Libby Gets a New Tire

I fired up Libby one hot, dark morning (90 plus in Vegas) and saw the 'low tire' light. Riding off anyway, she felt squishy. I stopped and saw a very low back tire. Drat! It's a very new, very low back tire. I parked her and took the truck.
That night, I filled the tire while stupidly hoping it somehow healed itself. Nope.The next morning an inspection revealed a screw in the tread. Yep, I got screwed.

It must be easy to change a Gold Wing tire, right? I heard they were engineered similar to racing bike wheels, where the wheel bolts on from one side. Simple.
Putting her up on the center stand, I removed the rear fender, the trailer hitch, and the wheel. Huh. It doesn't come out the back. Drat again.
Good old YouTube. I searched 'change rear Gold Wing tire' and got a detailed video, where a guy laid the bike over and pulled the wheel out the bottom. I checked the time on the vid... three minutes, thirty six seconds. Nice and quick. That's installing it too!
To prevent scratches- although why I would care, she's been down enough times- I set some moving blankets down. I walked her onto her side like I learned from the video. Then I grabbed the bottom side, lifted it and slid the center stand under her. I took off the five lug nuts that I wisely left loose before tipping her over.

Off to the tire shop. Can they patch it? It's just slow leak. Oh, nonono! Not in America, the Land of Litigation! New tire. It's just a teeny weeny pinhole! It lost ten pounds in fourteen hours! Sorry. $359, free mounting. I picked myself up off the floor and squeaked, "Okay." Waited a bit and out he came with a brand new tire to replace the brand almost new tire.

Back home I mounted it, unjacked the center stand, and back-walked her upright. Stood back and admired my work. An hour and forty-five minutes. Actually two days.A bit slower than the video.
I checked fluid levels- she lost none- and fired her up.She started like nothing untoward had happened to her. Not a scratch, either. At least no new ones.
But now I know how to do change a rear Gold Wing tire.
$359. Ridiculous.

That's how a new tire looks on Libby. No one stops to look and says, "Hey, new tire. Nice."