Rear tire replacement

[Pandy]

I am about to replace my rear tire and I saw Lamont's video about the RS and I was pondering doing the same on my RT. Looks like the identical steps, though the rear fender will most likely have to come off for clearance. The main concern is belt tension and alignment. The shop manual has you loosen the belt. but in L's video this was not done. Has anybody out there done this on their RT? I don't want to have to pay the shop rates at my local dealer for something that looks rather straightforward. Oh, and to further stir things up, my tire has gone 17,500 and I was considering the Kuhmo or the Michelin pilot. Would appreciate any feedback on those as well. This could be as much fun as an oil thread!

So tired, Patrick

 

[bikeguy]

Patrick,

I have changed the rear tire on my RT and it's not really hard at all. If you remove the lower shock mounting bolt, the swingarm can drop down far enough to remove the wheel with no clearance problems at all. By doing this, the drive belt doesn't have to be removed and the lower shock mount can simply be reconnected and belt tension hasn't changed so there's no need to retension or adjust the belt. Mine is a base RT without the onboard compressor and rear suspension adjustment. I believe on the RT-S there is a sensor that also has to be removed or moved to lower the swingarm. You must have been doing everything right to get 17,500 miles on the stock tire. I was only able to get a little over 9,000 miles on my first one and then only about 5, 000 on the second but it wasn't completely worn out. I'm now running a Kumho Ecsta which is still looking good with 8,000 on it.

Cotton

 

[TuckMiddle]

Rear tires

I have 8500 miles on my 2011 RT somethin and all tires are 5 mm right now. Book says fronts should go at 2 mm and the rear at 4 mm. If some engineer thinks I'm throwing away a tire with 4 or 5 mm, he's on drugs or a tire fetish. I've made a list and it's in my owners manual in the bike, with about 12 tires that folks are using front and real, besides sticking with the original Kenya or what ever they are. No chance of that. just search for tires and there are lots of different thoughts.
I can remember back around 197 something, the joke going around was "if you want to get rid of your wife, buy her a Ford Pinto and put Firestone 500s on it!" Pintos had a lot of the (way in the)rear mounted gas tanks explode and the Firestones were failing like Fiats and the Yugo of a few years later. So, go with what you feel is best for you and I'll do what I feel is best. I have a few thousand miles before the rear will have to go first and everyone is an expert, except me of course, on which way to go. I don't think any choice is the only choice nor that any choice is all bad. Good luck and let us know what you decide, it might sound like the right choice to many of the Spyder Lovers. Time to hit the sack and dream about 255x50x15 directional tires, if they are directional and that's the only size and ......................
:cheers:
TuckMiddle