Tire Replacement Pain & i3 Wish

[MuttonChops]

Special Thanks to long time SegwayChat member TerryP for saving me from myself on a tire replacement job. I had fought with installing new tires for six hours with only Swiss cheese looking tubes to show for the effort. TerryP (with minor help from me) had two tires mounted without tube holes in 45 minutes!

So the one feature on my i3 wish-list is a different wheel design. Maybe the Michelin Airless Tweel or a simple 1940's truck bolt together split rim, I don't care but it shouldn't continue with the home repair nightmare i2 rims.

Segway has three good market growth areas; Police use, Tour Groups, and all us/those aging baby-boomers and we're getting too old and cranky to be fighting with tire irons, tubes, and bloody hands.

A few facts on this tire change:

Lost the center thread channel (time to replace indicator) at 3,500 miles.

Knowing the change would be difficult decided to delay to ~ 4,000 miles.

There is a difference in handling after the center thread is gone.
Tire squirm was very noticeable and a bit unsettling on rough surfaces.
Overall cornering also seemed less precise.

Noticed a big difference when the new tires were used yesterday, it is like a new SEG.

Final miles before tire replacement 4,125

[Popup]

Why don't you describe how it is done and perhaps give us some lessons learned so that the rest of us can benefit from your experience.

[eJM]

Originally Posted by Popup

Why don't you describe how it is done and perhaps give us some lessons learned so that the rest of us can benefit from your experience.

I've done this a few times because I like to experiment with different tires for my i180 rims that were originally made for scooters or motorcycles. The changes also include putting the stock tire back on the rims too. Anyway, here's the steps:

1. Load Segway wheels and existing tires in the back of the van with the new tires and/or tubes.
2. Drop everything off at the local tire shop (Les Schwab, in my case).
3. Pick everything up an hour later.
4. Go home and mount the new setup on my Segway.

My tire shop does this all for about $15.00. Once they did it for free. I've bought all my wheels and tires for my motor vehicles for the last 20+ years from the same shop and trust them implicitly. They damaged a full moon hubcap once. I ordered a new one and they paid for it. A good tire shop is a great benefit to anyone who drives and glides.

Jim

[SegNerd]

Originally Posted by eJM

1. Load Segway wheels and existing tires in the back of the van with the new tires and/or tubes.
2. Drop everything off at the local tire shop (Les Schwab, in my case).
3. Pick everything up an hour later.
4. Go home and mount the new setup on my Segway.

Did you really have good results with this? My authorized Segway dealer is a bit of a long trip for me, but there are tire places all over the place. I've been wondering if I could just buy Segway tires (when the time comes) and bring my Segway to a local tire place, but I wasn't sure if I would get a response along the lines of "I don't know what the heck that is, so get it outta here!"

I certainly don't mind paying them for their service, but I'm just not sure if they would even be willing to try.

[terryp]

My local Les Schwab patched a Gen 1 tire for me once for free, and another time for about $10, but I got the distinct impression that they weren't very happy to do it. A motorcycle shop told me on the phone that they would do the job, but when they saw it was a plastic wheel, changed their mind for liability reasons.

It's probably best to do it yourself, making sure to have bandages and an extra tube or two handy, and wait a few hours to make sure you were successful.

Originally Posted by SegNerd

Did you really have good results with this? My authorized Segway dealer is a bit of a long trip for me, but there are tire places all over the place. I've been wondering if I could just buy Segway tires (when the time comes) and bring my Segway to a local tire place, but I wasn't sure if I would get a response along the lines of "I don't know what the heck that is, so get it outta here!"

I certainly don't mind paying them for their service, but I'm just not sure if they would even be willing to try.

[eJM]

Originally Posted by SegNerd

Did you really have good results with this? My authorized Segway dealer is a bit of a long trip for me, but there are tire places all over the place. I've been wondering if I could just buy Segway tires (when the time comes) and bring my Segway to a local tire place, but I wasn't sure if I would get a response along the lines of "I don't know what the heck that is, so get it outta here!"

I certainly don't mind paying them for their service, but I'm just not sure if they would even be willing to try.

Your mileage may vary, of course. It wasn't too long ago that I owned a nice little flooring business here and had several vehicles I was buying wheels and tires for, not to mention the other maintenance and repairs. I started doing business with this tire company long before they were a Les Schwab store. Today's owner was a part-timer grunt when I first met him back then.

Other advantages are that I have the only Segway within 80 miles in any direction, so it's an oddity. Me and my Seg have made the local papers a couple times, once a couple winters ago in the snow, climbing the hill that separates Quincy from East Quincy. It's a small community of 5,500, surrounded by even smaller communities. People don't lock their cars or front doors very often and it is not unusual to get waved at by people in passing cars even when not on a Segway.

Most tire shops have the equipment. They do worry that they might break something they are ill prepared to fix or replace. The stock wheel is plastic and most people don't realize just how tough that wheel is. I don't know anyone who's broken it (maybe there's a discussion here somewhere, but I don't recall any). My tire shop has had my plastic wheels on the machine a number of times. Not even a scratch. In fact, the last time, I had just painted my rims and was fully prepared to touch up the paint. I didn't have to.

I think it might be more difficult in larger metropolitan areas. Tire shop owners and workers aren't as inclined to get to know their customers as well. But I think you would find a natural curiosity in those people and this is a great opportunity to make friends. Friends are more apt to want to help you out, even if they have to charge for it. I'm pretty handy, but I'm not mechanically inclined in that way. So a good auto mechanic is important to me and I have some I trust with my Segway wheels and tires.

Jim

[KSagal]

Do not feel bad in that you are hardly the only one with a problem replacing these tires. But not all things that are hard are difficult for all.

I, too, have been fortunate enough to be in a position to help out a person with a tire problem, and he too was thankful that I was able to help him. Part of it is the right tools and familiar with their use, and part is that some people simply find this project more difficult than others. My ability to change these tires does not mean much, as they are a fairly hard tire, relatively, if compared to a bike, but not so much if compared to a motorcycle or car.

Of course, some people find quantum physics easy too, and that is one that I might go to another for assistance. To each their own.

Key is, your glide is back on. Good for you.

[dynk]

Originally Posted by KSagal

Do not feel bad in that you are hardly the only one with a problem replacing these tires. But not all things that are hard are difficult for all.

I, too, have been fortunate enough to be in a position to help out a person with a tire problem, and he too was thankful that I was able to help him. Part of it is the right tools and familiar with their use, and part is that some people simply find this project more difficult than others. My ability to change these tires does not mean much, as they are a fairly hard tire, relatively, if compared to a bike, but not so much if compared to a motorcycle or car.

Of course, some people find quantum physics easy too, and that is one that I might go to another for assistance. To each their own.

Key is, your glide is back on. Good for you.

Karl helped me changing a tube once, and I was very grateful. He made it easy and partly it was his tools, one home made.

[Tarkus]

Originally Posted by MuttonChops

Special Thanks to long time SegwayChat member TerryP for saving me from myself on a tire replacement job. I had fought with installing new tires for six hours with only Swiss cheese looking tubes to show for the effort. TerryP (with minor help from me) had two tires mounted without tube holes in 45 minutes!

So the one feature on my i3 wish-list is a different wheel design. Maybe the Michelin Airless Tweel or a simple 1940's truck bolt together split rim, I don't care but it shouldn't continue with the home repair nightmare i2 rims.

Segway has three good market growth areas; Police use, Tour Groups, and all us/those aging baby-boomers and we're getting too old and cranky to be fighting with tire irons, tubes, and bloody hands.

A few facts on this tire change:

Lost the center thread channel (time to replace indicator) at 3,500 miles.

Knowing the change would be difficult decided to delay to ~ 4,000 miles.

There is a difference in handling after the center thread is gone.
Tire squirm was very noticeable and a bit unsettling on rough surfaces.
Overall cornering also seemed less precise.

Noticed a big difference when the new tires were used yesterday, it is like a new SEG.

Final miles before tire replacement 4,125

Wheel design, lol !

Let's see they have run out of totally inconvenient places to put the valve stem so I guess it's time to make it accesable again. Ya know like it was on the first Segways. Not to mention the overpriced tires that are stock. To INCs buyers go shopping there are far better, less expensive tires.

I have no other comments on things I'd like on a new model until they re-work the simple things.

Please back to basics no more form over function.

Be Big,
AMAC

[segsurfer]

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Wheel design, lol !

Let's see they have run out of totally inconvenient places to put the valve stem so I guess it's time to make it accesable again. Ya know like it was on the first Segways. Not to mention the overpriced tires that are stock. To INCs buyers go shopping there are far better, less expensive tires.

I have no other comments on things I'd like on a new model until they re-work the simple things.

Please back to basics no more form over function.

Be Big,
AMAC

This!!!! Been using an i2 since 07, the stupid aesthetic over function choices still annoy me!