Holy fuck, that was rough. The guides and the videos show the uppers and lowers pulling apart easily. I had to clamp the lowers in the vice and use the uppers as a slide hammer and repeat the bang bang bang process for 5-10 minutes, with the seal moving almost imperceptibly as it walked it's way out.
Putting the upper bushing back in took a trick, it is a split ring, and is expanded too big to fit in the recess unless you compress it. I found that I could take some brake bleeding hose and cut off about 4" of it, and hammer it in with a punch between the bushing and the lowers. This worked to compress the bushing, and I could then place the washer over it and hammer it down about halfway, and then pulled the washer and hose out and then drive it home.
Tomorrow I get to get back at it and tackle changing the rear tire.
Haven't balanced them. They are Michelins, which claim to not need balancing, or at least don't have a heavy spot. I had planned to rig up a basic rig, I do have a pack of stick on weights, but ran out of time and had to get the bike back together. If I notice any weirdness after doing the rear tomorrow I'll need to figure something out. There are no shops available locally who can balance them.
Oh I would definitely still balance them. There's weights on your wheel already. Are they there because the last tire was out of balance, or the wheel itself? No way to know. It's worth the time and cost of building a simple stand out of 2x4's. I've had good luck with the balancing sealants like Ride-On once it's pretty close. And it helps with small punctures.
Is that the Road 5? I have the Road 4's on my Z1000 and have loved them, best tire I've ran so far. Almost replacement time, so it's probably getting the 6's for next spring.
I really do want to balance them, just didn't have an easy way today. If there was a shop available to mount and balance, I'd absolutely have taken it there. The weights are opposite the valve stem, so I'm hoping that I get lucky, we'll see.
Yeah, putting on the Road 5s, Revzilla had them for a good bit less than the Road 6.
Try dyna beads or any other brand dynamic balance beads. You pour them into the tire through the valve stem and that's it. When the wheel is turning they naturally move around to the light spot and balance the wheel. I've used them in many bikes and they work great until you get to track day speed (120+ mph).
I thought about this, seems to be some mixed opinions about using them online.