Questionhi mark sorry ij being a bit thick so it should be a easy one for you! how do i remove the front wheel from my kwak zr7 ?
AnswerHi Ian,
I found the following information on line at: www.zr-7.com/tirechange.htm
I recommend the purchase of the Service Manual for all maintanance & repairs. The mamual will pay for itself with the first home repair and has procedures.
Respectfully,
Mark Shively
Tire Changing
Contributed by Martin Gibson
A general warning before you start. If at any time you feel uncomfortable doing this, STOP. DO NOT GET IN OVER YOUR HEAD. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR BROKEN PARTS OR INJURIES. THIS IS VERY ROUTINE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TIRE CHANGING EXPERIENCE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE, PLEASE HAVE AN EXPERIENCED PERSON ON HAND TO HELP OR TAKE YOUR BIKE TO AN EXPERIENCED PERSON. IF YOU HAVE THE CONFIDENCE TO GO FORWARD WITH THIS PROJECT...........The tools you will need in addition to the stock tool kit are a spray bottle with a dish soap and water solution, tire irons, 3-2X4 or 2X6 (or any combination of the 2 sizes) about 8-10" long, 12 mm Allen Wrench, valve stem remover, and a jack ( if you're changing the front tire). You may also want to run a strip of tape (duct tape works well) around the edges of your rim so the irons won't scratch 'em.
Put the bike on the center stand. Remove the wheel as per the manual. If you are doing the front, you will need to jack up the front of the bike. I used an additional piece of 2x4 and a scissor jack placed under the header. Jack up the front of the bike just to where the rear wheel makes contact with the ground (You don't want to bend the header). Lay out the wood blocks in a circular pattern and lay the wheel down so the rim is on the wood and the brake discs are suspended off the floor. Remove the air valve inside the valve stem. After all the air is out, spray the bead with the soap solution. Spray enough so that the solution is "standing" on the bead. Put pressure on the sidewall to help expose the tire bead and the rim seat allowing the soap solution to get to the bead and the seat. Take your tire iron and start working the bead off the seat. If you cannot get the iron in initially, you may have to stand on the tire to make enough room for the iron. If you still don't have enough room, take a thin, wide chisel and work it between the tire and rim. (A wood chisel will work better than a cold chisel because they are thinner and usually wider) DO NOT DRIVE IT IN WITH A HAMMER! Work it in by just pushing it in a little at a time and pry down away from the rim and let the soap do it's job. Pry against the lip of the rim as little as possible. You want to have the iron down in against the thickest part of the rim where the bead meets the seat. Have a little patience, it will save you money and time in the end. As you work the bead down off the seat, apply more soap solution as needed. Don't get over anxious and try to break the bead all at once. Keep working around the tire a little at a time. Once the bead is broke, turn the wheel over and repeat the process (now that you have one side done, you have a feel for how much "Oomph!" you need, which shouldn't be much). Now, work the 1st iron in between the tire and the rim and the 2nd iron 1 1/2 to 2" to the left or right of the 1st iron (depending which way you want to work or if you're left of right handed. It doesn't matter because you're working in a circle). 180 degrees from the placement of the irons, step on the tire. What this does is work the bead of the tire onto the smallest part of the rim with the least diameter, allowing the tire to be worked off the rim easier. Pry the tire bead over the rim edge using the least amount of muscle as possible. Now, work the tire off the rim a couple inches at a time and keep putting on the soap solution as needed. Now, stand the wheel up, spray soap on the other bead, install both irons in between the tire and rim and pry the rim out of the tire. Be careful at this step because most of the time the rim will pop right out and you don't want the rim to fall and bang up the disc.
In the past I have been known to literally cut a tire off the rim if I can't get the bead off the seat with what I think is more than reasonable effort. But these have only been under conditions of an extremely old tire and the rims were corroded to the tire. This is something I prefer not to do because it will give you less tire area to work with and that means less places to put pressure to work the beads down. But if you feel you need to do this, take a utility knife and cut the sidewalls all the way around and remove the tire carcass. Then soak the beads again with the soap solution from the inside. You may be able to work it loose that way. If again this seems futile (which will probably be the case at this point) you can cut the beads loose with a "Dremel" tool. Use a small disc and a steady hand and try not to hit the rim. Put a couple layers of duct tape on the rim next to where you are going to make your cut so that if the "Dremel" does slip it's more apt to hit the tape and not the rim. I will cut the rubber away to expose the wires in the bead and then "grind" through those wires with a "Dremel" and then cut the remaining rubber with the utility knife. Again, this should only be done under EXTREME conditions. These bikes aren't old enough to have the rims and tires "morph" together. But if you have another older bike you're working on, this indeed may be the case.
Now, check around the rim and make sure there are no burrs where the tire seats. If you did it correctly, you may still have 1 or 2. If there are any, just lightly file them off making sure you're only knocking off the burr and not getting into the rim. Wipe the inside of the rim to make sure it's clean so the new tire will go on easier and seal better. Spray the new tire with the solution. You may have to wipe the solution around the tire with a rag (Some tire makers put a preservative on the tires and it's sometimes kind of sticky. Just break that up a bit and spray more soap). Now just reverse all the actions you used to remove the tire. Spray the bead again with soap while you are inflating the tire (seating the bead). This will allow the bead to slide into place easier. If the bead is not seated , but the tire is holding air, let the air out of the tire, spray more soap solution onto the bead and rim and try it again. Do this as many times as it takes to seat the bead. In case you didn't catch the message, soap is the key ingredient here and through out the operation. But keep it on your work and not where it's going to cause harm to you, your tire or rim. Use as little muscle as possible. If you've ever changed any tires before, you should have no trouble at all. Just remember you're working with a "cast" rim and respect it, but don't be afraid of it. Do not put any extreme pressure on the lip of the rim edge at any one place at any one time. Do not replace the air valve in the valve stem until the bead has been seated. This will get the air out of the tire with out having to "monkey around" with the valve.
Now, the balancing. I went to a tire shop and bought some "stick-on" type wheel weights just for balancing. I used a piece of rod that fit through the center of the rim, and suspended the wheel between 2 milk crates. It doesn't matter what you use as long as the wheel is at a right angle to level ground. Spin the tire slowly, let it come to a stop. Note where it stops, spin it again. If it stops in the same spot again, the low point is the heavy spot. Mark the lowest point of the tire with a piece of chalk. Add a little weight to the wheel at the highest point and spin it again. What you're looking for is the tire to stop at random areas. After you have achieved this, mark the spot you have weighted ( mark the side wall on both sides). Remove the weights you've put on, add up the total and get 2 of the clamp type weights (the type that you "tap" onto the rim edge) that equal the total weight. Put the weights on each side of the rim where you marked it on the side walls. You may want to check your work one last time before you "tap" the weights onto the rim. I prefer to use half the amount of weight on both sides of the rim as opposed to all the weight on one side. This way if one weight does come off, the ride home won't be as bad and you'll know where to put the new weight if you do lose one and you won't have to go back through balancing it again.
When working with the rear wheel, be very respectful of the rear sprocket. If you slip, you will probably have to regrow some skin on you knuckles. I usually wear gloves, especially when working with the rear wheel. If any part of the balancing seems confusing, refer to the manual. Balancing is covered there.
You may opt to change the valve and valve stem. It is recommended by the book. I opt to inspect mine first before making a change. If I find nothing wrong with it, I won't change it. The choice is yours. If you do change yours you may want to find one that comes out and makes a 90 deg. turn to make it easier to air and check your tires later so your not working around the brake discs. This was discussed some time ago and I totally forgot about it or I would have looked into it.
Again, this is a fairly easy operation. It took me about 45 min. from parked to riding.
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