Front Tire Headaches

[mojo]

Good Golly Miss Molly. I never realized what a pain in the butt changing out the front tire was going to be. The tire was the original that came with my 2002 Nad ( date coded 2001 ) and it has seen its better days so I decided to swap it out.

First lesson, never order tires off E-Bay without checking with the vendor on the date code. I nearly bought a brand new Michelin Commander that had a date code of 2003. Thankfully I messaged the guy before bidding on it. Ended up buying one from Ron Ayers for $ 108 ( date code 2007 ).

Then came the chore of getting the front axle off. That thing was frozen inside the bushings. It took a 2 lb hammer and a lot of persuasion to get it to budge, but it finally came off. Then came the dealer quagmire. They refused to change the tire for me because I didn't buy it from them. ( Liability issue they said ). No worries so I went to an independent Harley shop and he did the job for me for
$ 20. Great deal I thought.

I went ahead and changed out the brakes ( new EBC's all the way around ) and finally got the tire re-installed. Thankfully I do not have to go through this again for a while. What a PITA it was with that axle.

I will give a report back on the Michelin once I have had a chance to ride on it. I currently have a Michelin Commander on the rear and love the tire. Great wear so far and great ride / handling.

Chris