I decided it was time for me to change out the original Bridgestone tires that came with the Goldwing Bagger. These set of wheels made it to 14,466 miles and still had some rubber left. The rear tire still had the full wear bar intact and had not worn down. Also, one note. I didn’t not put in all the miles. I purchased the sled with 4,430 miles, 10,036 miles are mine. That’s approximately 6 months of riding.
The procedure for removing the rear wheel based on my current shop situation called for servicing on the ground using the center stand and floor jack (The Fatboy was on the table lift).
If this is the first time removing the wheel and the factory torque is still being applied the lug nuts are a bitch to get off. I tried both my MAC air and Harbor Freight impact wrenches and they would not budge the lug nut on bit.
I had to use a 2 foot half-inch breaker bar with the 19mm socket on a 5” extension. This method worked great, each of the nuts broke free easily. This also meant I had to have the sled on the ground with the rear wheel making contact on the ground.
The removal of the rear center fairing and stabilizer cross bar is necessary to roll out the wheel. There is also an inner exhaust shield that needs to removed to get the final clearance necessary for the tire removal.
Since the original Bridgestone tires lasted so long I decided to stick with the same brand and model. The Exedra G852 (rear) and the G853 (front) tires had an active rebate offering at the time of my purchase.
This is the wear on the rear and front tires. This is probably the earliest I have changed out a tire. My normal method of operation is to take it down to the Steel bands below the rubber.
The rear tire.
Removal the front tires is easier to do than the rear. Once again the center stand was used, I also used a regular floor jack with a piece of 2×6 piece of wood to raise the front of the bike up just enough for me to drop the front tire and pull it out.
