cycle hill vs no mar, should I change

Right now I have the cycle hill basic changer with a harbor freight balancer. The combo works good if I have an extra set of hands. I found a no mar locally for sale with a no mar balancer for $275. I didnt know if it was worth it to buy the no mar and try to sell my cycle hill to recoup a little of the money.

I have a no mar classic, I change tires solo. $275 is a screaming deal. I paid $400 with a ton of accessories including spare parts off of craigslist.

It's already paid for as far as I am concerned. Whether or not it's a good deal, that's entirely up to you. If you have a need to do solo tire changes it may be worth it.

I hope you ran out and purchased the No-Mar already before someone beat you to it. It is definitely a great deal. I would have loved to find a smoking deal like that before I purchased my No-Mar Classic Ultimate package. The fact that you will not need an extra set of hands and the upgrade in bead breaker is enough to seal the deal. You also get the upgrade to the cam and dog blocks and the supported center rod. No-Mar targets the Cycle Hill toward dirt bike, ATV and vintage style wheels where the No-Mar is targeted toward Sport & Sport touring tires along with heavier job like ADV, cruiser, gold wing, and dirt bike tires with the addition of the Posi-clamps.

I paid $1000 for the NoMar Classic Ultimate several years ago. You should run,not walk, to go get it.

mikerider said:

You should run,not walk, to go get it.

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And when you sell your old tire changer, you will be singing, "It's good to be me".

I have a cycle hill and change tires solo also. Sometimes it is a bitch though. Let the tire sit in the sun before changing. That might help.

Dave

That is a great price. But the NoMar will not really make it any easier to change tires by yourself. What you want is to get one of the Yellow Things from NoMar. That is what makes solo changing a breeze. In addition to the Yellow Thing, I just spoon the rear tires on now. I find that a lot easier than trying to use the mount bar. The demount end of the bar works on both ends, but I can only get the mounting end to work well on the front tires. YMMV

I have a NoMar that I've had for years. The yellow thingy sure helps-I can do solo except Bridgestones. We are a bike extented family and change a lot of tires. We have stopped doing Bridgestones-they are an SOB. Michelin go on like 'mudder'. Have no experience with Cycle Hill.

Get the NoMar

Hopefully, we haven't heard back from the OP because he is hauling his new changer home!

I can't get it till Saturday but told him I would get it then. Its about an hour away

Great deal on the NoMar. I have the Cycle Hill. Got it at the bike show with all the accessories and the overhead arm in a special deal at the show. I routinely change tires solo. The main advantage I see with the NoMar is the way you lock the wheel in place. The Cycle Hill can take some effort the get the wheel locked down an not spinning.

I would go for the NoMar and sell the Cycle Hill.

The Cycle Hill can take some effort the get the wheel locked down an not spinning.

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Instead of over tightening the rim locks, which are some sort of delrin type plastic to protect the rims, try looping a short Tie down strap around one of the wheel's spokes and one of the changer arms. Keeps the wheel from spinning and you don't have to crank the clamps down so hard.

Fred W said:

That is a great price. But the NoMar will not really make it any easier to change tires by yourself. What you want is to get one of the Yellow Things from NoMar. That is what makes solo changing a breeze. In addition to the Yellow Thing, I just spoon the rear tires on now. I find that a lot easier than trying to use the mount bar. The demount end of the bar works on both ends, but I can only get the mounting end to work well on the front tires. YMMV

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The Yellow Thing is great! Back when I had a Goldwing I did the rears by myself using a Yellow Thing and Mojolever. Compared to those, all my FJR tires have been no big deal.

Fred W said:

The Cycle Hill can take some effort the get the wheel locked down an not spinning.

Click to expand...

Instead of over tightening the rim locks, which are some sort of delrin type plastic to protect the rims, try looping a short Tie down strap around one of the wheel's spokes and one of the changer arms. Keeps the wheel from spinning and you don't have to crank the clamps down so hard.

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Agree again I just use a cinching strap that I've cut shorter for convenience. I just tighten the clamps enough to keep the wheel from coming out.

Let me tell yall what happened. I set up a time to get it today at 5. Figured I better go ahead and get it. Guy said he gets off work at 5 so I told him i would be sitting in his driveway then. He said great. I text him this morning to let him know i will be leaving at 4 since its an hour drive. I go to the bank, get the cash, start driving to Tallahassee. I send him a text to let him know I was on the way. He text back and said I sold it at lunch. So I turn around after heading south for 15 mins. I text him back a little piece of my mind which of course he doesn't respond. Another cl deal I got screwed on....

You gotta love it. I've been fucked both ways on Craig's List deals. I had the same scenario as you. As a favor to my brother in law, I was supposed to drive 250 miles to pick up a dog. I loaded up the kennel for the four hour drive to get this stupid dog for a brother in law in California, I called before departure with a GPS estimated arrival time and about two hours into the trip my brother in law calls and says they sold the dog while we were en route. When I called the guy asking him WTF his answer was "cash is King and I had it in front of me."

I've also recently been screwed a couple more times by people that asked me to hold an item until later and never showed at the agreed upon time. I will still honor my word.

Fred W said:

The Cycle Hill can take some effort the get the wheel locked down an not spinning.

Click to expand...

Instead of over tightening the rim locks, which are some sort of delrin type plastic to protect the rims, try looping a short Tie down strap around one of the wheel's spokes and one of the changer arms. Keeps the wheel from spinning and you don't have to crank the clamps down so hard.

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Man, embarrassed I didn't think of that! I will definitely use a strap for the next change. Thanks.

I'm a little surprised that a restraining strap of some type isn't built into the changer. It wouldn't take much to attach one on there.

Or a machined clamp on post. Thanks for the idea.

Dave

Fred W said:

I'm a little surprised that a restraining strap of some type isn't built into the changer. It wouldn't take much to attach one on there.

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I just make sure one of the spokes on the wheel is lined up with one of the arms on the stand and run a strap around them. I don't even tighten the strap that much. If the wheel slips a bit it tightens the strap nicely.

And nothing to be embarrassed about FJR Flyer. I didn't "think of it" either 'til someone suggested it on a forum I'm on.