Mounting tires, to clarify the 'dots'

[Guest]

I just got the rear tire on the bike, using the packing strap method, man is that easy, should have done that with the front

So one tire had a yellow spot and the other a red spot, in searching for a difinitive answer as to where to mount them I found this.

http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com...0ask%20doc.pdf

explains it so even a simpleton like me gets it.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

"Radial force variation first harmonic maximum"? Wow. I'm glad I ride a 30 year old bike.

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[salty_monk]

I don't think our wheels count as they are not machined. The valve stem is often not the heavy part on our wheels....

I think some people balance & mark the wheel first which makes sense...

[Billyboy]

I don't think our wheels count as they are not machined. The valve stem is often not the heavy part on our wheels....

I think some people balance & mark the wheel first which makes sense...

Yeah, but not this guy. I put the dot where it ends up and balance from there.

[Clone]

I don't think our wheels count as they are not machined. The valve stem is often not the heavy part on our wheels....

I think some people balance & mark the wheel first which makes sense...

With the metal valve stem in it sure was the heavy spot on mine rotated down there without any prompting.

[Joe Nardy]

I have probably mounted as many or more tires as anyone on this forum. I always check for the heavy spot of the rim. Rarely have I found it to be exactly at the valve stem, even with metal valve stems. One wheel I did last week was 180 degrees away from the valve stem. The idea is to be able to use as little weight as possible to balance the wheel/tire combo so it makes sense to find the true heavy spot and mount the tire's light spot there.

Thanks,
Joe

[Darkstang]

How are you guys balancing your tires? I can mount them no problem. Even have an old bubble balancer. Be nice to not have to make a trip into town and pay a cycle shop to mount and balance them,

[salty_monk]

Put the axle through the wheel & support each end on a set of axle stands or similar. Heavy spot moves to the bottom.

Some people on here use 2 skate bearings to hold the axle to take out any kind of friction but I have found that to be overkill personally.

If you do a search you'll find some pics.

Dan

[ukilme]

I went and bought a portable balancer from http://www.marcparnes.com/. Very easy to use and well built.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

From my website:

Here are a couple of pictures of Mr. bwringer's high tech tire balancing apparatus:



That's right. Just a couple of old jack stands with some old Rollerblade bearings used to spin the wheel, find the heavy spot, and clip on counter weights. Mr. bwringer's pretty clever, isn't he?




Thank you for your indulgence,


BassCliff

[Sandy]

The yellow dot is for marking the light spot on the tire which should go by the heavy spot on the rim, usually by the valve stem. The red spots are fairly new and mark the low point of the radial run out of the tire. Newer automotive rims have an "X" marked on the rim somewhere to show the high point and that's where you place the dot. Placing the red dot, if your rim is out of round, is actually more important than the yellow dot. You can't compensate for an out around tire, but you can add weight for an out of balance one. Hope this clears up the red question.

Edit: Gee, I guess I should have just checked the link, always in a hurry. Thought you were asking, not telling.