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After much support from the board, I followed the instructions and managed to remove my rear wheel, have the shop mount the tire, then re-mount the wheel myself.
Due to various reasons I have not ridden until today.
Let me just say, once I was on my way, I held on tightly, white knuckled the hand grips and anticipated my rear wheel flying off, the entire journey. I actually left out my ear plugs in anticipation of hearing the impending doom.

Luckily, I arrived home from my jaunt intact, lug nuts correctly torqued, but with the realization that the fearless confidence of my youth was long gone.

Congrats! from us lugs.

Congratulations Linda!

The next time it will be old hat. I recall the first time I removed mine to get a tire mounted and went thru much of the same as you did.

I always have doubts when doing something for the first time and expect the worst. I put off doing a tb sync for 4 years and 40,000 miles because of the fear of messing it up. It too went much easier than I expected.

Wayne

88

Very liberating isn't it Linda.

What's next?

Linda, you are so modest.....if you work on your bike like you draw, there is nothing to worry about......really!!!!

I'm truly glad to see the ladies take interest in performing some maintenance on their rides, I think it makes the riding experience far more rewarding.

Kudos.....

We're proud of you. Great job!

Good job! Now re-check those lugs to give yourself some more piece of mind!

You have bigger cajungas than me. Ok, lets just say much more confidence!

Let me just say, once I was on my way, I held on tightly, white knuckled the hand grips and anticipated my rear wheel flying off, the entire journey. I actually left out my ear plugs in anticipation of hearing the impending doom.
Luckily, I arrived home from my jaunt intact, lug nuts correctly torqued, but with the realization that the fearless confidence of my youth was long gone.

Linda, your confidence will return after you accumulate additional successful service jobs. As an RN, you first patient injection was likely very upsetting, yet I bet you don't give it a 2nd thought now. Rechecking the order of operations and torque values will make each service job incrementally easier.

I just took my rear wheel off today. It wasn't for a tire change, it was to remove the Ohlins shock so I could overfill the preload oil. Pics, details and a post to follow tomorrow. Anyway, when I rode the bike afterward, I had ZERO fears about my work, because I actually did retrace the order of operations to confirm there were no skipped or partial service operations. That's when I realized I had not yet pumped the rear brake pedal to push the pads to their working positions. Even after my 2nd "mistake" - - - trying to start the engine while it was still in 1st gear (to loosen/tighten the lug bolts), I was not the least bit insecure about the other work completed.
Maybe it's just a guy thing.

Good job!
I once (while my youthful fearlessness was intact) rode home from the tyre shop on my CBR600 having forgotten to tighten the rear wheel spindle. Took off to the roundabout I used to practice knee sliding and did a few laps to scrub the edges in and then used the rear brake....rear wheel steering problem. The wheel was turning sideways in the swingarm and steering the back of the bike when the brake came on. After a few tries at this interesting new feeling I realised what was going on and looked in my toolkit for the spindle wrench that I had...left on the tyre shop floor..so rode carefully back to get it and fix my mistake....

Congrats on the successful tire remount!

But I still stop down the road a few miles after I have mounted one and check the lugs! Don't ask why!

Good Job, Linda and congrats on the courage to attempt it

John

Congrats, Linda! See, I told you it was easy!

Now, let's see you do the front wheel ...

I am personally aquainted with a fellow who had his tires replaced at a BMW rally by a PRO shop. Less than a year later he felt a vibration and suddenly the rear wheel separated and caused a wreck which totalled the bike and caused severe injury. All the bolts had backed out. He is employed by a BMW dealer and he's not an inexperienced person when it comes to bikes.

How many of us ever check the torque of the wheel nuts after a pro tire job ?

Make up your own moral of the story, but as for me, I'm checking everything from now on.

Congrats to ladybeemer on becoming part of the repair loop !

geo

As others have said, you will gain confidence in your work each time you successfully complete something. Then you can start getting over-confident and may overlook a detail thinking you've done this all before, but it might have been so long ago that you didn't recall all the steps!

I refer to a manual every time I work on the bike. I think that keeps me focused on the procedure and gives me the correct torque values. If I keep the bike healthy, it will help keep me healthy!

Sunbeemer wrote:As others have said, you will gain confidence in your work each time you successfully complete something. Then you can start getting over-confident and may overlook a detail thinking you've done this all before, but it might have been so long ago that you didn't recall all the steps!

I refer to a manual every time I work on the bike. I think that keeps me focused on the procedure and gives me the correct torque values. If I keep the bike healthy, it will help keep me healthy!

Not a bad idea to have somebody scan the job when done too. I changed the oil on a Yamaha a couple months ago, got distracted and was ready to ride off with the filler plug off. It was noticed by my wife and fellow rider before I left. Always good to have a backup !

geo

In regards to the pros not necessarily being perfect: Years ago, I had the tires on my truck rotated at the local station/shop near our office. About 60 miles down the road, I heard a strange rattle. Stopping in a parking lot, I removed the hubcap and 2 of the 5 lug nuts fell out and rolled across the parking lot! The others were loose.

After putting them back on and checking all the other wheels, I later told the manager what had happened and I thought he was going to faint! Visions of my widow owning his business I am sure went through his head!

wncbmw wrote:In regards to the pros not necessarily being perfect: Years ago, I had the tires on my truck rotated at the local station/shop near our office. About 60 miles down the road, I heard a strange rattle. Stopping in a parking lot, I removed the hubcap and 2 of the 5 lug nuts fell out and rolled across the parking lot!

Wasn't it socalrob last year who had his rear wheel come off after riding away from having his bike serviced? Scary. That same day, I was in my dealership and a guy was in there complaining about the same thing happening to him.

After having a local shop mount new rubber on my wheels and replacing the wheels myself, I noticed a serious wobble from the rear wheel after a few miles. When I stopped and checked the lugs they were all loose!

First: thankyou BMW for a stock tool kit with a lug wrench.
Second: I am now using locktight on the lugs.