NEW Front tire - weird damage, safety issue?

[DanTheMan]

Did you get the weights from MC Superstore? I'll need to get some as well, I got lucky last time I did a tire on the KLR and had enough clamp on spoke weights I could salvage from the odl setup.

Yeah, MC Superstore has them. I haven't had to buy any yet, I still have enough left over clamp weights to use when I mount up tires.

[bwringer]

Mine had a red dot that I lined up with the heavy spot on the wheel.

One thing about vintage motorcycle wheels is that the heavy spot is often not at the valve stem.

Put the bare wheel on your balancer setup (whatever that is) and find the true heavy spot. If the tire has a dot (some, like Avon Roadriders, are balanced at the factory and do not have dots) put it at the true heavy spot. Later on, when someone gleefully points out the "mounting error", you have a story to tell...

On modern bikes, the wheels are a lot more consistent.

[tkent02]

(some, like Avon Roadriders, are balanced at the factory and do not have dots)

Can you explain this please? I have noticed Yokohama car tires and Avon bike tires have taken very little if any weight to balance...

Is this true of Shinko (Yokohama) bike tires as well?

[bwringer]

Can you explain this please? I have noticed Yokohama car tires and Avon bike tires have taken very little if any weight to balance...

Is this true of Shinko (Yokohama) bike tires as well?

Most Shinkos I have mounted (and I've installed probably 10-12 sets at least if you count the dual-sport tires) have had balance dots, but some have not. I've had good results with mounting the ones with balance dots in line with the heavy spot, and mounting the ones without balance dots in any position. None have taken an excessive amount of weight (more than an ounce) to balance.

Avon Roadriders are somehow balanced at the factory. No idea how they do this, or maybe they're just THAT much more precise in manufacturing, but I've found it to be true over several sets of RoadRiders. Simply balance the bare wheel, then slap on the RoadRiders in any old position and go ride.

When I installed my first set of RoadRiders, I emailed Avon to ask where the heck the balance dot was, and they informed me they are perfectly balanced from the factory, and to balance the bare wheel as above.

[loud et]

Mine had a red dot that I lined up with the heavy spot on the wheel.

One thing about vintage motorcycle wheels is that the heavy spot is often not at the valve stem.

Put the bare wheel on your balancer setup (whatever that is) and find the true heavy spot. If the tire has a dot (some, like Avon Roadriders, are balanced at the factory and do not have dots) put it at the true heavy spot. Later on, when someone gleefully points out the "mounting error", you have a story to tell...

On modern bikes, the wheels are a lot more consistent.

Thank you, i will use this method on my 230's

[themess]

Tire manufacturing puts various components on a "drum". This is a very complex cylinder that rotates on an axle. It is complex because it is made of several pieces that can collapse into the center, so that the completed "green" (unvulcanized/cured) tire can be removed. The first component applied to the drum is the innerliner, the part that holds the air. A strip of innerliner, of correct width, is attached to the drum as it turns exactly one revolution. A tiny extra bit of innerliner is put on the drum to make an overlap joint. The overlap joint has extra weight than the rest of the innerlines.

The process is repeated for the body plies, the beads and related componenets, the tread plies, the tread and sidewall. Each overlap creates a slight imbalance in the green tire. The overlaps can be placed across from each other, to reduce imbalance. The overlaps can be reduced, to approximate a butt joint. When rubber is applied to a rotating drum, it stretches, and the stretch isn't uniform. Good manufacturing practices reduce the non-uniformities.

Tires, that were regarded as being very well balanced several decades ago, are scrapped today for not being balanced well enough. Thousands of tweaks are needed to do it.