Tire onto rim - should I attempt?

How difficult is it to put a Michelin Pilot rear tire onto its rim? I can get someone to do it for $50 but that is steep.

I've replaced bicycle tubes many times. Is it the same level of difficulty? How important is it to balance? I don't go over 80-90mph very often.

Also, Michelin Pilot is great, but I put a lot of miles on my beautiful 2006 FZ1, commuting. Can you recommend a harder formula touring tire to get, that lasts longer?
 
Well, I gave it a try. I was able to get the old tire off the rim, but that was so difficult that I decided get the new tire put on professionally. I do think that my tire irons were too short. I was also surprised that motorcycle tires are not like bicycle tires since motorcycle tires have a steel cable circling the lip/edge of the tire, making stretching it a herculean task.

Got a lot of exercise; it was a good workout, tho' !
 
Letting the tires sit in the sun and get warmed up really helps too. The 1st side you can just push on by hand. Also the opposite side needs to be in the center groove in the inside of the rim. This gives you more "slack" when pulling it over. Once you get some experience, it gets easier.
 
Doing tires manually can sometimes be tough, but very convenient and rewarding. As the previous posters mentioned, the middle section of the rim is a depression and making sure that the bead isn't actually on the bead and in that depression will ensure you have enough bead slack to get the upper end down over. If the bead of the tire is on the seat of the rim before you get the bead of the tire over the rim it will tension up and be impossible / cause damage to the bead of the tire. Longer tire irons (if you're using short ones) are easier. Having a bottle brush esp. with a lil sponge on it and some dish-soapy water to rub on the bead for lube also can really help. I've always had good luck inflating bike tires, car tires can work well but larger ones or large sidewall flexible ones I've had to strap around to the rim or ignite starting fluid in them to seat. Again as mentioned before after doing it a couple times and getting the hang of it it becomes less challenging / frustrating once you know the details of the process. I personally love doing it myself, changing a tire out in about an hour without paying, having to take them anywhere and wait etc. is awesome! I have been not bothering with balance for awhile, I notice a lil vibration but nothing major. You can buy a gravity balancer for bike tires for under $40 (at least when I bought mine) and that's pretty easy too. Then to trust your swingarm notching (I've heard this can be unreliable) for rear wheel alignment or use a caliper to measure both sides for better precision.
 
Don't know what tire you ended up with, but I highly recommend Michelin Pilot Road Series.
One thing to be aware of is that you don't want to let get a tire that is so touring oriented that you can't go through it in three or four years. Tires age and rubber gets hard. If you've ever put on a new set of tires you should have noticed the change and how the bike feels with fresh rubber.
 
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