| Author | Message | ||
     Nutsnbolt |
Okay, so for about a couple of weeks, my 208's have been getting almost bald. So, I knew the day was coming, and to be honest with you, I was dreading it. I have been reading this thread and that thread and so on, 99% of them saying how you have to modify a jack or get this special pit bull stand or pretty much jimmy rig some version of what should otherwise be a safe stand into a virtual nightmare. Wow, to all those that made it seem so hard or such an issue about putting the xb on a stand or jacking it up... YOU ARE WRONG. I used the simple LP Racing Swingarm stand for the rear and a simple triple tree stand for the front and my entire bike was isolated and lifted. ( I changed both tyres) This is the same stands that I had used on Ducati's, Bandit's, SV's, Katana's, VStars, MZ's. It's a universal stand. Basically, the most common stand there is, will work. As far as changing they tyre... the only issue I have, is the swing arm stabalizer. (The Front Bolt) There has to be a better design. I don't know what, since I'm not an engineer. Man, am I glad that I did that myself. My neighbor has a tyre changing station and balancer and does each tyre for 10bucks each if you bring him the wheel. That's a steal. (He was just going to not charge me, but I had to pay him for being a cool neighbor, plus he helped me get the tyres and wheels off the bike. By the way, got rid of the 208's and put the new Qualifiers on. Hope this helps.  | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I know a bunch of people use LP stands, they're fine, the Pit Bulls are just built a bit nicer. (I use a completely generic rear stand that dosn't even have wheels on it) Oh, and you dont need some 'special' Pit Bull, they are universal also. Just a preference of brand. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
I guess you did the smart thing and didn't read all the other posts about what a pain in the a$$ it is to put up a Buell on a stand it is. "special" pit bull stand is not my reference. It's everyone else's about these stands with these bikes. | ||
| Fullpower |
how a bout a six inch wood block under the muffler? | ||
| Garrett2 |
i use a wooden block on top of a jack and it works great, also we have a bike lift in the garage so that helps just be careful, those big rotors make it easy to pinch them in the lift.... | ||
| Captainxb |
Hey Nutsnbolt, I just went through the same deal and you're right: IT ISN"T HARD !!! A pit stand under the back, my car scissor jack under the front of the muffler, and both wheels off to get the tyres changed. (Hardest was getting some of the locktited bolts to move). Saved myself some cash by taking the wheels in loose. Easy job. (Message edited by captainxb on October 11, 2006) | ||
| Zac |
I used an LP stand like that, but had to remove the springs and drill another set of holes for the R-clips to get it to easily fit the Buell swingarm. It could probably fit without modifying the stand, but when putting the bike on the stand to put on tire warmers after every track session, it made it easier. I can't believe Buell doesn't put mounts for spools on the swingarms... -z. | ||
| Spatten1 |
For that front bolt you just need a ball-head allen. It is still awkward, but not too bad. | ||
| M1combat |
Swing arm stabilizer? Front bolt? do you mean for the brace to remove the belt? No need to remove that for a tire change... | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
yea, actually, you do need to remove the stabilizer. You don't remove the belt you just need some room to slide the belt off after you move the tire forward. Believe me, I tried it without removing it... I thought the same thing you did. But, after prior reading of the "scare tactics" of being careful of moving that "fragile" KEVLAR belt, I opted to just remove the stabilizer. I can attest that it did make it alot easier to take the tire off. However, I am still gonna try it without taking it off next time. Like I said, "there's got to be a better way. Any other bike, I can have the rear tire off in 2-4 minutes. I still feel that you can semi do the same thing with the XB but... I have changed probably 10-15 tires (rear) before and I can tell you that given the "horror stories" I have read before, it was pretty simple, but, it still is pretty archaic compared to pretty much any other bike out there. But, I don't work for Buell, and really don't have the clout nor push to change engineering designs. So, I just keep on keepin' on and keep ridin and layin the bike flat around the corners. As to "ZAC" and his having to remove the springs and drill holes? Not needed. I just spread the arms out about another inch and I was good to go. As a matter of fact, I may have spread them out to the width they were supposed to be at originally. I used to use that stand for the Ducati, and had to squeeze the arms together for that bike. So, for me, yea, it's tight, but it's a non issue. Ride hard, lay it flat, and keep the rubber on the road. Mark | ||
| Hammer71 |
Never had to remove stabilizer with or without belt (chain conversion now). Once idler is removed the belt slides right off. | ||
| M1combat |
I've swapped tires about 12-14 times on my bike 30K miles and I've never needed to... I see your point though, but as long as you take the belt off of the bottom of the pulley, roll the tire forwards a little, remove a little more and so on and so forth, you'll have the tire out w/o having any clearance issues with the swing arm brace. As a side note... the belt currently on my bike... I put the wheel on in the dark and got all of the stuff snugged down, then realized that I'd forgotten to but the belt around the pulley... I just hooked a few teeth and gave the bike a good shove and rolled the belt on (wanted to see if the mishandling theories were true)... goin' on just about 23K miles on that belt... It's the first upgraded belt that fits on the '04s. One iteration before the newest belt. | ||
| M1combat |
Oh and yeah... a five minute swap is doable I think. Maybe quicker. I mean heck... It's only a couple things to remove and you don't need to worry about tension adjustment or anything... | ||
| Glitch |
I just hang my bike from the rafters in the garage with ratchet straps. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Buells, in general, like hanging from the rafters, two ladders and a 6x6, anything sturdy enough to hold.  | ||
| Rasmonis |
Me and a fellow Badwebber changed the tires on both '03&'06 XBS's without having to loosen anything other than the necessaries - front fender, axels & calipers. Easy as pie (relatively), surprised the heck out of me. Twintour did most of the hard work manually removing the old and replacing the new tires (I'm still a NOOB). He's got a sweet set up. |
