Magic Beads! (tire balancing beads - yay or nay?)

[tkent02]

Or just pump the tyres up. throw some oil in the forks and maybe try and remember when i did any filters on the bike. Personally i like to have my bike at peak performance. Not "she be rite mate" attitude.

Well I certainly wouldn't be riding anything that wasn't up on all of it's maintenance. I know exactly when all of the filters were last changed or cleaned, none of the forks have been so long since they've been serviced to be low on oil at all, none of them leak... certain none of my tires need any air, none of them leak either.... OK, one of my dirt bikes could use a new clutch cable, but the old one would go another year or two if I was one to neglect this stuff. It's just getting a tiny bit harder to pull with one finger.
I really do maintain all of the bikes well, hence the quest for beads.

Who's mate be she rite? Must be an Aussie thing.

[allojohn]

Or just pump the tyres up. throw some oil in the forks and maybe try and remember when i did any filters on the bike. Personally i like to have my bike at peak performance. Not "she be rite mate" attitude.

I'm curious, have you used beads and proven them not to work or are you just going with "I know best".

[tkent02]

Two schools of thought here, there are those of us who have been using them for years and know how well they work, and the other, don't understand how it works so it must be BS.
Anyone who's seen a bike with rim locks shake at 55mph and then with the addition of beads runs smooth as silk would be in the first camp.

I don't care about all that, I just want a good source to buy more.

[nejeff]

I am looking to replace a three year old, 11,000 mile Shinko 712 front. This is the only tire I have ever spooned on myself and I indeed used the "magic" balancing beads and I have been satisfied with their performance. Best thing I can say about it is that I have never had to give it any thought, performed fine at all speeds, tire has worn correctly. Had the bike in excess of the speedo's capacity this morning, smooth as glass. I have had many more tires replaced since then that were done at a shop and to lessen confusion I just had them balance and stick the weight on, that works too. When I make my purchase of a tire changing machine I will be balancing with beads again from that point forward

[Dogma]

I rode with Dynabeads in one set of tires on my 850. They work exactly as advertised. However, the balancing happens as you run up through city-street speeds. A severe bump at highway speeds can upset the balance, and it will stay upset until you slow enough for the beads to start moving around again.

[tkent02]

I rode with Dynabeads in one set of tires on my 850. They work exactly as advertised. However, the balancing happens as you run up through city-street speeds. A severe bump at highway speeds can upset the balance, and it will stay upset until you slow enough for the beads to start moving around again.

Do you know of a source to buy a pound or two?

[nejeff]

Do you know of a source to buy a pound or two?

This is where I bought my beads

http://www.tirebalancebeads.com/

[shwaz]

This is where I bought my beads

http://www.tirebalancebeads.com/

awesome, thank you. i was able to cancel my $5/oz order and put in for 12oz here ($1.66/oz)

much appreciated.

[sharpy]

Two schools of thought here, there are those of us who have been using them for years and know how well they work, and the other, don't understand how it works so it must be BS.
Anyone who's seen a bike with rim locks shake at 55mph and then with the addition of beads runs smooth as silk would be in the first camp.

I don't care about all that, I just want a good source to buy more.

Wouldn't it be 3 schools of thought, the 3rd being professionals that do stuff rite the 1st time? Yes i know what they are and do and i also looked on there website. Seems for the average 130/90 x 17 tyre you have to add 2oz / 59g of beads. If i was balancing a tyre and had to add that much weight to get it rite ill be concerned. Also if running tubes in theory you should replace a tube every 2nd tyre change. Hence throwing out a load of beads with it. Also with rim locks, to balance that wheel with one lock you have to add same amount of weight in the wheel to "correct " that fault. And i never seen a wheel go out of balance just by hitting a bump and you have to slow down to let the beads rebalance. Thats just plain weird. There is also 2 schools of thought on tubeless tyre setup on tubed rims. Thats another scary can of worms i shake my head at. Then again there not my bikes so i shouldnt really care. As im not riding these bike im only making suggestions. Do as you wish.

[Macgyver]

I have been running beads in my car, truck, and bike tires/tyres for years with no "wobble" from hitting a bump...ever.

Every now and then I hear the beads rolling around in the tire when I push the bike around in the driveway, other than that, I completely forget they are even there, just like a good solution should be.

Oh, and I don't use the special "professional" beads.

I use ceramic .22 gram airsoft pellets. I bought a jar of 2000 of them from the local canadian tire for $10. They are much easier to wrangle when changing rubber than the tiny beads, and give the same performance in my humble opinion.

For my 550ES, I put 1.5 ounces in the front tire, and 2.5 ounces in the back tire due to the different tire sizes/weights.
For my 650G, I put 2 ounces in the front tire, and 3.5 ounces in the back tire due to the different tire sizes/weights.

My tires have performed smoothly and flawlessly from low speed parking lot crawling up to well past the point where the speedo stops reading.

I don't need/want to argue over whether they work or not, just sharing my 2 cents and experience with them. Do what you will with the info and make an informed decision using the information at hand.

Ride safe, ride smart, ride for the fun of it.

[Dogma]

Do you know of a source to buy a pound or two?

Afraid not. I paid full retail because I was doing my first tire installation myself and didn't want to tangle with static balancing. In my mind at the time, balancing was a lot harder than it really is.

[posplayr]

I ordered a lbs of magic beads today (amazon)

[tkent02]

I ordered a lbs of magic beads today (amazon)

Got a link?

[posplayr]

Got a link?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CUO2BXS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A30Y4L9JQQFW6Z

$29.99/16=$1.875 shipped.

[nejeff]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A30Y4L9JQQFW6Z

$29.99/16=$1.875 shipped.

Nice, except you could have got them cheaper over here

http://www.tirebalancebeads.com/