In my defense, the labor to change my tires was going to be $97 for the rear, and $65 for the front, minimum 1.5 week lead-time. I found some places that would mount and balance the tire (off the bike) for $30, and Cycle Gear would balance the tire for free if I did everything else..

So, gotta get the wheel off the bike... easy, right? How the bloody effing hell?! Hit the forums, and they all say I need a bike lift. Plenty of instructions for how to make one, yadda-yadda. After seeing how much of a PITA making one would be though, I simply went to Harbor Freight and bought one of these guys.

So I'm sitting there looking at the model while the guy digs mine out the back, and I see this guy sitting there with one of these guys mounted on top... and I get to thinking... "Hey, I'm already $100 in... what the eff, right? Might as well mount it myself and save the $30 per tire mounting fee."

So... now I'm the proud owner of a motorcycle jack and tire change station. Once my wife finds out, I'll also be on the endangered species list.

On the upside, Cycle Gear is having a 20% sale on Dunlop and Metzeler's next Saturday, and they let me buy the tire now and said to bring back the receipt on the 15th and they'd refund me the 20%! Not too bad. I decided to go with the Metzeler's this time and see what I think.

Anyway, if anyone ever needs to jack up the bike and/or change a tire, feel free to benefit from my bad spending habits.