto
> style, but it is good for prying out nails.

Jesus. That's battle gear for heaven's sake!

This is what I consider to be a typical pocket knife.
https://media.midwayusa.com/producti...365/365933.jpg

> I mount the knobbies on the DR-650 myself but don't bother with the
> balance except for lining the dot up if there is one. With DOT knobbies
> it is sort of hard to tell if it's balanced or not. The last time around
> I went with Kendas and getting the bead to seat on the front was an
> adventure. I never had a problem with Dunlop 606's.

The Harbor Freight tire mounting tool has an accessory for mounting
motorcycle tires, but the HF static bubble balancer does not. AFAIK, most
people statically balance motorcycle tires using a horizontal freely
spinning bar, do they not?

> I take the ones with tubeless tires to a shop. After watching an guy
> trying to get the bead to seat on a Bridgestone as the sun sank into the
> west I was skeptical of my abilities. He had a high flow air system, the
> tourniquet, and so forth but it was a struggle. I might take a shot at
> it in the spring. I've got a slow leak around the bead on the Harley
> that needs to be cleaned up so it won't be a complete demount.

I did bike tires in the 80s, before they were typically as fat as they are
now (especially the rears), where it wasn't hard in the olden days, with a
good tire iron and three hands.

> Truck tires are just bigger I watched a guy in Canada fix one in
> place. He had me drive the inside dual up on blocks to get clearance,
> spudded it off, patched it, and put it back on. I think he'd done it
> that way once or twice.

I find that car tires are easiest on the import economy vehicles, and
almost as easy on the European sport vehicles, but the sidewall and larger
profile makes SUVs harder (at least the ones I've done), where I just
ass-u-me that truck tires would be even worse.

> My first DIY attempt was with a '51 Chevy. iirc, the owners manual had
> an illustration of breaking the bead by putting the bumper jack on it.
> All I managed to do was jack the car up.

I've seen every redneck method of breaking a bead that YouTube can fester,
where the purpose-built HF bead breaker is the tool of choice for the home
owner. https://youtu.be/MXWb4q_DljE

The main flaw of that bead breaker is that they try to limit the diameter
of the wheels you can break the bead on by limiting the overall length of
the teardrop-shaped base - so you have to "extend" the base by putting a
board over it and then the wheel on top of that board.

The bead breaker attachment that comes standard with the HF tire mounting
tool works fine on the import economy vehicles, and even works on the
European sports cars, but it fails miserably (it bends out of shape) on the
SUV tires I've tried.