Joined
·
123 Posts
If you're having a shop mount tires for you, bringing them wheels instead of a whole bike will usually save you about 50%. You also need to take them off to change brake discs, sprocket, bearings etc.
Rear wheel:
Tools needed:
22mm socket
19mm socket or wrench
Rear stand
Mallet
Torque wrench
Get the bike up on the rear stand and loosen the 22mm nut while holding the 19mm axle head with your wrench, I find this is easiest while sitting on the floor behind the bike. Once the nut is off, stick your feet under the wheel and give the axle a tap to the left with the mallet. Once it's out, push the wheel forward, take off the chain, then slide the brake caliper out of its rail to the left and up. You shouldn't let the caliper dangle since it's on a rubber hose, so either bungee it or set it to the right of the swingarm. You can put a rag under it if you're worried about scratching anything. The wheel should now easily roll back out of the swingarm

Remove the brake-side spacer and put it in a safe place.

Wiggle the sprocket back and forth until it comes out. Try not to set the wheel down on the brake side unless you have an old tire or something soft to prop it up on. I do it with the wheel upright. There is another spacer in the sprocket carrier, but it doesn't need to come out. Now you're looking at the rubber cush drives.

Remove the cush drives. The wheel is ready for a new tire and there's nothing left that can easily fall out and get lost in your car or at the shop. This is what you should be left with.

While everything is apart, a little extra grease on the axle and some anti-seize on its threads will make removal just as easy in 5,000 miles.
Installation is trickier and I admit it's a bit of a booger on this bike, but it gets a lot easier and faster with practice. Again, I find it easiest sitting on the floor. Install the cush drives, sprocket and spacers and roll the wheel as far into the swingarm as it'll go. The brake caliper is on a bracket with a groove

that needs to slot onto a tab on the inside of the swingarm.

Put it on the tab and make sure the pads are still spread apart.

Lift the wheel with your feet so the disc is between the pads, but keep the wheel forward in the swingarm. Make sure the spacer on each side stays in. There should be plenty of slack in the chain to get it back on the sprocket. Pull the wheel back while making sure the two chain adjusters at the end of the swingarm more or less stay in place. Slide the axle into the left adjuster hole and line it up with the wheel. The right adjuster likes to fall out as in the above pic, but you should have a free hand to keep it in since you're using your feet to hold up the wheel. Once the axle is all the way through, tighten the nut to 57nm while pressing on the right chain adjuster to make sure your alignment hasn't changed. Check chain tension and alignment.
Note: Pit Bull makes a really nice "tire wedge" to use instead of your feet. http://www.pit-bull.com/product/F0102-000.html
Rear wheel:
Tools needed:
22mm socket
19mm socket or wrench
Rear stand
Mallet
Torque wrench
Get the bike up on the rear stand and loosen the 22mm nut while holding the 19mm axle head with your wrench, I find this is easiest while sitting on the floor behind the bike. Once the nut is off, stick your feet under the wheel and give the axle a tap to the left with the mallet. Once it's out, push the wheel forward, take off the chain, then slide the brake caliper out of its rail to the left and up. You shouldn't let the caliper dangle since it's on a rubber hose, so either bungee it or set it to the right of the swingarm. You can put a rag under it if you're worried about scratching anything. The wheel should now easily roll back out of the swingarm

Remove the brake-side spacer and put it in a safe place.

Wiggle the sprocket back and forth until it comes out. Try not to set the wheel down on the brake side unless you have an old tire or something soft to prop it up on. I do it with the wheel upright. There is another spacer in the sprocket carrier, but it doesn't need to come out. Now you're looking at the rubber cush drives.

Remove the cush drives. The wheel is ready for a new tire and there's nothing left that can easily fall out and get lost in your car or at the shop. This is what you should be left with.

While everything is apart, a little extra grease on the axle and some anti-seize on its threads will make removal just as easy in 5,000 miles.
Installation is trickier and I admit it's a bit of a booger on this bike, but it gets a lot easier and faster with practice. Again, I find it easiest sitting on the floor. Install the cush drives, sprocket and spacers and roll the wheel as far into the swingarm as it'll go. The brake caliper is on a bracket with a groove

that needs to slot onto a tab on the inside of the swingarm.

Put it on the tab and make sure the pads are still spread apart.

Lift the wheel with your feet so the disc is between the pads, but keep the wheel forward in the swingarm. Make sure the spacer on each side stays in. There should be plenty of slack in the chain to get it back on the sprocket. Pull the wheel back while making sure the two chain adjusters at the end of the swingarm more or less stay in place. Slide the axle into the left adjuster hole and line it up with the wheel. The right adjuster likes to fall out as in the above pic, but you should have a free hand to keep it in since you're using your feet to hold up the wheel. Once the axle is all the way through, tighten the nut to 57nm while pressing on the right chain adjuster to make sure your alignment hasn't changed. Check chain tension and alignment.
Note: Pit Bull makes a really nice "tire wedge" to use instead of your feet. http://www.pit-bull.com/product/F0102-000.html