The Ultimate Guide to Replacing Dirt Bike Tyres

Motocross is an expensive hobby and sport. Aside from the cost of the bike itself, you’d also have to consider maintenance costs. Unlike with cars, the maintenance with dirt bikes occurs typically after every ride, to ensure your bike is in its best mechanical condition.

Most dirt bike owners have mastered the art of maintaining their dirt bikes, such as oil changes, air filters and even tyre replacements. If you don’t want to break the bank, learning a few of the maintenance procedures on your dirt bike will help you save some money. One of them is changing the tyres. Besides the savings, it is a great skill to have when you have a flat tyre or need to do a tyre change over the weekend.

Pro-tip: You can leave your tyres under the sun for an hour or two to make your tyres more pliable and easier to work with.

Unsure whether your tyres need replacing? We wrote about the signs when your tyres need a replacement to help you out. If your tyres fall under any of those descriptions, it’s time to replace them! And here’s how you can start:

Step one: Gather the essential tools

Ensure that you have all the essential tools you need before you start. Keep them close by, easy to reach. You’ll need:

Work gloves
Bead buddy
Lift Stands / Ramps
Rim protectors (if you don’t want to scratch your rims)
Tyre levers
Lube ( soapy water or a spray lubricant will help the tyre slip over the rim)

Step two: Letting air out of the tyre

Pro-tip: Save yourself from the potential lower back and knee pain by using a lift stand.

Start by deflating the tyre, then removing the valve core and rim lock. The next thing you’d want to do is to break the bead from the rim by pressing on 180 degrees away from the rim lock with your body weight. After that, you can finally work your way around with your tyre iron and lever it away from the rim.

Once you’re done on one side, you can flip it over and do the other side. When you have released the bead from both sides, the tyre will come off easily.

Step three: Lubing up the bead

To get the tyre off the rim, you’re going to need to lube up the bead generously. Applying lube when removing the tyre from the rim helps slide it off, making it easier for you to put your tyre levers in there to grab the bead and work it up over the rim.

Step four: Removing the tyre from the rim

After lubing up the bead of the tyre, you can now remove your tyre from the rim. Depending on your preference, you can use two-three tyre levers and insert them in between the tyre and rim.

Pro-tip: When inserting your tyre levers, ensure that they’re at least 5 inches (12.7 cm) away from each other.

This is the part that most people find difficult. You’re going to need a lot of patience and perseverance on this step. Take your precious time and if you think you’ve exhausted yourself, take a break.

Hold on to the centre lvers and start applying pressure. As you do this, push down on the sidewall of the tyre and make sure you get as much of the tyre’s bead into the drop centre. As you’re pushing it more, you’ll notice that it’s going to start to suck as much of the tyre’s bead into the drop centre. If you’re having trouble flipping the tyre levers, double-check if you have the tyre into the drop centre as much as possible and start working it over.

Now it’s time to flip it over and do the exact same thing on the other side. The other side will be much easier to remove, don’t worry — so you can just use two levers instead.

After getting both sides of the bead worked over the rim, you can now stand the tyre up with the valve stem down towards the bottom area of the tyre. Start pushing down the rim and start peeling the tyre off the rim.

Step five: Inserting the tube inside the tyre

Before anything else, ensure that your tyre aligns with the direction of rotation on your wheel. Once it’s done, generously apply lube inside the diameter of your tyre.

When preparing to get the tube inside the tyre, make sure you’ve properly installed the valve and inflated the tube with just enough air in it, so it can hold its shape and avoid a pinch flat.

Once the tube is in place, you can start the process of getting the tyre into the rim. Before you begin, don’t forget to generously lubricate both sides of the bead.

Step six: Installing the tyre

To hasten the installation, look for the hole that is located in the rim that’s going to receive the valve stem from the tube. What we usually do is, pull the tube up a little to help us get started into the rim after locating the hole.

Once it’s in, grab your valve stem nut and slightly thread it on the valve stem, so you can begin to work on installing the tyre onto the rim.

On this step, slowly work your way around the rim lock using a curved tyre lever to make the installation easier. Do this step on the other side as well, and make sure to be careful and to take your time, so you don’t accidentally pinch the tube.

Step seven: Inflating the tyre

Once everything’s in place, you can now start to inflate your tyre. Before you do, make sure you check the sidewall of your tyre to get a reference of the maximum pressure you’ll need and do not exceed it.

After inflating the tyre, you’re going to want to double-check the bead to ensure that they’re uniform on both sides of the tyre. If they are, you can proceed with setting your rim lock tight and installing your valve stem caps.

And you're done. Hopefully without pinching your tube and no scratches on your rim.