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04-22-2012, 10:27 AM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Bothell, WA U.S.A.
Posts: 167
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Tire Replacement Pain & i3 Wish
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. Noticed a big difference when the new tires were used yesterday, it is like a new SEG. Final miles before tire replacement 4,125 |
04-22-2012, 10:33 AM | #2 |
New Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 6
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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.
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04-23-2012, 01:31 AM | #3 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: teh Ether
Posts: 559
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Quote:
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 |
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04-23-2012, 10:58 PM | #4 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Portland
Posts: 672
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I certainly don't mind paying them for their service, but I'm just not sure if they would even be willing to try. |
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04-24-2012, 01:19 PM | #5 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Kenmore, WA, USA.
Posts: 2,097
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Diy
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. Quote:
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35K miles in 15 years! |
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04-25-2012, 05:41 AM | #6 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: teh Ether
Posts: 559
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Quote:
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 |
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04-22-2012, 02:09 PM | #7 |
Glides a lot, talks more...
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Pelham, NH, USA.
Posts: 10,356
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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.
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Karl Ian Sagal To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "Well done is better than well said." (Ben Franklin) Bene factum melior bene dictum Proud past President of SEG America and member of the First Premier Segway Enthusiasts Group and subsequent ones as well. |
04-22-2012, 04:26 PM | #8 | |
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04-23-2012, 09:34 AM | #9 | |
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL/ Mantoloking NJ
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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
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04-23-2012, 07:20 PM | #10 | |
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