fast and easy old motorcycle tire dismounting at home

I needed to dismount the tires on my XS650 project. The rims and hubs will be polished, and I'll re-lace with stainless spokes, but first to get the tires off. I don't want to cause any damage to the aluminum shouldered rims, so choose to cut the tires off. I do most all of my own tire mounting and dismounting, and for stiff old tires this is much faster than wrestling around with tire irons. You don't even break a sweat doing it this way.


First let the air out, and if it has a tube, remove the valve stem nut.


A reciprocating saw with a general purpose blade works best here. It cuts quickly through the bias ply tire.


The idea is to cut it as close to the rim as you can, but making sure not to hit it. Then cut the tube and rubber rim strip with a utility knife and push them inside the tire, out of the way.


On motorcycle tires I like to use a large C clamp to break the bead loose. I did it near the cut, but it doesn't matter where it is done.


Then lay it down and walk the rest of the bead off, just by stepping on it. Then flip the clamp so you can do the bead on the other side.


Now to cut the steel bead cord. I like to use an angle grinder with a regular grinding disc for this, but a cut-off wheel would work also. First get the bead of the side that you are cutting as much as possible in the center part of the rim to give you more slack, and use a tire iron to lift up the part that will be cut. Use a rim protector under the tire iron. I'm using one cut from the top of a plastic coffee can here. This is the only time a tire iron is used with this method and since you aren't trying to get the bead over the rim lip, almost no force is used.


Then cut away, keeping the tire iron between the grinder and rim. When you see sparks you are into the steel bead cord, shown here. Once you cut through the cord you'll see and feel it release. Then just a small amount of rubber to cut. For that a utility knife will work.


Then just pull the bead off by hand, starting at the cut. Next, pull the tube and rim strip out.


Usually the other side will just pull off by hand, like this one did. If not, cut the bead.


The wheel is ready to disassemble and polish, without even the slightest scratch.