Mounting TriGlide tires

[Rogue1]

I talked with my local Harley service department about me bringing in my freshly powder coated wheels and tires and having the tires mounted. No balance as I use the bead system. $195. $65 dollars / 1/2 hour labor each. All three could be mounted in less than 20 minutes total. I don't get it. I understand a minimum labor charge but for christ sake give me a break. They can't put all three tires on one job ticket? I would have no problem paying $65 for three tires mounted. Although even that is excessive. Very disappointed in this dealer. I'm checking around.

My rant is over.

 

[cycle7447]

I talked with my local Harley service department about me bringing in my freshly powder coated wheels and tires and having the tires mounted. No balance as I use the bead system. $195. $65 dollars / 1/2 hour labor each. All three could be mounted in less than 20 minutes total. I don't get it. I understand a minimum labor charge but for christ sake give me a break. They can't put all three tires on one job ticket? I would have no problem paying $65 for three tires mounted. Although even that is excessive. Very disappointed in this dealer. I'm checking around.

My rant is over.

Take them to some place like Discount Auto (for the rear tires)- they do mine here. If I recall, the charge was like $48 and they balanced them too.

 

[trike lady]

Find an independent auto repair shop to do the work or maybe even a tire shop.

 

[Rogue1]

I talked with my local Harley service department about me bringing in my freshly powder coated wheels and tires and having the tires mounted. No balance as I use the bead system. $195. $65 dollars / 1/2 hour labor each. All three could be mounted in less than 20 minutes total. I don't get it. I understand a minimum labor charge but for christ sake give me a break. They can't put all three tires on one job ticket? I would have no problem paying $65 for three tires mounted. Although even that is excessive. Very disappointed in this dealer. I'm checking around.

My rant is over.

An update to my rant. The local Honda/Powersport dealer will set me up substantially cheaper than Harley.

 

[Krazeehorse]

We'd mount them and install beads for $15-20 each.

 

[Rogue1]

We'd mount them and install beads for $15-20 each.

Are you going to pay shipping to Ohio? hehe

 

[14TG]

I talked with my local Harley service department about me bringing in my freshly powder coated wheels and tires and having the tires mounted. No balance as I use the bead system. $195. $65 dollars / 1/2 hour labor each. All three could be mounted in less than 20 minutes total. I don't get it. I understand a minimum labor charge but for christ sake give me a break. They can't put all three tires on one job ticket? I would have no problem paying $65 for three tires mounted. Although even that is excessive. Very disappointed in this dealer. I'm checking around.

My rant is over.

Hey, Dale….. Hold my beer!

I gotta a better one for ya!

(and yes, it’s really disappointing that they cannot work with the customer differently and on a more accurate and justifiable labor rate!)

As you and many on here may already know, I’m in the middle of a big transformation/transition on my TG. I purchased my 2014 TG in September and full intentions of the custom paint job (still in progress). My trike only has 6,000 miles, BUT had the original tires! (10 years old!)

I too, just got a set of wheels powder coated (super chrome finish)….

Now my local Indy got me fixed up perfectly for the front tire and wheel, but he could not get me any rear tires.

I choose to get BF Goodrich tires for the back and ordered them from a family friends business, because my regular Indy can not get these tires. Now, I got a decent price on the tires, but unfortunately they could not get them mounted! (Still don’t know why, but he said he needed a “third arm” on his new machine and it did not come in yet).

So…. I picked them up and took them to my Indy to get them mounted and balanced. My Indy got them mounted without issue,…. BUT he did not want to balance them (using weights, not beads) because his machine was calibrated for bike wheels. He actually could have changed it all over, but it would be a real PIA for him to do and then re calibrate again for the bike wheels. Understood- not a problem. I’ll just have my local HD dealer balance them…that should cost to much, right???? …..(Maybe I should’ve used the beads!!!!

So I drop them off before they closed this past Tuesday and picked them up the following day.

my bill was $74.00 just to balance 2 rear wheels ….that were already mounted!!!!

now THAT is unacceptable! I told them that I really like their dealership, but this was the last time they will get my business without a rate quote first.

Their labor rate is $110 per hour now. They charged me 1/2 labor rate ($55), charged $12.00 for the weights, then $2.75 shop supplies, and lastly sales tax.

(Are you F#%Kin’ kidding me???)

luckily I still had $60.00 of Hd credits left which expires the end of the month, so used it up on this on only Paid $13.94.

100% lesson learned on this one!!!!

 

[JTJersey]

Hey, Dale….. Hold my beer! I gotta a better one for ya!

View attachment 117268

Nice wheels! I noticed your tires are rounded while my factory tires on my '21 Freewheeler are more flat. Is there any advantage to that as in handling, longevity etc? Are all Tri-Glides rounded off that way?

 

[David792]

$74 sounds about right to me. Those guys gotta eat too.

 

[14TG]

$74 sounds about right to me. Those guys gotta eat too.

Totally disagree with with this…. $74.00 to JUST balance two wheels that came in to them already mounted is ridiculous!

I learned from this mistake…

After the fact, I had to look further into a future situation. There’s a local tire shop near my work that I could have bought the same tires, and have them mounted and balanced and I could have saved over OVER $100 (and not wasted my time and gas in this scenario). Again, a lesson learned on this one.

My dealer is actually a good dealership & great mechanics there, but is obviously getting more expensive. But I will ONLY go to them when I have to. I wrench on most all my stuff and use my Indy for most anything else.

I don’t mind supporting my Indy as he is awesome & great prices on everything he can do… and again, my dealer is one of “the better dealerships”…. BUT $74.00 just to balance 2 wheels that were already mounted???? I don’t think so!

guess what…. . I gotta eat too!!!

 

[14TG]

Nice wheels! I noticed your tires are rounded while my factory tires on my '21 Freewheeler are more flat. Is there any advantage to that as in handling, longevity etc? Are all Tri-Glides rounded off that way?

View attachment 117276

Nice wheels! I noticed your tires are rounded while my factory tires on my '21 Freewheeler are more flat. Is there any advantage to that as in handling, longevity etc? Are all Tri-Glides rounded off that way?

View attachment 117276

Thank you! The tires on my trike size is: P205/65 R15

There are many tires to choose from and are basically passenger car radial tires.

After a thread I posted and reading other older threads, the “HD OEM” tires are no different and simply another brand tire.

There are still plenty of choices to choose from in this size rear tire. I choose the Advantage made by BF Goodrich.

I think the camera makes them look different than stock Dunlops, and it’s possible that the contact area is slightly wider, but many tires do have different shapes, contact area, tread and sidewalls.

Not sure if I will actually notice any difference at all, but I’ll report back once the trike is all back together and back on the road in the next month or two.

 

[Rogue1]

Totally disagree with with this…. $74.00 to JUST balance two wheels that came in to them already mounted is ridiculous!

I learned from this mistake…

After the fact, I had to look further into a future situation. There’s a local tire shop near my work that I could have bought the same tires, and have them mounted and balanced and I could have saved over OVER $100 (and not wasted my time and gas in this scenario). Again, a lesson learned on this one.

My dealer is actually a good dealership & great mechanics there, but is obviously getting more expensive. But I will ONLY go to them when I have to. I wrench on most all my stuff and use my Indy for most anything else.

I don’t mind supporting my Indy as he is awesome & great prices on everything he can do… and again, my dealer is one of “the better dealerships”…. BUT $74.00 just to balance 2 wheels that were already mounted???? I don’t think so!

guess what…. . I gotta eat too!!!

I ran a motorcycle shop myself for years so I understand a minimum charge for a service. But I brought the tires in all at once to be mounted so I see no reason why they couldn't have all been put on one ticket and mounted as one job. Charging me a half an hour labor $65, for each tire that takes less than 5 minutes to mount is ridiculous. $195? There's no customer consideration there. Like the man said, I got to eat too.

 

[Krazeehorse]

195/65-15 BF $165 per, installed and balanced.

 

[ROAD DOG]

The 205/75/15 tire is quite a bit taller tire than the 195/65/15 tire I would think a inch or more taller should cut down the RPM at highway speed.

 

[RKplus10]

Stock size on my trike is 205/65-15 and that is what the previous photo shows.

 

[David792]

Here... for $65 you can balance wheels all day.