Balancing wheels at home

[corksil]

Just mounted a new set of tires, ready to get the wheels back on the bike and get back on two wheels.

In the past I've paid the [only] local shop to balance wheels when new tires were installed. 50+ per wheel is a steep price for something that takes 20 minutes tops.

I checked the rear on a ghetto home built stand, and there is only one "heavy" spot which falls to the bottom -- very slowly. Seems pretty close to balanced.

The front seems to have one or two heavy spots which fall to the bottom more quickly than the rear wheel when placed on a stand.

Options are
1) put wheels back on the bike, go riding and see what happens
2) pay the criminals at local shop way more than I feel comfortable for a 'balance'
3) spend a lot of time trying to balance them myself with no real direction and only common sense guiding me

I've got lots of 3M VHB doublestick tape handy, and have the weights that came off the rims from the previous set of tires.. Self-balancing is not out of the question.

I'd like to get the wheels back on the bike and see how things feel after a ride, but on the other hand it's a machine that goes 120mph (on a track) so I'd rather not screw up something that could negatively affect handling and be a potential safety hazard.

Feel as if it's prudent to state that the local "shop" isn't as bad as I make them out to be. Probably a great place to take my business if I didn't want to pay a 400% markup on what things should actually cost.

[hfd1 tuner]

just need some skate bearings and a few hours of time make a stand with 4 skate bearings two per side and use your axle place wheel on the stand and boom you are ready...heavy end will go to the bottom place the weight on the top to counter balance it. All the race tire guys use a rig like that to balance tires at track. When you get it right it wheel will stay in possion where ever you stop it on the stand

[adouglas]

A few things...

1) Yeah, you can make a stand as described above. Not that hard, but to be honest balancing stands aren't that expensive ($50 + shipping) and they're way more convenient. Keep an eye out for a used one if you're a real penny-pincher. If you build, how much is your time worth?

http://www.discountramps.com/motorcy...er/p/BW-WB-03/

I like the stand with cone wheel locators because it ensures that everything is centered and level every time. If there's any friction or it's out of alignment at all, you'll get a false indication. The home-built/ghetto approach can certainly work, but it really should be perfectly straight, level and friction-free to the greatest possible extent.

This is why your front wheel seems to have "one or two" heavy spots. Think about that for a sec. It's impossible for the wheel to have two heavy spots, right? What you're seeing is friction in your balancing rig that's preventing repeatable results.

2) Before you mount the tire, first find the actual heavy spot on the wheel and mark it. As I'm sure you know, tires are marked at their lightest spot (often with a red or yellow dot) and when you mount them, you line up the mark with the heavy spot on the wheel so that the need for balance weights is minimized. This heavy spot on the wheel is presumed to be where the valve stem is. Not necessarily so.

Once the old tire is removed, strip the old weights off and put the wheel on the balancer. Don't actually add weights to balance it... just find where the heavy spot really is and mark it permanently.

3) Make sure your results are consistent and repeatable. When balancing, I let the wheel settle and note where it ends up. Then rotate it 90 degrees and let go. Let it settle again and note the spot. Then rotate it 90 degrees the other way and repeat.

Add weights as needed and repeat until you're satisfied.

The point of this is to compensate for inevitable friction in the system. The wheel won't settle in the exact same spot each time. You'll never get it pin-perfect, but this will get you as close as you need to be.

4) Undoubtedly you know all this, but worth adding for those who don't:

- Use as few weights as possible, and only in one spot. Seems obvious but you'd be surprised.

- Common sense tip: Use masking tape to temporarily hold weights in place while you figure out how many you need and where they should go. The backing on the weights doesn't come off until I'm sure. t keep a handful of old used weights with the stand for this purpose.

- Standard practice is to keep the weights as close as practical to the wheel centerline. Don't go crazy here -- use common sense. Weights will stick to the smooth surface of the rim, but not the rough cast parts.

- Just FYI, for track bikes it's also common practice to put a piece of gaffer's tape (Gorilla tape) over the weights as a safety measure just in case one comes loose. On a street bike the adhesive on the weights is fine, but there's no harm in doing this as well.

[Rifleman]

What Adoug said.

I even split the weights side to side. If I need 2 1/4 ounces, I put 1 and 1/8th on either side of the center rib of the rim.

a bit of side walk calk is a huge help in marking things and will come right off if it needs to.

Dot to the valve stem is correct 99% of the time. Remove the old weights, Mount and inflate the tire, put it on the balance rig and let it settle. Mark "light" spot (top) this is were the weights will go. I do this because I'm always going to rotate the tire so the light spot is on the bottom when attaching weights and seems smart to me to just mark the 'light' spot rather then the heavy and trying to eye ball the 180.

I keep adding and removing weights until I can't get the same spot to stop at the bottom 3 times in a row.

Remember also that it is possible to need to balance your tires even after they have been on the bike for a bit. Hard stops right after mounting the tire can rotate the rubber on the rim on the front, and wheelies can rotate the rubber on the rear. There is a proper way to use tire mounting lube and not everyone does it right.

more this spring when i can get the shop set up correctly.

Santa was good to me this year

[Ghostt]

Dynabeads, and your done.

http://innovativebalancing.com

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Ghostt

Dynabeads, and your done.

http://innovativebalancing.com

I have a bridge you might be interested in buying

[Alex]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

I have a bridge you might be interested in buying

This one?

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Alex

This one?

Sure! We'll go with that one. Meanwhile; take a toy beach ball, fill with air and 1/2 cup water. Roll down a long hill. Bonus if there's a bump in the road. Observe and report back.

On sale this week only: magic beans! Comes in a pack of 3

Now I accept the realities that if certain suppliers are supporters of this forum; my posts may understandably "disappear"!

[HoneyBadgerRy]

Both my dad and I never balanced our tires, we always just put the heavy side of the tire opposite of the valve stem, and take it for a ride. If the tires were off balanced we would pay to have them balanced, but I never noticed a problem.

[cbinker]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

Sure! We'll go with that one. Meanwhile; take a toy beach ball, fill with air and 1/2 cup water. Roll down a long hill. Bonus if there's a bump in the road. Observe and report back.

this theory is flawed.

balls and wheels are completely different objects.

or in geometrical terms one is solid(hollow) sphere where the other is a cylinder with a hole in the center.

[SLOWn60]

I want to address something that's bugging me.

We all can and will have at times; differing opinions on various subjects. In this instance; it would take hands on experimentation to prove to me that Dynabeads are anything other than great marketing. However; I'm bugged by my response to Ghosts post that was really intended as humourous rebuttal but in hindsight; comes across to me as inflamatory sarcasm. I have the greatest respect and endorsement of this forum, the people on it and how they conduct conversations with respect for each other despite differences of opinion. It truly is an oasis in the middle of what at times can be an internet swamp and Ghost is certainly one of the members that make this such a great place.

I feel better now.

[Alex]

-3 internet points, no sad kitty pic included.

[Ghostt]

Thxs you @SLOWn60 for the compliment, and I wasn't in anyway offended by your comment, I respect everyone's right to their opinion. I'm here to inform, not change minds.

I have been running Dynabeads or similar for many years now, I first remember seeing the used in trucking, I decided to try them and I must admit I was vary sceptical to say the least. The theory they work on is solid.

Now I run them not only in my bikes, but also my cages as well. They work for me, easy to install, just add the proper amount depending on the tire size when mounting the tires, and constantly changing to adjust the balance of the tire, I have no issues with uneven wear.

I personally recommend them, as I have used them for a lot years with no ill effects whatsoever.

[HoneyBadgerRy]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

I want to address something that's bugging me.

We all can and will have at times; differing opinions on various subjects. In this instance; it would take hands on experimentation to prove to me that Dynabeads are anything other than great marketing. However; I'm bugged by my response to Ghosts post that was really intended as humourous rebuttal but in hindsight; comes across to me as inflamatory sarcasm. I have the greatest respect and endorsement of this forum, the people on it and how they conduct conversations with respect for each other despite differences of opinion. It truly is an oasis in the middle of what at times can be an internet swamp and Ghost is certainly one of the members that make this such a great place.

I feel better now.

But where else can I sell my oceanfront Arizona Property.

[RacinNinja]

Two jackstands and the axle that goes with the wheel is all you really need. Shim one side under the jack stand if it's out of level. Let the heavy spot fall to the bottom, add weight to the exact opposite spot on the top. Rotate wheel 90 degrees, and do it all over again. Slight, slow downward movement is acceptable.

Wash, rinse repeat. No need for fancy tools.

[adouglas]

The viability of that method really depends on how much friction your bearings have, right?

The whole point of a balancing stand is that it has very little friction. Go spin your wheel... bet it has a fair bit of drag.

Otherwise you could balance your front wheel without even taking it off the bike. For the rear, all you'd need to do is unhook the chain.

[RacinNinja]

Originally Posted by adouglas

The viability of that method really depends on how much friction your bearings have, right?

The whole point of a balancing stand is that it has very little friction. Go spin your wheel... bet it has a fair bit of drag.

Otherwise you could balance your front wheel without even taking it off the bike. For the rear, all you'd need to do is unhook the chain.

On this point, if your wheel won't easily move with the bearings that are in it, you should probably replace them with new units, eh?

For the rear, you'll need to unbolt the caliper also to remove the pad drag from the equation. Same for the front. And loosen the axle....I can see where if you don't take care of your machine this method won't work. But for everything I own, there is no reason they couldn't be done on the bike, calipers and chain removed and axle loosened.

I've done it before and it works just fine. Although, now I have an actual tire balancing stand since I have 6 bikes currently in the stable. Damn things multiply like rabbits!!

[corksil]

^^ I can relate to this guy.

Thank you all for posting the helpful info.

Was news to me that the lightest spot on a tire is typically marked with a red/yellow mark. I've mounted a lot of tires and always wondered what the mark meant. Think I even tried looking it up once, but I was searching for an odd-color mark which didn't pull up any results. I guess that's what I get for using cheap tires from lesser-known manufacturers originating out of slovenia and other places not easy to point out on a world map.

Balanced the front tire this evening on a ghetto home-built stand with no difficulty. Re-used the old 1/4oz weights from previous balancing and stuck them on with 3M vhb doublestick tape. 3M adhesives continue to be legions ahead of anything else I can find. Last I checked, some of the VHB variants were rated for as high as 60lb tensile strength from a single square inch of tape. Picture hanging a 60lb bag of concrete from a one inch contact patch. The shear strength ratings were impressive too. Downside is 80 bucks for a 3"x6' roll and short shelf-life.

Anyways I'll get the rear tire balanced when I next have time along with the floating rotors and if I don't report back -- assume that all went well.

Thanks guys!

[Rifleman]

hey, for those of you who have replaced and not balanced... unless it's badly out of balance it will be hard to notice unless you are actually looking for it.

an improperly balanced tire will have a 'Harmonic' speed. that is the speed that the out of balance will be most noticeable. if that speed isn't your normal rolling down the road speed, you will hardly be able to feel any vibration as you pass through the harmonic speed on the way up, or down.

to test, roll out and up to your normal (or legal speed) pull in the clutch and shift to neutral and coast down. watch your speedo and pay attention for any vibration. you will feel a rear wheel imbalance in the entire bike, you will feel a front wheel imbalance in the bars. Remember the forks and rear suspension are designed to remove that vibration so unless it's really bad, it's just going to be a little "tick tick tick" type thing.

once you think you have found a harmonic speed, confirm by going back to, or just above that speed and coasting again.

unless you have a really bad imbalance, with a very low harmonic speed, the imbalance is just an annoyance...

but properly balanced tires are like a night with Cate Blanchett, soft, sensuous, sexy and you will be able to ride for hours with out fatigue.

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

....are like a night with Cate Blanchett, soft, sensuous, sexy and you will be able to ride for hours with out fatigue.

Hah! More like "Gone in 30 seconds!"