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Dealer mount, but no balance?

Spaulding

Horizontally opposed
Okay, I normally do my own work on the airheads, but I really hate dealing with tires...

Thought I would save some frustration, so I took the wheels and tires to my local dealer (wheels were off the bikes). They did a fine job mounting all the tires, but I'm nearly 100% sure they didn't balance them!

Reason: all the old weights are still in the same spots, and the R100S front wheel bounces like mad at about 90 mph. It certainly didn't do that before with the old tires.

When I noticed the old weights, I thought they might've used some high-tech balancing method (beads?) but now I think they just didn't balance them at all.

I can balance them myself, and that's what I'm going to do. Thought I was saving myself some time, but this is not doing much to help my phobia about not doing the work myself. I guess I didn't specifically ask for a balance, but figured that was part of the process.

Just seems odd, has anyone else had this experience with a BMW dealer? A mount with no balance? Am I missing something? Is it because I just brought the wheels in, not the bikes? I don't see why that would make a difference, but maybe it does...
 
I routinely bring just wheels in...I think balancing is a given. I specifically say not to balance given that I'll do it myself. I'd call and ask what your bill covered, then go from there.
 
I have always changed my tires the hard way, with spoons on the floor of my garage. I have never had my tires balanced.
 
I have always changed my tires the hard way, with spoons on the floor of my garage. I have never had my tires balanced.

I have always done the same thing until I had a pair installed on the wheels of my CLC a couple of years ago. The tires were so large, I didn't attempt it. However, the Honda dealer couldn't find their adapter to balance them so I have never had a tire balanced and I have never had a problem in the last 35-40 years. However, I seldom exceed 80.
 
Take the weights off and use Dyna Beads if the dealer will not correct the problem.
RIDE SAFE
 
Before you go to Dynabeads, closely inspect both sides of the tire where it meets the rim. There should be a telltale circle in the rubber right at the rim. If the tire is not fully seated on both sides of the rim, you'll find a section of the circle tucked into the rim. A not-fully-seated tire can give that kind of "thump thump thump" imbalance feeling.
 
Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated!

I will start by checking the seat, since that makes sense to me too, and go from there. I'd rather correct the issue myself - if possible - anyway...
 
Dealer mount but no balance

I quit balancing my Metzler's years ago. Just put the red dot that is on the tire next to the valve stem.

I made the mistake of taking my bike to the dealer and they had the red dot opposite the valve stem and a whole bunch of weights on the tire. They didn't know about the red dot.

Bike rode terrible. Took it back they made it good. You can find out about this on Metzeler's website. I would imagine that other tire manufacturers use a similar system.

I have a 78 BMW R/80 that I bought new. I quit having flats when I started using Metzler Marathon ME88's and 880's. I always get about 12,000 miles out of the rear tires and the fronts I have never worn out. They will have 20,000 plus miles on them and I get rid of them when they are 6 years old.
 
I quit balancing my Metzler's years ago. Just put the red dot that is on the tire next to the valve stem.

I made the mistake of taking my bike to the dealer and they had the red dot opposite the valve stem and a whole bunch of weights on the tire. They didn't know about the red dot.

Some tires do not come with a paint spot because manufacturing tolerances are good enough that the marking is no longer needed. I think Michelin is in this category. Beyond that, there is a lot of lore about paint spots and markings on wheel rims and where the valve hole is drilled.

It is best to consult the product websites (tire manufacturer and vehicle manufacturer) and avoid forums as sources of accurate info.
 
I have never balanced my '78's tires and always changed the tires myself. I found the stubby tire tools helped make the chore easier (http://www.stubbytiretools.com/) and recently bought a motion pro bead buddy. I haven't used the bead buddy yet, but expect it to work as advertised. This is for tube tires with spoke wire wheels.

The red dot on the tire is the light spot marked by the factory and goes at the valve stem. Even though changing the tire is a chore, it makes me much more comfortable the tube and tire are installed correctly. I tend to heed the 80 mph maximum speed warnings on Krauser bags so higher speeds may cause noticeable vibration. Once upon a time, the bike was operated at maximum speed (which is only 105 mph) without balanced tires. It certainly will not hurt to balance the tires.
 
Putting the dot at the valve stem is a good general rule, but not infallible. If you do your own balancing, you should check the balance of a wheel with the tire off. Most of those I've checked are not at the valve stem -- usually within a few inches, but still off.
 
Putting the dot at the valve stem is a good general rule, but not infallible. If you do your own balancing, you should check the balance of a wheel with the tire off. Most of those I've checked are not at the valve stem -- usually within a few inches, but still off.
+1 -- made considerably worse by the weight of a tire pressure monitoring sensor. I've yet to find a TPS-equipped wheel that didn't need more weight than usual opposite the TPM sensor (i.e., the rims are not cast to be out of balance in order to counteract the TPM sensor's weight).
 
Balanced the front tire and took it back on the freeway. 100 mph, steady and sure. Reassuring that I wasn't losing my mind (yet). Dealer did not balance my wheels. Check out the weight it needed...

IMG_3122.jpg


When I initally put the wheel on my balancer it sunk FAST. I might go with dyna beads in the back tire, but it feels really good to me as-is with just the front wheel balanced. It's gotta be entertaining to the drivers to see a nearly 40 year old "super bike" blow past them on the freeway. No, I do not normally ride anywhere near that speed, but I like to know that I can...
 
I'll offer two totally different comments. I'll preface by saying I usually mount and balance our tires myself but not always if we are on the road.

1. Two summers ago we were headed to Hyder, Alaska. We were camped within sight of the border, poised to go from Washington into Canada when I discovered a nail in the rear tire on Voni's bike. It was a tire I planned to last to Hyder and back to the lower 48. I plugged it but didn't want to head into Canada with a thin tire with a plug in it. We backtracked about 50 miles to a multi-brand, all sports shop and found a tire that would fit her bike. He didn't say anything about a problem balancing the tire.

We rode up to Prince George and she didn't notice a problem with the bike fully loaded for our summer camping journey. But after we set up camp, and rode unloaded bikes on the higher speed four-lane approaching Prince George for dinner she noticed a thumping. Out of balance.

I tried four shops in Prince George including a specialty car shop and nobody had a flange that would match the wheel on her F800S. Finally the guy at the Harley shop talked us into trying Dyna Beads. They seemed to work. We went on to Hyder, then eventually south to Seattle for the start of the Iron Butt Rally, and eventually to Ontario, California (L.A. area) for the finish of the rally. It was hot. When we left Ontario we headed towards Las Vegas. The thumping in her rear tire had returned, worse than ever. We bailed into a motel in Vegas at noon to get out of the 110 or so heat. It stayed hot the next day and we thump thumped our way north and then east through Zion National Park. After about three days when we rode in cooler weather, the thumping went away.

As best I could determine, in the really hot weather the beads had clumped together in bits of rubber dust in the tire. There was noticeable rubber dust in the tire when I pulled it off. I have not used Dyna Beads since, but would again if I was unable to otherwise balance a tire.

2. I have balanced most of our wheels with no tire mounted. The weights used to balance the wheel sans tire are marked with red paint. When I mount a tire I seldom need to add weight, but if I do I still leave the marked weights (for the wheel only) in place. I started doing this after I finally noticed I was taking weights off and putting weights back on in almost the same spot usually. Maybe a little more, or a little less, but about the same spot. I concluded I was balancing and re balancing the wheel more than the tire, and that has proven to be true in almost all cases.
 
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So far as "rubber dust" in tires, they are coated at the factory with a slurry which is sprayed into the green tire (while it's still a barrel shape) and was(during my time in the tire factory) comprised of silicone & soapstone . It is to enable release from the bladder which inflates the green tire from the center out thus forcing it into the mold to receive the molds tread pattern and become "tire shaped". The pattern we see inside the tire is from the pattern on the rubber bladder in the center of the lower mold half.
A long way of saying that a new tires inner liner is not a necessarily real clean environment. I have wondered if it is advised with bike tires to wipe them clean with a rubber solvent such as used for tire & tube patching prior to mounting? It would seem to be a nice way to prepare the inside for a possible future repair event, by enabling better contamination free repairs?
My Dyna- beads get coated with a bit of black as they do their job & I reuse what doesn't escape. I get typical tire life & smooth riding too. Placing vale at 6 o'clock or giving a puff of air prior to pressure checks is a good habit to avoid schrader valve issues. I am ordering one of the Stubby tires tool sets with my next tires. They look to be a good tool!
There is a nice write up on them & tire changing in WebBikeWorld.
OK, it's me thats chubby, the tools are stubby!
 
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I think Chubby->Stubby on the webbikeworld review. I appreciate the stubby's because milk jug/rim protector plastic is not needed with tire irons. While the rims on my airhead are in no way pristine, I don't want to add more scratches. That, and the hook end design (I found) helps compared to motion pro short irons. YMMV.
 
Most of the shops in my area don't balance motorcycle tires. I mount and balance my own tires for this reason. There are already so many things that can happen when riding to cause a crash, why add one more? Many riders make excuses why they don't need to balance, but it only takes me about 5 minutes to balance one, and then I know its done right. JMHO
 
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