balancing?

[Guest]

I know .. use the search. I did and read for hours .. Oh and forget when I started on Balancing beads yay or nay!!
Some of you guys have very strong opinions

I have a somewhat specific question.

Do I have to balance?

I bought a tube with balancing beads pre installed but then didnt use it. Currently my tire is mounted up without any balancing. I read that I should or might experience vibrations or ??

So I went out today specifically to do some highway. I dont do a lot of highway but I wanted to go through all speeds. I rode out on the surface streets and went between 50 and 60 MPH. I jumped on the highway to head home and went about 8 miles between 75 and 80. On a couple of occasions I let go the throttle to let it surge down to 65 just to see if it would react poorly and then would zip it back up to 80. I then took the surface streets home at various speeds.

The only thing I could absolutely notice is that the bike seems to cross parallel grooves far more smoothly than it did before. I dont know if it is the switch from old hard rubber to soft new rubber or the change from the 130 width to the 120 but in my area there are several long gashes in the highway that run in the direction of traffic and once a year they come and they pour some black stuff on it but its still an indent and with the old tires it was a little butt clinching but with the new rear and new front I hardly noticed them when changing lanes.

Other than that .. I couldnt notice any MORE and possibly less vibration than the bike had before but .. the bike as you guys know vibrates of its own free will anyway. I didnt notice any funkiness when down throttling or accelerating. In fact .. the bike felt freagin awesome!

So I have a brand new package with a balance beads kit. I am hesitant to put it in since all seems fine. That whole . "if it aint broke..." thing.

So what are the down sides to not balancing at all?

[93Bandit]

My only wheel/tire balancing experience is in the automotive/heavy truck world. In that world, sometimes I'd put a wheel on the balancer after changing the tire and it wouldn't need additional weight. That didn't happen all the time but it did occasionally. Obviously this is different than what you did because I used a balancer to confirm that the wheel didn't need to be balanced, instead of relying on my butt in the seat @ 80mph.

All that to say, in my opinion, if you didn't notice any wheel vibration at speed, I wouldn't worry about it. HOWEVER, as mentioned above my experience is in the automotive/heavy truck world. These older bikes might be more susceptible to component damage due to a slightly unbalanced wheel that the butt can't detect but a balancer would.

I would wait for the gurus to reply...

[Rust_to_Redemption]

I think the balance beads are garbage, some people seem to like them? Its easy enough to static balance your tire if you wanted to, I usually just check to make sure the heaviest part of my wheel is actually where the valve stem is at with the tire off, and if it is, I don't worry too much about balancing, since I don't take my bike to extreme speeds eg track days, and I've never experienced a tire imbalance induced wobble at street speeds. Your bike, your peace of mind though.

[Steve]

I have no personal experience with beads, only what I have seen posted and heard at the "bench racing" sessions.

Should you balance? YES. This time around, you evidently got lucky, since you have not noticed anything. Next time, before you put the wheel back on the bike, put the axle in and support it with a couple of jackstands or boxes or whatever you might have that will keep the wheel off the ground. Spin it a bit to warm up the grease in the bearings, then slow it down so it will stop on its own. Note the position of the valve stem when it stops. Rotate the wheel 90°, see if it moves to where it stopped last time. Repeat several times to see if there is a pattern. If it is consistent, add some weight at the top of the wheel and repeat until the wheel stops in random places. At that point, it should be balanced well enough for any speeds that are reasonably-attained on a GS.

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[Rob S.]

Should you balance? YES.

Agreed....

[tas850g]

Should you balance? YES. This time around, you evidently got lucky, since you have not noticed anything. Next time, before you put the wheel back on the bike, put the axle in and support it with a couple of jackstands or boxes or whatever you might have that will keep the wheel off the ground. Spin it a bit to warm up the grease in the bearings, then slow it down so it will stop on its own. Note the position of the valve stem when it stops. Rotate the wheel 90°, see if it moves to where it stopped last time. Repeat several times to see if there is a pattern. If it is consistent, add some weight at the top of the wheel and repeat until the wheel stops in random places. At that point, it should be balanced well enough for any speeds that are reasonably-attained on a GS. .

This is about the way the tire vendors do it at the track. No need for computerized balances. Way over thinking it.

[LAB3]

As to how it handles over rain grooves, I've found that tread pattern makes a huge difference. Personally I avoid tires with a tread groove that runs straight down the center of the tread for that very reason. They probably go in a straight line better but in rain grooves and bridge grates they take on a mind on their own.

[Steve]

Good point. Unfortunately, the popular Shinko 230 TourMaster has a groove down the middle. Yeah, it wiggles a bit, but it's still straight enough down the middle to track on rain grooves and bridge grates. Easy enough to deal with, it's just an eye-opener the first time it happens.

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[93Bandit]

MI "roads" are the worst and definitely increase the butt-pucker factor when dodging pot holes, canyons, craters and cracks on a bike. I've had a few side steps and about lost it. I need new rubber which might help.

[davegs850]

I have always had tires balanced, but it has never made perfect sense to me. It seems to me as the tire becomes worn,the balance would change.This is where beads seem to make more sense to me. I am far from an expert. Just throwing it out there for discussion.

[Gorminrider]

I have a brand new package with a balance beads kit. I am hesitant to put it in since all seems fine. That whole . "if it aint broke..." thing.

I'd say no. Example is good- they don't put these in at any tire shop I've been too. Simple is good.

So what are the down sides to not balancing at all?

It's been said already but if you don't need balancing, you don't.

But I always check it...given the rims themseves are balanced( I actually check them BEFORE I put a new tire on) and you got whatever mark the tire had in the "right spot" (again, I will actually spin the evenly placed tire before inflating just to see if it's grossly wrong while it's still "shift-able" on the rim- this might make a little more sense if the tire has a tube to hold it evenly in place-it makes even more where the tire or tube has a patch )

And finally, with the tire bead set, on the bench, on the axle. It helps to wiggle the axle backn forth to counteract the friction of the bearing grease- it seems pretty subtle balancing to this degree but you are trying to get it as balanced as you can and when choosing a weight within grams, it makes a difference to the "good job" I think I am doing. I wonder sometimes if my bubble would be burst getting my home-balanced wheel spun at a tire store...
But all that said, if a small weight comes off, I haven't noticed. And if I am adding big weights, I am thinking I did something wrong if the rim isn't the problem.

Really, the grossest misbalance I've had is that the tire isn't actually seated properly despite what I thought and how it looks. If there's a definite thump-thump in the ride, that's one that needs looking for first by tracing the tire's faint "bead line" very closely all around both sides of the rim....

[Rust_to_Redemption]

Really, the grossest misbalance I've had is that the tire isn't actually seated properly despite what I thought and how it looks. If there's a definite thump-thump in the ride, that's one that needs looking for first by tracing the tire's faint "bead line" very closely all around both sides of the rim....

Is this why I've seen tire change shops thump the sidewall of the tire on both sides with a mallet, to make sure the bead is seated all the way? Makes sense I think.

[LAB3]

MI "roads" are the worst and definitely increase the butt-pucker factor when dodging pot holes, canyons, craters and cracks on a bike. I've had a few side steps and about lost it. I need new rubber which might help.

You want to try flat out CRAZY rain grooves, I-69 running East out of Flint is insane!

[LAB3]

Good point. Unfortunately, the popular Shinko 230 TourMaster has a groove down the middle. Yeah, it wiggles a bit, but it's still straight enough down the middle to track on rain grooves and bridge grates. Easy enough to deal with, it's just an eye-opener the first time it happens.

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Good to know on the Shinko 230, I'd have guessed the zig-zag pattern would negate that problem.

[Steve]

The 230 does wiggle a little, but it's nothing to worry about.
Just hold the bars lightly, maintain light throttle, let the bike pick its own path.

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