A friend of mine offered to install my tires on, by he can't balance them though. He said got 100mph and if it doesnt shake you're good!
hi, I never balance my rear tire ... because top speed is not enough for, I think. And you know what ? With BT92 my wheel never need to be balanced. :D
At front, I always balance the wheel. But my front rim is buckled ...
It depends how lucky you are. The valve is obviously an unbalanced weight, but if the tire unbalance counter-acts that fairly closely, then you might get away without balancing. But it would be shear luck. Checking the balance is definitely a good idea, and anything over 30 mph is enough to require a decent balance, front and rear.
You can make a balancing jig for about $3 that will get you close enough. There are several easy types:
Two parallel steel edges ("knife edges") that you can place the wheel axle on. These can just be any thin, straight, approximately 12" long, pieces of steel in the tops of a 2x4 jig. You have to get them level and parallel though.
Some decent ball bearings, size isn't too critical, that you can rest the axle ends in. The bearings can be supported by v-notches in a 2x4 wheel stand. Clean the grease out the bearings thoroughly, and just oil them with some light machine oil (3 in 1), so they turn very freely.
Buy some stick on wheel weights. Move the wheel slightlyto break any stickion, and let it the heavy side rotate to the bottom. Mark the light (high) point, and repeat a couple of times to confirm. Add weight to the light point, and repeat.
You can get a better balance this way than they typical do at the shops.
I'm getting a ballencer from Rod Neff. Here's a link to the review of the "real" version on Web Bike World.
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-motorcycle-products/balancer/index.htm
I'm getting a set of his "Mini-ballencers" that hang from the ceiling. They're $50 delivered to the contenental US. Only problem is the weight. He doesn't pre-make them and he has a real job so you have to wait until he gets around to them.
I think somewhere someone said as long as you put like a 1 or 2 gram weight opposite the stem it should be balanced.
You have to take into consideration both the ballence of the tire and the ballence of the wheel. Also you need to match up the high and low spots on each to ensure the combination is as round as possible.
Not properly ballencing your tires will result in less traction and stability, espeicially at high speed. It also contributes to faster and uneven tire wear.
The better ballenced your tire the cooler it will run, the longer it will last, and the better it will stick to the road. I wouldn't ride down the street with an unballenced tire, but that's me.
My bike may look like H, but she's got it where it counts ;)
If your friend doesn't know how to balance a tire, I wouldn't let him change a tire. no offense, but doing the balance is easy compared to wrestling the rubber off and on.
What Kevin said about the balancer, but you don't even need bearings. The wheel has its own bearings. In fact you don't even need a stand if push comes to shove. You can "field balance" a wheel by putting it back on the bike without the calipers and spacers and spin them up.
When I change tires, I'd say 50% need weight. And that is after finding the heavy spot (and it is rarely the valve stem) before hand and putting the "lite spot" in the right place.
So I would do it.
I sort of balanced my new tire when I put it on. I bought a cheap kenda for the rear and put it on myself. All I did to find the light spot is get two five gallon buckets and a long screwdriver. I put the screwdriver through the center of the wheel and placed it on the five gallon buckets, you have to hold on to the screwdriver when you spin the wheel but it seemed to work ok. I needed like a 60 gram weight and couldnt find one (didnt look too hard) so I used the one that was on the wheel to start out with. The previous weight was only 20 grams but it seemd to work ok. Although recently I have gone to higher speeds and noticed a light thump I cant feel it at all but I can hear it. If I can find weights I might put more on to be on the safe side. Where can you buy those stick on weights?
Lockhart Philps (or any one that carries LP stuff) sells them.
Cool. Thanks James.
Quote from: JamesGIf your friend doesn't know how to balance a tire, I wouldn't let him change a tire. no offense, but doing the balance is easy compared to wrestling the rubber off and on.
Now, wait a minute, just because a feller can't balance a tire doesn't mean he can't change a tire. It just means you have to take it someplace else to have it balanced.
You can balance just the rim and maybe get away with it, but ideally you should balance the rim/tire assembly(or wheel, as they are called when put together) each time you put a new tire on.
Other than the valve stem mass, it is almost always the tire that needs balancing, not the wheel. I wouldn't even bother balancing the wheel by itself, it is pretty pointless.
Balancing a wheel by itself is a waste of time.
but;
Over 50% of the time I can get away with not having to add weight by taking the time to find out if the wheel has a heavy side and then matching it to the light side of a tire (where the yellow dot is).
Scratch - My comment was that if someone doesn't know that you can balance a wheel with its axle and a pair of jack stands, they probably don't know much about changing tires...
Quote from: JamesGBalancing a wheel by itself is a waste of time.
but;
Over 50% of the time I can get away with not having to add weight by taking the time to find out if the wheel has a heavy side and then matching it to the light side of a tire (where the yellow dot is).
Scratch - My comment was that if someone doesn't know that you can balance a wheel with its axle and a pair of jack stands, they probably don't know much about changing tires...
You are correct, thank you for correcting me. I do not want to mislead anybody. The way you describe is a method I have used in the past.
modern tires have pretty high MFR standards.
high speed and GS.... :roll:
I haven't balanced a tire in years for the street
track....that is what the race tire vendor is for...and to check my tire press.
http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing-doc.html
nice article on how to change your own tire AND BALANCE IT with home-made balancer that looks like what was described above. Scroll down for balance portion (with pics).
I balance my tires on the bike. That jig made with 2X4's is quite close enough to be accurate and the active/static method I use (rotate and mark where the highest point is. 3 in a row if the same point is up, glue a weight to it with duct tape and try again. Keep adding till it passes the 3 spin tests. Then secure the weights with the clips or the glue on it.
Cool.
Srinath.
Srinath....tires need to be balanced at those mach speeds you do....35 !!!! :roll:
A tire balance only is good for 300-400 miles. So I do them every week...
Yup.
Cool.
Srinath.
If the tire is installed in the correct mannor there is not as much of a need to worry about the balance of the tire/wheel.
Most if not all tire compaines mark the tire as to where the valve stem should be mounted in relationship to the tire. If you look at any new tire that you have had installed you should notice a colored mark on the sidewall of the tire. This mark might be yellow or any other color that will show up well on the tire and is usually just a small dot maybe 1/4" in size. This mark indicated where the tire should be mounted in relationship with the valve stem so as to have the least amount of channe of being out of balance. The tire companies mark the tire so that the installer can line the dot up with the valve stem so that the tire/wheel will be more likely to be balanced and not need any weights added.