Bit of a rant....

[MagnusMoto]

Ditched the stock tires at about 3k miles. They were "acceptable" on the warmer summer days, but these 50 degree mornings have been doing them no favors. I ended up going with the Michelin Power 5's to see how I felt about a sticker tire (yes, I've run the Road 5's on another bike). The tires feel AMAZING compared to the stock ones even though they aren't scrubbed in - that's not the ranty bit.

My rear wheel from factory was evidently pretty unbalanced. I think there were about 70g worth of weights in a spot. Well, the shop that mounted the tires ditched the stock weights and put that 70g of weight back on with FOURTEEN black 5g weights, which REALLY doesn't look super great on my blue wheels....

On top of that they managed to ding the rim in several spots. Looks like I'm avoiding this shop in the future. Shame I couldn't have found this out with my beater bike instead of my Z...

[Z900GERM]

Took my blue z wheel to cycle gear and they took my blue weights off and put a bunch of silver ones on and then left all the adhesive from the old weights.

[Cruzian3]

FWIW, there's something to be said about wrenching on your own bike.   

One of the many reasons I prefer to DIY is I'll take my sweet-ol-time and clean as I replace.  I'm not even gonna tell you how long I spent scraping that old gasket off the clutch cover of my fz, but I'm pretty sure a mechanic would not have been as thorough. Think about all that grime that sits behind your front sprocket cover.
Point is... Mechanics don't get paid to clean your bike.  It takes them 10 mins tops to change an off the bike tire.  It takes me 2 hours from start to finish with some cheap harbor freight tools, good music, and a hot cup of joe. But hey, I didn't have to drive my wheel over there, I saved $30, and my rims are clean. 

So, coming from a non-mechanic, learn to do your own maintenance.  Especially the most frequent stuff.  Just gotta invest in a torque wrench and be able to search YouTube.   

[Cruzian3]

Originally Posted by Z900GERM

Took my blue z wheel to cycle gear and they took my blue weights off and put a bunch of silver ones on and then left all the adhesive from the old weights.

Blue electrical tape...

[MagnusMoto]

Originally Posted by Cruzian3

FWIW, there's something to be said about wrenching on your own bike.   

Yeah, I work on all of our bikes. I'm happy to change all of our dual-sport tires because 1. those rims are already dinged and 2. it's a bit easier with the tube IMO. My philosophy (...up to this point) has been that I'll do those, but a shop can take care of my street bike wheels because setting the bead can be harder (especially if you happen to get the tire at the bottom of the pile), and the machines at most shops do a good job at keeping the rims protected.

I'm mostly surprised at the approach that shops take with the wheel weights. My experience has been that modern motorcycle tires are generally VERY well balanced and 9/10 times the weights end up in the same place in the same quantity (where they are most likely counteracting unbalance in the wheel from manufacturing).

[zed9]

Crap, I just typed a giant paragraph but lost it when the iPad went dead so here's a summary which I'll go into detail if anyone's interested.

For rim protection while changing tires... Cut strips of plastic from a quart bottle of Valvoline brake fluid. It's the softest/toughest plastic I have used by far, better even than the Clorox bottle plastic I've been using forever. It blows away those bulky rim protectors that you buy.

For touching up the rim scratches (or even the bikes frame)... I use a Sharpie brand OIL PAINT MARKER. Available at Home Depot in the paint isle for $4 bucks. Rub alcohol on the area, shake the marker and touch up. It's good enough that you won't notice especially when your rim gets dusty.
They make a multi-color pack for $12 bucks with blue. It may be close enough.
This oil paint is permanent as opposed to the usual solvent based markers. They last for years and never seem to dry up.

Cruzian3... I'm pretty sure I have a gasket scrapping story that beats yours by a mile (which is nothing to brag about). 😪🍻

[Its about speed]

What you've said is true.  The motorcyclist who performs 100% of it's maintenance/repairs/upgrades is a rare bird today. That's old school. It's a throwback to the early days of self reliance.

The ISDEs that I competed in 4 consecutive years required that NOBODY but the pilot could service the machine. That was a major part of the enduro. Tire changes were timed, repairs were observed by officials, and you still had to take care of yourself.

I do have the bike shop mount my tubeless tires today, tube type I enjoy wrestling with. Other than tires, nobody touches my bikes. I don't trust anyone else to care as much as I do.

[Cruzian3]

Good tips everyone...  and that's another thing, I've found that most of the time the people on forums are more than happy to share their knowledge, alot of times in great detail; all you gotta do is ask.  I held onto the clutch friction pack for months before I finally got the courage to pop that cover off.  If it wasn't for the guys on the forum basically holding my hand I don't think I would've done it.   But if I took it to the shop I know they would've kept my bike for a month.  And most recently, it was all about troubleshooting why my bike kept dieing on me.  We went from battery to testing the regulator/rectifier,  and stator.  All total, I swapped out all 3 for a couple hundred, but did the work myself and learned a ton.  Tips like... use locktite here and make sure you buy a new gasket, gasket sealer vs gasket maker, etc. All very helpful to the noob. 

Use the forum, I know I will ...  and of course pay it forward.

[zed9]

I just kept the same gasket on the clutch side cover.

[Cruzian3]

Originally Posted by zed9

I just kept the same gasket on the clutch side cover.

No sealer before and I'm assuming no sealer after.