Dyna Beads?

I use Dyna beads but won't get into the "do they work" argument. I just want to pass along a tip for installing the beads: Get a longer hose than what comes with the installation tool. Seriously, make your own about two feet or longer. You can find the right size at any hardware store. As the beads roll down the longer hose they seperate and roll into the valve stem much easier than with the short little hose provided. Just tap on the hose as the beads roll down.

I started using dyna beads a year ago becuase the loacl m/c dealer didnt have & wouldnt buy the necessary bmw adapters. Nearest BMW dealer 120 miles away.


Been using the beads on a 95 airhead and 99 oilhead. No balancing issues at all. Prolly not the right solution for everyone, if I lived closer to a good dealer or had the tools I wouldnt bother with the beads.

Even if you lived next door to the dealer it is still easier to lay on a creeper and tap a plastic tube with a screwdriver tip while the little beads roll in-Rich above has it right!- and drink a cold one! Plus, you don't have to sit around at the dealer dependent on their schedule and throwing your money at the issue. Plus, as I previously stated they don't come off AND they give you a great balance-something that can be up for grabs when someone else is sticking on weights-PLUS and this is a PLUS, as a tire wears the stickons become no longer "spot on" the balance needs of the tire, whereas with the beads down in there you are going to remain in constant balance even into the latter part of the tires life. Now top that!?

Just curious; have any of you tried just mounting a rear tire using the alignment marks and riding on it?

108625 said:

Just curious; have any of you tried just mounting a rear tire using the alignment marks and riding on it?

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I have. Put well over 15k miles on a Tourance that was mounted without balancing.

In another life I was a mechanic in a Goodyear factory and one set of machines that I worked on was the one that checked the balance of the tires and it dropped the colored wax spots as they went through and then routed them into various lines- OEM, retail, etc.. Given the fact that tires are handmade and have some variances, it is possible to buy a tire , balance your rim against the tires balance point, via tire rotation and achieve somewhat perfect balance. All depends on what you had to start with and that is subject to variance. This is not a new idea. Goodyear used "tire boots" stuck inside the tire in the 60's and the 70's to balance the tires they sold to Ford because they were not allowed to grind those tires into conformity, as were the rest.
So, you can try that tire rotation thing, or buy lead weights and hope they stay on and are in the right position, and hope the tire wears in a perfectly round and uniform way and pay or do the work yourself or you can dump in the magic ceramic beads (or air gun soft pellets)and hope the physics are there!

I asked because another rider and I discussed this over lunch the other day, and we both were riding on "unbalanced" rear tires. I've been doing it since my first tire change on my ST, I'm on my third now and have never felt a difference. New rims and tires are so well made and balanced that two of the three front tires I've had balanced didn't need any weight added, one of them just needed a shift on the rim, the other didn't.
Given my bike's voracious appetite for tires, I can attest that this is not a one-time fluke.

108625 said:

Just curious; have any of you tried just mounting a rear tire using the alignment marks and riding on it?

Click to expand...

Actually, worse.

For years I changed my own tube tires on the Honda 350 and the Yamaha and didn't know about the mark. I never tried to balance them and never noticed a problem until I changed the front for the last time on the Yamaha. I JUST checked it now and see that the mark is almost 180 away from the valve stem. I suspect that tire/wheel assembly would've been OK had I known about the mark. As I recall, it shakes around 65MPH.