Great tips, ny biker. I had heard about squeezing the tire to unseat it from the rim but I forgot to do it today. Oh well, it still came off relatively easily. I also knew about lining up the valve stem with the tire label but I thought that rule was more stylistic than functional. You're the only person to point out a good purpose for this.

One thing that I learned was to check the direction of the tread if you're going to take the tire completely off the rim. I had to study the tread on the rear tire, which is different from the front, to make an educated guess about which direction to put the tire back on. Hubby came home and confirmed that I had done it correctly. He was impressed that I had done the whole thing by myself.

I'm glad that my first experience was on the front tire. I'll feel much more confident someday when I decide to tackle the rear.