Tyre balancing ?

[tlronny]

I've just had the first rear tyre replaced on my newish steed and was wondering if it is standard practice to remove the factory weights on the inner edge of the wheel and replace them with those horrible stick-on ones around the nicely polished outside ??
Someone told me that new tyres dont need balancing but the rim does and that is why there are the factory ones on the inside.
Are there shops that put better quality ones on or what ?? :spudwhat:

[Motu]

Standard practice,stick ons are quick and easy,like you don't want them to stuff around and waste time,then charge you for it ,do you? The rim should be factory balanced,they tyres are sometimes marked with a heavy spot (or light spot to go at the valve) and some times a low spot(red and yellow dots.But they will always be a little out.

Anyway,you shouldn't have any problems below 100kph....oooh,you don't speed do you????

[tlronny]

Its just that with polished rims the weights look terrible - perhaps they could just fall off ?
Should the original rim weights go back on though ? <_<

[FzerozeroT]

go back to the shop and ask for them to be changed, even if you score the weights from somewhere else they should be happy to help / or lose a customer

[vifferman]

There is an upside to the stick-on weights. The ones that were on it balance the wheel/tyre in one plane only, whereas the stick-on ones are better balanced from a dynamic (3-dimensional) perspective, especially with the wider rims that modern sportsbikes like yours have. At least, that's what I was told when they were fitted to my VFR, which had polished rims, so like you, I thought the stick-on weights were inconvenient (for cleaning/polishing) and were less unobtrusive (more obtrusive??)

When the new tyres were fitted to the VTR, the 'old' weights were left in place. I hope the wheels/tyres are still balanced....

[merv]

When the new tyres were fitted to the VTR, the 'old' weights were left in place. I hope the wheels/tyres are still balanced....

Every time I've had my tyres replaced (Sawyers) it seems they don't touch the weights that are on the centre of the wheels and they haven't fitted any others and the bike has never suffered wheelbalance shakes at any speed. This is unlike cars which seem so susceptible to wheel shake if they aren't balanced right every time.

[FROSTY]

There is an upside to the stick-on weights. The ones that were on it balance the wheel/tyre in one plane only, whereas the stick-on ones are better balanced from a dynamic (3-dimensional) perspective, especially with the wider rims that modern sportsbikes like yours have. At least, that's what I was told when they were fitted to my VFR, which had polished rims, so like you, I thought the stick-on weights were inconvenient (for cleaning/polishing) and were less unobtrusive (more obtrusive??)

When the new tyres were fitted to the VTR, the 'old' weights were left in place. I hope the wheels/tyres are still balanced....

Seems strange that they diddn't peel the old weights off first.
If extra weight was added to the wheel opposite the old weights I;d be asking what they were up to

[NZred]

There is not a lot of mass in a bike trye,.. so they should not need much.
Unlike a car tyre the can equal or exceed the rim mass. :scooter:

[laRIKin]

Seems strange that they diddn't peel the old weights off first.
If extra weight was added to the wheel opposite the old weights I;d be asking what they were up to

I agree when I put a new tire on I always take of the old weights.
And start a fresh. If all tires were made with the same weight distribution
I guess you would only have to balance the rim once, and never do it again.
I think that they are trying to take a short cut.

[curious george]

Is there anything wrong with the wheel? Or just that it looks different?
It might be interesting to test it to see if it is balanced....

[tlronny]

I'm only enquiring cos the weights look like shit on a big fat polished rim.
Wot I want to know is if a new bike tyre really needs balancing at all and if so why cant they put on proper rim weights like it comes from the factory with ? :disapint:

[FzerozeroT]

I would have thought that the rims would be skimmed at the factory to be balanced - or if you had the time/money you could get it done, tyres are unbalanced because of manufacturing tolerances, obviously for the more expensive tyres tolerances are tighter and may not need weights?

[DEATH_INC.]

Rims are not balanced when manufactured.They normally have a mark to identify the heavy spot.Ditto with tyres.If you shag around turning the tyre on the rim(optimisation) you can often eliminate a lot of the weights,but this takes a fair bit of time.
You can fit the factory type weights but as previously stated a dynamic balance is far superior to a static balance.

Did this help with your headshaking? I'm guessing that's why you did it.....

[tlronny]

Dont know if its stopped the slapping yet as i havent been out for a good thrash but the old BT56J was down to the canvas after 4000km ! :niceone:

[vifferman]

Seems strange that they diddn't peel the old weights off first.
If extra weight was added to the wheel opposite the old weights I;d be asking what they were up to
I guess it was balanced with the old weights on? I dunno. I don't think I saw them balance the wheels after fitting the new tyres, but I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention, unlike with the VFR, which had had a problem with headshake before the tyres were replaced, so I was making sure the new tyres were fitted properly and the wheels were balanced. That's when I noticed the ugly stick-on weights replacing the original clip-on weights, and asked, "Why are you putting them on, Mister?" Hence the story about dynamically balancing the wheels to make sure they were in balance laterally as well as in the plane of rotation.
Could be total bollocks for all I know, but it sounded good.
And the headshake disappeared with the change in tyres and/or change in balancing method, and that was the main thing.

As for the VTR, it seems fine, whether the tyres/wheels were properly balanced or not. Mind you, I haven't had it up to 200 yet...

[tlronny]

As for the VTR, it seems fine, whether the tyres/wheels were properly balanced or not. Mind you, I haven't had it up to 200 yet...

Why not ??
Wait till you get a shake on at over 220 - lots of fun to be had there !! :done:

[DEATH_INC.]

Dynamic balancing definately is far superior to static balancing,it takes into account the twisting motion imparted on the wheel when you get two heavy spots opposing each other diagonally.....

[Morepower]

Ronnie, I would guess we have our tyres replaced at the same place. The weights always seem to be in a different place and I would suspect that tyres are seldom uniform. I have never experienced any balance problems and I am on the 4th rear tyre in 12 months.
The Trip to Puke , 200kms on the track and back have taken a toll on the 1 week old tyre to :doh:

Anyway where were you Saturday ?? I rode back from Auckland , Had lunch , adjusted and lubed my chain , met the guys for the 2.00pm ride :D

Dave

[tlronny]

Yea sorry Dave for letting you guys down - I heard only a few turned up !
I was on a pub crawl which is a fair exscuse I reckon and I didnt see you at the Puketapu around 6pm ? :ride:

[FROSTY]

lots of us turned up at pukie --it was a total blast.
I used to static balance my tyres but I was pretty careful to put the heavy part of the tyre in the right place. never needed much in the way of weights

[tlronny]

It looks like its not that bigger deal really but I may just leave their weights on for peace of mind as I quite like going flat out and it is a "hire-bus" after all ! :doctor:

[Kickaha]

Dynamic balancing definately is far superior to static balancing .....


dead right,if you static balance to zero,you are always are left with a dynamic imbalace,in saying that and working in the tyre industry I have very rarely ever balanced my motorcycle wheels and have never detected a problem,but we solved a vibration probem on my brothers bike by balancing his.

[beanz]

As a side question... is it standard for motorcycle shops to "Dynamically" balance wheels/tyres (as opposed to the eenie-meenie-minie-mo method below), or if you want them dyn balanced, do you have to specifically find a mechanic shop with a dyn balancing machine?

I've been told that a budget balancing method is to support the bike with the wheels off the ground, then apply proper weights to the rim until the wheel doesn't rotate by itself. I don't really want to do that, and would rather get a machine to balance it exactly (like everyone does with cars).

I reckon its much more important to get a bike balanced than a car, as the bike mass is much less, therefore the unbalanced wheels will be able to shake the bike (and the rider) around more. And if you analyse the forces holding the tyre to the road, when its unbalanced, the wheel will be causing the downwards force on the road to vary, therefore changing the friction between the tyre and the road. Don't know about you guys, but I'm all for maximum and constant friction between my rubber and the tarmac!

[DEATH_INC.]

The lift the bike off the ground method works,if you remove the brake calipers and chain ect,but it's a static balance.
Any half-decent bike tyre shop (motohaus for ex.)will dynamically balance your wheels,it's not much harder than doing a static on a machine,but it prolly pays to ask,just to be sure.....

[brockhaus]

i bought my tyres at motomail (auckland) and i am happy with price and service...
they don't use the ugly sticky weights....
cya, marcus