Last fall I ended up with a screw in my rear tire. Oops! So off to my dealer I rode to get a new set of tires (less than 3000 miles on the set I was replacing - Dawg!).
After the tires were mounted the service manager told me, "...We had to use balance beads in the rear. We don't have cones that fit the Valkyrie rear wheel...."
Huh?
We began to explore the issue and the service manager explained that the hub of the Valkyrie rear wheel is not as wide as the hub on the Goldwing. The service department uses a Snap-On wheel balancer. Their centering cones have an inclusive angle of about 45°. They've been able to "make do" on the "'ugly' Goldwing mags. " But the thinner width of the Valkyrie hub caused the cones to touch in the middle before they settled into the hub's centering tapers (all of this is explained below). He said if I would build a set of cones for them they'd gladly balance my rear tire "the regular way."
"Okay," I said. I wobbled off to break in my new tires.
After I finished my fairing build this summer I set to machining a set of balancing cones that fit the tapers on Valkyrie and Goldwing mags. Here are several images that will help explain the issues.
The above "schematic" (not to scale) depicts a cross-section of the Valkyrie hub with an axle running through the horizontal center hole. The Goldwing hub is similar but wider. The important thing to note is the inclusive angles of the "centering tapers" (the angles on either end of the center hole). This angle measures 60°.
The above image depicts a typical pair of balancing cones inserted in the Valkyrie hub. These cones have an inclusive angle of about 45°; they are designed to fit the "centering tapers" of ball bearings. Uh oh! To work in Goldwing or Valkyrie hubs they have to settle into the inner ends of the 60° centering tapers at the points marked by the green arrows. If the surfaces of the cones are damaged they may not "center" on this very thin contact ring. And if they are too long (like the ones in the image above) their ends will touch before they contact the rims of the centering tapers. That's what happens when such tapers are used with a Valkyrie rear wheel. Wobble, wobble, wobble, wobble....and the balancing machine shuts itself off.
A couple of weeks ago I machined a set of balancing cones like those depicted in the above image. I had a 40mm round rod of cast iron in the garage (doesn't everyone?) so I chucked it up in the lathe and went after it. (What did I ever buy that for, anyway? Geez. What an odd thing to have.) The cones I machined have an inclusive angle of 60° and are just long enough to fit past the inner edge of the balancing tapers on Goldwing and Valkyrie mags. We tried them on a Goldwing mag at the dealership and they worked well.
Early this morning I took my scooter in to get the rear tire balanced "for real." I went inside to talk with the parts manager while the service manager did the work ("No customers in the service bay, please"). It took a long time for the service manager to balance the rear tire. I'm afraid I began to bore the parts manager - I ran out of "stimulating conversation."
After a while the service manager came in grinning from ear to ear. He had his helmet in his hand. He said, "It's ready," and he started chuckling. It was the first time he had ridden the Valkyrie with the fairing and cruise control installed. He said, "It worked perfect!" Then he laughed aloud. At first I took it to mean the balancing cones worked "perfect." Later I thought he might have meant something else, or both. You don't think he...Naw, surely he didn't.
Oh well, so the moral of the story is this - if the service manager tells you they had to use balance beads in your rear tire it may be because they didn't have the right balancing cones to fit the Valkyrie mag. I guess balance beads are okay. But it sure was fun to see the look on the service manager's face after I got him to balance it "the regular way."
Bill
