Sometimes you can only put off a job for so long and then it catches up with you. I finally ran out of weather and time excuses yesterday and had to replace the rear tire on the big scooter. While it wasn't exactly torturous, it was time consuming and I learned a few things along the way about the scoot. In removing the wheel from Galileo, my name for it since "Fashion" just doesn't cut it for me, I found it was in need of another muffler bolt. One of them had sheared in half and was just hanging on by a thread, literally. Also the tire, which had become quite bald, was truly worn out. In a quick examination after pulling the wheel off I discovered that the rubber had worn through and tire cord was beginning to show. The possibility that a sudden deflation could occur was beginning to get closer to reality.
Years ago I used to remove the tire from the wheel myself and installed a new one on the rim. Now I take the wheel and new tire to Klinger Powersports and have them do it on their tire machine. They can do the job in minutes in comparison to me taking over an hour and skinning my knuckles, not to mention scratching and gouging the wheel. It's worth the few dollars it costs and I'm not exhausted from fighting with tire installation and can face the job of mounting the wheel in a better physical and psychological state.
Once home from the shop I removed the broken bolt, put in a new one, discovered that the wheel wouldn't go on unless I backed off on the rear brake adjuster and replaced all the parts with none left over. Today I took Galileo on a brief shopping trip to make sure all systems are in working order. Thankfully they are and I can ride for another four or five thousand miles without worrying about the tire being worn. Next is an oil change but that's easy by comparison. This week it will get done.