Dealt to

Finally, after 11,500km, the rear tyre on the Tiger was toast.  The original (subject to a do not ride recall that I was unaware of until I got the bike serviced!) has lasted longer than any rear tyre that I've had in a long time.  Maybe it was actually a good tyre (apart from that whole recall thing) or maybe it's the smoothness of the triple?  Anyway, I was pretty happy but I'd already bought an Anakee Road to pair up with the front which I replaced at around 9k.

On with the job.  The first step was to remove the rear wheel and to do this I needed to work out how to do it.  I was looking at the rear end and thinking that I'd have to remove the hugger thingee but after closer examination this looked like a major job with one bolt completely inaccessible (removing the wheel would make it easy).  So it was off to the interweb and the first video I stumbled on was gold.

So, back to the shed I went.  And promptly discovered I needed a new 36mm, 12 point socket...Off to town I went.  I then found out exactly how many tools I needed - a lot!  It might not be the hardest job in the world but you certainly use a few of ya tools just to get a wheel off.

Missing is the hex tool for the RHS of the axle - and the actual tyre changing stuff...

Like I said, it was actually not that hard (although some of the bolts were insanely tight) and everything goes together really well - I quite like the way bracket for the brake caliper locks into that other triangular piece and of course being a shaftee, the wheel will sit there nicely while you line everything up properly before replacing the axle - nice!

Swapping the tyres was pretty easy too.  One benefit of "road bike" tyres are that they don't have that massively stiff sidewall that the adventure tyres have and are a lot easier to both remove and fit.

The job probably took this amateur just under an hour (not counting my trip into town) and pretty painless.  No to scrub that sucker in and see how long it takes to wear out...