Hey. I'll need new tires soon.

Local shops want 600+ to special order, mount, balance, etc a set of two bike tires.

Ordering tires online, installing myself, and paying minimal fee to have them balanced on a machine is the best bet.

Currently turning 15k on the odometer, believe the bike has original IRC on them, pretty squared rear, pretty cracked front.

Found a set of dunlop GT501 on ebay for $225 SHIPPED. Are these decent tires?

I won't see them for ~month but the price is fair.

Anyone have any better ideas/prices/insight?

Anyone run dunlop GT501? Thoughts?

http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/New_gen_tire_options

Yes, the GT501 tires are fine.

/moved to new-gen tech

Try a set of Duro HF 918 tires. I get them for $120-130 a pair shipped to NJ. Might be slightly more for you. If you lived with the IRCs that long you will find these hard to fault. I'm a guy who pushes my tires and these are cheap and give great traction/feel.

Secondly, Harbor Freight has a $40 moto wheel balancer. Grab some adhesive weights too. Simple to learn to do. If you never exceed 60 MPH don't even bother balancing IMO. I don't find a read difference till over 78 MPH and then it is a slight axle tremble at worst. It doesn't reach the bars even.

Try here!

http://www.bikebandit.com/duro-hf918-motorcycle-tire

Also check out the prices @ American Motorcycle Tire (http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/index.php)

What is the hard part getting it on or getting it off? also any cheap tools to make it really simple?

Just checked all the websites posted.

American Motorcycle tire wants 80 bucks to ship the GT501 via fedex 2-day, no exceptions made for hawaii. 200 bucks for just the two tires, same as ebay auction.

^^ They also don't have front/rear duro's in stock. Only rear. I'd like a set of two of the same.

Bike bandit doesn't ship tires to hawaii. No exceptions. Same with revzilla. No exceptions.

So my best bet still looks like ebay with 1-month shipping for 25 bucks. 200 for the tires alone. GT501.

By the time they get here, I'll need to mount them right away.

Any other ideas? Thanks guys.

http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-balancing-stand-98488.html

looks like I found the tire 'balancer.'

Don't see how it would work. If our bikes had spokes, you could use it with a dial gauge to get a wheel pulled true and round.

As for balancing -- I'm under the impression that incongruencies in tire rubber thickness/material at different points in the tire attribute to a tire that weighs more on one side than the other. That's why they are 'balanced' on a machine that spins them and detects and wobble, then instructs the operation where to place the weights to re-balance the tire and offset the manufacturing variations from one tire to the next.

And yes I do definitely take this bike above 60mph every time I get on it.

Not sure how that harbor freight item would help me balance..

http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-balancing-stand-98488.html

looks like I found the tire 'balancer.'

Don't see how it would work. If our bikes had spokes, you could use it with a dial gauge to get a wheel pulled true and round.

As for balancing -- I'm under the impression that incongruencies in tire rubber thickness/material at different points in the tire attribute to a tire that weighs more on one side than the other. That's why they are 'balanced' on a machine that spins them and detects and wobble, then instructs the operation where to place the weights to re-balance the tire and offset the manufacturing variations from one tire to the next.

And yes I do definitely take this bike above 60mph every time I get on it.

Not sure how that harbor freight item would help me balance..

It's less precise but gets the job done. Spin the wheel slowly and the heavy spot will want to end up at the bottom every time. Place enough weights on the opposite side to counteract that. That's basically how tire balancing works. The fancy machine isn't really necessary.

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_can_I_balance_the_tires_by_myself%3F

That's really the easy part. I got frustrated with the rest of mounting a tire myself.

Finally got through to the service dpt at the local shop -- they will balance front/rear tires for 15 bucks.

8 bucks if I just bring them one mounted tire/rim.

After the shipping cost for the harbor freight item... I could afford to have 5 sets of tires balanced locally.

Dear diary. Just thinking out loud.

You can also just balance it on the bike. Put the wheel on the bike without the spacers so it can spin freely.

Move to the main land? I guess that is the price of living in your location?

You can build a balance stand too, use google to find it. You ideally use low friction bearings and just follow the basics above. It can be a cheap tool to build with simple jack stands and a few parts if you are interested in doing it.

To balance, you mark the heavy spot at the point the wheel settles and add weight to the opposite side till the wheel stops at random locations. Youtube will have vids on the process.

I usually don't bother with balancing. Like I mentioned, I can just see the effects at around 78 MPH. I'll be doing a 2000 mile high speed ride next month so I'll pull it off and balance the front. For my normal stuff it isn't necessary IMO.

That's it. I'm ordering the GT501s.

Yeh shipping here is a b!tch.

Especially the horrible thing they call "parcel post" -- after spying on the transport methods employed by the post office, I've observed them using (partially) trained dolphins to ferry packages to and from california.

They have a massive underwater cable that goes to california with clothespins on it -- they clip fish tidbits to and then pull the cable like a giant clothesline on two pulleys. Flipper and his friends follow the fish tidbits.

Unfortunately however, most dolphins get sidetracked and the packages never show up. Which is why the post office will place a new order and repeat the process. Even after the expense of losing packages and re-ordering, it's cheaper to employ dolphins than it is use planes.

I guess I'll see these tires in a month if I'm lucky.

Like the note in a bottle, I'd offer to toss a set of tires into the ocean for you with a note attached but I'm on the east coast so it would probably end up in Ireland!

Expect a 30% markup on anything you order in hawaii to cover shipping.

If the shipping department isn't competent, expect a 45% markup.

70usd to ship a rear seat cover cowling that cost 85usd? Damn...

My favorite is when customer service reps act miffed when you ask them to ship to hawaii.... Hey man, I know what it says on the website. It says you don't ship to hawaii.... but we are people too, despite where we live. We want nice things. Can you make an exception?

http://up-ship.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/no-3.jpg

http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130411210724/glee/images/thumb/6/67/Okay-okay-l.png/1024px-Okay-okay-l.png

This is why we can't have nice things....

This is why we can't have nice things....

Other than, well, living in Hawaii. :)

Other than, well, living in Hawaii. :)

Especially Maui...

Loved that Island... And the old surfers at Papalaua beach...

Hope you'll get your tires on the first attempt...

You guys are making me want to go surfing... Papalaua was the beach I first started surfing at many years ago.

Maui no ka oi.:dancecool:

Can't you just jet ski over to California and pick them up? :dancecool: