Mounting/balancing your own tires

[Wizard]

Correct Truth, even the valve caps should be ON, especially if they are the Fancy Dan Chrome heads with a lota metal (heavy) in them.
I guess you could remove the bearing seals, to let the wheel rotate easier for balancing,,.. can smear some grease there before putting them back on.
My Valve Caps are thin aluminum with a rubber seal in them, weigh almost nothing.
Plastic Caps are not allowed on a race track. The Centrifugal Force at high speed can open a valve and leak out air.
Rember to align the Yellow Dot (light weight spot of tire) with the Valve when mounting.
There are now Red Dots on some tires (Radial Run-out). Tires are not perfectly round. So now a "mark" on the Rim is too be aligned with the Red Dot. I've never seen a "mark" on the rim for this purpose, but I've not worked on new bikes.
Its unclear to me if the Red Dot is for the Low Spot or High Spot on tire.
"Red Rules" is the rule of thumb.
If Red & Yellow Dots are present, align Red Dot with Rim Mark.
If there is no "Rim Mark" then align Red Dot with Valve.
If no Red Dot, use Yellow Dot at Valve.
Use Blue Dot at Valve (older tires).

BassCliff has a tutorial on mounting tires, but misses the Dot Rules, though one photo seems to show a Red Dot at a Valve.

"a 12 pack of Shlitz",,.. wow, that's almost 3 Canadian Beers,,..

[tkent02]

"a 12 pack of Shlitz",,.. wow, that's almost 3 Canadian Beers,,..

Come on, Schlitz? Nobody actually drinks that crap.

[alke46]

[QUOTE=Wizard;1583220]I've been hand balancing my wheels for over 20 years.
Can't beat it.
When I've had a dealer change the tires, they insisted on balancing them too.
So after, I check the balancing at home, and they have all needed more lead for a "perfect" balance. Though its only been by "a little" (9 grams or less).


By "perfect" does that mean that out of 15-20 spins, your tire stops at a different spot?

[Wizard]

Once you're cutting those lead squares in 1/2, you're approaching the limit of gravity hand balancing. That's 3.5 grams. I rember having a record player where the needle tracked at 2 grams. Its a pretty small value, hence me putting "perfect" in quotes.
I've never tested the wheel 20 times. One spin could last minutes, making 20 spins kinda silly.
Just brushing your hand along the outside of the tire will send it for 1/2 turn. Then it stops, doesn't rock back. Brush it 5 times, and if it just coasts to a random stop, your done. I've always bettered any machine balance I got back from the shop (last machine balance done in Aug/2011).
Also, when you start cutting the squares in 1/2, they get harder to stay ON the rim, with not much sticky left. So then I dab some black Silicone around it. You'll need a wood Popsicle stick to clean the goo off your rim on your next tire balance.
I'll be Mail Ordering Tires now, and buddy (STJohn) and I will take a day and we'll do both our bikes at once. He has a Bead Breaker.
Lets see here,,,. numbers,,.. ya, it'll probably take 24 Shlitz's for that job.

[kingofvenus]

Come on, Schlitz? Nobody actually drinks that crap.

For me, it's more of a short term lease....

[boontonmike]

Great info here. just got done mounting my tire and working on a wheel balance stand.

[gpd211]

This is what I use for balance. Also use the 1/4 oz weights. The wheels don't have to be perfect just pretty close. At least to 150 on the VFR

http://marcparnes.com/

[four_shot]

I used synthetic BBs on my rear tire a la dyna beads and feel it works pretty well. Note, my rear tire and rim are both tubeless so all i had to do was mount the tire, dump the BBs in and seat the beads.

[allojohn]

I thought I'd try Dyna Beads just to see and I hoped to avoid the grief of conventional balancing.

I'm on board, Dyna Beads are ace!!!!! Although it's biatch to get 'em in.