Wheel balancing? Do you bother?

Just about to enter the 21st century and get some AM26 tyres. I always have tubeless tyres fitted by a garage and balanced but never did when I used to fit tubed tyres myself on my Commando and Ducati Hailwood. I used to ride those bikes fast. Is wheel balancing common on 'classic' bikes?

I do. They vibrate enough already. :mrgreen:

Absolutely, it makes a world of difference on a long ride. Jim

Hi Fred,
Funny you should ask as I was just thinking about this subject. During the 80s I worked at a small Suzuki shop, not only did we not have a balancer we didn't even have any sort of tire machine. We must have changed thousands of tires on top of a plastic milk crate, put them on the bike, and sent them out. As far as I know not one person ever complained or even mentioned having any sort of balance problem. During the 90s I worked at a Honda shop equipped with a SNAP-ON spin balancer probably 90% of the tires got balanced, but of those that did not, again not one complaint. Fast forward to the past two months during which I have been working part time in my semi retired status at a small private shop in Florida, guess what, no balance machine, changed a couple dozen tires, and surprize, not one complaint. I've reasoned it this way, perhaps bike tires being smaller than automotive tires it doesn't make as much difference, or maybe motorcycle tires are built to higher standards (unlikely, but). Anyway, while most if not all bike tires (front) exhibit scalloping pattern wear I have never seen a bike tire that had the type of wear out of balance auto tires show. For what its worth when I spring for a new set of Avons in the next month or so I'll be hauling them over to the Honda shop for a turn on the spin balancer.

GB

New bikes yes, old bikes never.

New bikes yes, old bikes never.

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And you never get vibration? Best tyres for balance without weights were BT45's and they mark the light spot with yellow paint. These didn't need much weight to balance but without they were not nice at 75+. Avons (AM26) are not good. They are heavy tyres and there is no paint mark to indicate light spot. Its relatively easy, if a bit time consuming, to sit the assy on an axle (with free running bearings) between posts (axle stands will do) and spin to find heavy spot. You can gradually add weight to opposite side until the wheel stops consistently in a random position. The trick is getting the starting weight right and I usually go with 15-20gr and fine tune from there depending how strongly the assy wants to rotate to the heavy spot.

Front wheel, always. Rear wheel, no.

I have personal experience as to how an off balance front wheel can affect the handling of a Commando. It's easy enough to do statically on the bike so there's no reason not to.

I'm trying Dyna Beads next time.
http://www.evolutioncycles.com/dynabeads.htm

I have personal experience as to how an off balance front wheel can affect the handling of a Commando. It's easy enough to do statically on the bike so there's no reason not to.

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Dave I'd sure like to know your personal experience so I too may avoid surprises.

I'm fascinated by the DynoBeads I see in the Harley catalogs for Peel where I get chromed split spoke weights from. i've tried to use lawnmower blade balance but impossible for me and bet anyone else too. Hope you can feel less with them.

I use dynobeads in my Jeep and they're great, but don't really work till 20 mph. A lot of Jeep guys also use airsoft BBs for the same thing. There's even an online calculator for how many aorsofts to use pre tire size.

interesting Capt.B. Some use liquid tire sealer or thinner to dynamically balance. There's even a mercury filled channel offered in Harley flywheel mod for same deal. Slow speed imbalance is not usually noticed so whats the complaint with slow poke jeeps about? For top speed long range, if that's even possible, less heat produced if tire stays rounder by better balance. I'll try to balance Peels as much as wheel bearings allow by friction vs gravity.

Keith1069 said:

New bikes yes, old bikes never.

Click to expand...

And you never get vibration? Best tyres for balance without weights were BT45's and they mark the light spot with yellow paint. These didn't need much weight to balance but without they were not nice at 75+. Avons (AM26) are not good. They are heavy tyres and there is no paint mark to indicate light spot. Its relatively easy, if a bit time consuming, to sit the assy on an axle (with free running bearings) between posts (axle stands will do) and spin to find heavy spot. You can gradually add weight to opposite side until the wheel stops consistently in a random position. The trick is getting the starting weight right and I usually go with 15-20gr and fine tune from there depending how strongly the assy wants to rotate to the heavy spot.

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Never felt the need to do this to any of my old bikes easy or not. I may feel vibration, but if I have nothing to compare it to then it really doesn't matter

Static wheel balancing, i.e. supporting the wheel on each side of the axle and making sure that it stops randomly after a number of short spin is so easy and quick, I would balance the wheel. The tire torque stay (and nut/bolt) is so much heavier than the valve, on the rear wheel that it will be way out of balance if you don't at least static balance.

On my last trip back from Texas I lost a weight on the front wheel. Watching the front forks flexing forward and back a quarter of an inch bothered me enough that I stopped at a NAPA and bought a small roll of solid core solder and wrapped the spoke where the weight had left a mark. Cleared up the mirrors and made the next 800 miles a lot more enjoyable. Jim

bmwbob said:

I'm trying Dyna Beads next time.
http://www.evolutioncycles.com/dynabeads.htm

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I thought I'd give them a try.
However even with the valve core out the beads tended to clog and wouldn't go in after a few seconds.
Tried a lot but it repeatedly clogged up and so I gave up.
Maybe there was something making them stick in mine so maybe yours will be without problem, but just a note of caution.

Bob

rx7171 said:

bmwbob said:

I'm trying Dyna Beads next time.
http://www.evolutioncycles.com/dynabeads.htm

Click to expand...

I thought I'd give them a try.
However even with the valve core out the beads tended to clog and wouldn't go in after a few seconds.
Tried a lot but it repeatedly clogged up and so I gave up.
Maybe there was something making them stick in mine so maybe yours will be without problem, but just a note of caution.

Bob

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Thought about that, but I see many applications on the same size valve stem.

Thanks for all the replies but I'm not goimg to bother. I now remember that i never balanced the Astraltes on my TZ350 when I raced either.... :mrgreen:

I tried DynaBeads in my R80RT a couple of years ago. I put in one ounce (recommended) in the front tire and they were good to about 70 mph. Over 70 the front wheel started bouncing a lot. I e-mailed the company and they said airheads needed 2 ounces. I added another ounce and that was good to about 80. Over 80 it would nearly throw you out. I ended up taking that tube out and reused it on the rear on the MKIII. At about 45 the rear tire was bouncing noticeably and it was nearly impossible to go faster. I could see the rear wheel bouncing up and down from the shadow. I did have the security bolt on the rear wheel and it always took a fair bit of weight to statically balance it. I think the DynaBeads may be OK if the balance is really close to being with, but not if it requires much weight. Overall I've found that the Avon RoadRiders that a lot of us use don't require much, if any, balancing if the wheel is pretty good to begin with.