Home Tyre Changing.. Rabaconda Review

[Steve Bass]

For those that like to, have to or want to change your own (road) bike tyres, I can report to you that the Rabaconda tyre changer is a pretty nifty piece of kit.
Facing a load of tyre changes I really wasn't looking forward to wrestling with tyre irons and such so a little bit of man maths and tool want found a Rabaconda street kit arriving at my door.
So, after a few moments setting up and seeing where the "duck head" needed to go, I managed to fit a set of slicks and dismount another old pair in about 15mins.
If you have easy access to a friendly tyre changing facility then it's probably not worth it but if like me, you're miles away from a company that can or will change tyres, especially if you didn't buy the tyres from the same establishment, it's probably not a bad investment. Not cheap but it's quicker, easier and prevents damage to rims better than the normal tools.
Effectiveness 8/10
Price 4/10

But perhaps by the fact it made changing the tyres so easy that convenience alone justifies the price...

Pics might help....

Edited by Steve Bass on Saturday 14th September 21:27

[ssray]

Thanks, looking at tyre changing stuff
It's £25 minimum round here, but then I haven't changed a tyre for 12 months.....man maths incoming

[KTMsm]

My issue is that I bought a pneumatic car tyre machine for less than a used rabaconda, let alone a new one

If it was half the price, it would still be overpriced IMO

I bought a £45 chinese machine to help my get tyres changed with mousses

The more I do the faster I get and I want to be able to do them when needed at the side of the trail

[Steve Bass]

KTMsm said:

My issue is that I bought a pneumatic car tyre machine for less than a used rabaconda, let alone a new one

If it was half the price, it would still be overpriced IMO

I bought a £45 chinese machine to help my get tyres changed with mousses

The more I do the faster I get and I want to be able to do them when needed at the side of the trail

Agree with the maths however a pneumatic machine is difficult to take to the track ......
And offroad tyres are fairly straightforward compared to road/track rims ...
Don't disagree that it's overpriced but for the convenience and packs away easily are pretty compelling arguments.

[KTMsm]

Steve Bass said:

And offroad tyres are fairly straightforward compared to road/track rims ...

Are they ?

Can't say I've noticed a difference

If you can make the man maths work - fair enough

[spoodler]

Was interested to see what you'd bought and how it worked, as I fit all our tyres. That looks like a nice piece of kit, but at that price I'll carry on the old fashioned way... Usually the only problem I have is with breaking the bead, and that is generally only with the reinforced sidewalls on stuff like Harleys.
Of course, you could always pop over and fit the Tourances for me, just to demonstrate how good it is... Cheers.

[Steve Bass]

KTMsm said:

Steve Bass said:

And offroad tyres are fairly straightforward compared to road/track rims ...

Are they ?

Can't say I've noticed a difference

If you can make the man maths work - fair enough

Never said I could make the man maths work
You have to factor in the new tool exponent and the "oooh shiny st" constant and even then it's a failed equation.

Jokes aside, I was looking at the standard pneumatic machines but I'm tight for space in the workshop and being able to take it to the track kinda made the equation nearly balance out.... nearly...

[Stevemtb]

Impressive bit of kit, but what about balancing them?

[Krikkit]

Steve Bass said:

Jokes aside, I was looking at the standard pneumatic machines but I'm tight for space in the workshop and being able to take it to the track kinda made the equation nearly balance out.... nearly...

It doesn't look much slower than a pneumatic kit, but a tiny fraction of the space required. Seems like a no-brainer to me, looks like a great bit of kit.

[ssray]

Stevemtb said:

Impressive bit of kit, but what about balancing them?

I do mine on the bike, loosely bolted on and calipers removed

[KTMsm]

Stevemtb said:

Impressive bit of kit, but what about balancing them?

Bit of pipe on 2 axle stands

It doesn't need to be complicated

[trickywoo]

Krikkit said:

It doesn't look much slower than a pneumatic kit, but a tiny fraction of the space required. Seems like a no-brainer to me, looks like a great bit of kit.

It’s way over priced. You can get virtually the same thing without the ratchet for a 1/4 the price.

[3DP]

Thanks for the reply on the pic a day thread Steve. It looks a great product. I had the constands walk around one before and it was sweat, swearing and rim damage all the way. These are pricey for what they are but I'm being charged £45 a pair for fitting loose tyres now without balancing. I'll give it some thought....

For those looking at these, you also really need a compressor to ensure you can get the tyres to pop onto beads and a static balancer (cheap) for wheel balancing.

[KTMsm]

3DP said:

For those looking at these, you also really need a compressor to ensure you can get the tyres to pop onto beads

Or a can of deodorant

[Krikkit]

trickywoo said:

Krikkit said:

It doesn't look much slower than a pneumatic kit, but a tiny fraction of the space required. Seems like a no-brainer to me, looks like a great bit of kit.

It’s way over priced. You can get virtually the same thing without the ratchet for a 1/4 the price.

Link? The cheap ones look very jank

[Bob_Defly]

Krikkit said:

trickywoo said:

Krikkit said:

It doesn't look much slower than a pneumatic kit, but a tiny fraction of the space required. Seems like a no-brainer to me, looks like a great bit of kit.

It’s way over priced. You can get virtually the same thing without the ratchet for a 1/4 the price.

Link? The cheap ones look very jank

Same?