Bandit Alley
GENERAL MOTORCYCLE FORUMS => GENERAL MECHANICAL & TECHNICAL => Topic started by: 03banditrdr on May 17, 2007, 02:38:58 PM
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I am trying a balancing technique I found on the internet. However I am getting told by alot of bike riders around where I live they dont balance their tires. Just wanting to get a more general feel.
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Yes
I can't see having an extra wobble being a pleasant ride,..
the dirt tires we don't bother with for obvious reasons, but why wouldn't you balance a street tire?
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The last set I had istalled, the guy dynamically balanced then on a special machine. After installing the rear, he was unhappy with the weight required, took the rear off, moved it 180 deg and rebalanced with less than 1/3 of the origional weight.
After watching that, I will try to get mine dynamically balanced from now on. I used to static balance new tire installs on a static machine, but I sure liked the dynamic balancer. No shop in Cranbrook has one however.
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I use a Marc Parnes set-up... very easy and accurate. Trouble is I get too precise and often break the bead to rotate the tire 2 or 3 times to use as little weight as possible.
Nice to know it's done right.
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For a street bike, yes.
Never have bothered with dirt bikes though.
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Since I have my tire mounted by the shop, they balance them with the lead weights, same as on a car.
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never heard of riders not balancing street tires.
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YES!
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I balanced the rim 1st then mount the tire with the dot (light side)on the tire with the valve stem. That gets it pretty close. I use centrifical force. not sure what its called,but its used for lacing wheels. Simple but accurate.
Dan
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Where I get my tyres done you've got no choice, they just do it.
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i don't balance mine...
just fit them myself and drive with it. works without problems, i don't have any wobbles or instabilities.
just for info: when someones races (on track) and the wheels are balanced beforehand, they will pick up and lose so much rubber that the wheels arent balanced anymore after just a few rounds.
they keep on racing :wink:
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I do all my tire mounting myself. I have never balanced a rear tire, and only a couple of times have I balanced a front tire. If I was doing a lot of touring, I might want them balanced.
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I did vote yes, but I do fit my own these days and the brand I use very very often does not need any weights, in fact since fitting my own and using this brand of tyre I have not needed to use weights. And the proof is in the pudding, no nasty wobbles, and great life life. :motorsmile:
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And what brand is that, Mick?
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And what brand is that, Mick?
Not telling Red :grin: , if everybody starts using them, the company will not have to stay competitive in price :duh:
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I have 2 sets of rims for my Bandit. The original set,the rims are prety close to being in balance,just took a couple of small weights. The other rims I purchased, I have like 7or8 wieghts on one side of the back rim . Just shows,there not all created equal.
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And what brand is that, Mick?
Not telling Red :grin: , if everybody starts using them, the company will not have to stay competitive in price :duh:
Just to save everyone having to look through the Tyres Forum - Mick uses shinko's - that'll teach him for trying to be sneaky :stickpoke:
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Just to save everyone having to look through the Tyres Forum - Mick uses shinko's - that'll teach him for trying to be sneaky :stickpoke:
Now your've gone and done it, I can see the price rising as I type :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz:
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maybe the tires will sell more, they will produce more and be even cheaper then now :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke:
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maybe the tires will sell more, they will produce more and be even cheaper then now :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke: :lol: :stickpoke:
Pity that statement does not ring true for Dunlop, Metzeler, Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, the more popular their product becomes, more profits are sucked from them, maybe not from just the maker but the buck stops at the consumer. Shall I go on, oh yes R&D cost so efen much, must be these guys pulled a rabbit out of the hat and got it right 1st time round. :wink: I remember when Bridgestone first released bike tyres here in Oz, great prices, yeah, great, but for how long.
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You should always balance your tires. If I remember correctly, a 1/4 ounce out statioinary is like about 4 lbs at speed.
Also if you really want to make sure you handling is the best it can be, you want your tires balanced. I use a static balancer because it is better and will get your tires to closer balance than a dynamic one will.
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I brought my wheels in to get new tires installed/balanced, and when I got them back, they only balanced my front tire. The rear had no weights on it. Is it possible that its perfectly balanced? So far, I havent noticed any vibrations....so I guess it is.
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sorry to hijack the thread a bit but check your PM gooseman
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I brought my wheels in to get new tires installed/balanced, and when I got them back, they only balanced my front tire. The rear had no weights on it. Is it possible that its perfectly balanced? So far, I havent noticed any vibrations....so I guess it is.
Hey Gooseman,
Yes some tires that are mounted can be balanced so that weights are not needed
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Sometimes it comes down to the intelligence of the person balancing too. If you find that there's a lot of weight going onto the tire, you can sometimes rotate the tire on the rim and use -way- less weight, and in the case of some tires ( usually better ones) no weight at all. :)
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The stock tires on my bike were balanced by the dealer.
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The last set I had istalled, the guy dynamically balanced then on a special machine. After installing the rear, he was unhappy with the weight required, took the rear off, moved it 180 deg and rebalanced with less than 1/3 of the origional weight.
After watching that, I will try to get mine dynamically balanced from now on. I used to static balance new tire installs on a static machine, but I sure liked the dynamic balancer. No shop in Cranbrook has one however.
Hey pmackie,
I wanted to let you know that a static balance will do a better job of balancing a wheel with a tire than a dynamic will. The only advantage of a dynamic balancer is that they are quicker at there so called balance.
I balanced a wheel from a Yamaha one time and no matter what I did turning the tire on the rim, it was taking 4 ounces to balance the tire to a point that no matter where I turn the wheel it was balanced. Believing this was wrong, I took it to a friend with a dynamic balancer and had him check it. Well he said it was close, but then he took off the weight and rebalanced it and according to the dynamic balancer, it only took 1.75 oz's.
When I got home, I put the tire back on my static balancer and sure enough, it was heavy on one side again. So I rebalanced it and left it.
Now to let you know (hope I am remembering correctly), 1 oz of weight spinning at 70MPH has the weight 13lb's. So me personally, I will stick with a static balancer.
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Hmmm... I'm going to have to respectfully disagree, Bill.
Static balance equals out gravitational forces.
Dynamic balance equals out inertial forces.
I care more about the balance of my wheels when they're spinning versus when they're sitting still.
Way back when I was in high school auto shop (yes, we had cars back then), we were taught static balance was the least reliable (better than nothing though) and dynamic was the way to go. Nowadays they've come out with dynamic load balancing (for the auto world anyway) where they put a load on the tire that simulates what the tire/wheel assy will see in real life, and this is reported to be even more accurate.
Just as in engine balancing, dynamic balance is better than static. Any engine builder with a good scale can do a static balance, but it takes specialized equipment to do a dynamic one.
I guarantee you this engine - with the equivalent of 145,000 hp - is dynamically balanced. :bandit:
(http://www.parisairshow-2003.com/fr/zoom/13/Man_near_GE90.jpg)
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I mount and balance my own tires using a NoMar tirechanger and gravity balancer. Both work great. :bigok:
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They need to come out with a gizmo you stick on your rim while on the center stand so you can do your own dynamic balance. Better yet forget about tire pressure monitors on bikes, real time wheel balance would almost do both jobs.