foo... unbalanced wheel...

[hubcapsc]

My front wheel feels unbalanced. Not bad, but this is a goldwing, it should
be smooth as glass.

My front tire is one of those bias Dunlops they put on Harleys. I took the
bike to a local dealer (Toccoa, Ga) to get a new tire a while back, I specified
an OEM tire, and this is what I ended up with. The wheel was plastered with ugly
stickon weights when I got it back, yet the unbalanced feeling was still there.
Based on their inability to sell me the right tire, I figured they were also unable
to balance it properly, so I took off the weights and put in RideOn, I've been
using that in the Log Truck for years now. Still not right. So I figured I had
a tire that was really unbalanced and I just had to live with it for a while.

I got a new tire, and took the wheel off today. I put the wheel (no tire) on
my static balancer, and the wheel itself is way out of balance. Do y'all think
it is normal for a wheel to be way out of balance?

Tomorrow (Sunday) Cycle Gear in Greenville (40 miles away) will be open, their
web page says they have motionpro stick-on weights, 72 7gram weights for
$4.50. The Auto Parts store in town has a $50.00 box of stick on weights,
I think I'll drive to Greenville  . Anywho, with some weights I should be
able to quantify what I mean by "way out of balance".

This is the first time I've lifted the front of this bike. It's not so bad, but the
bottom of the motor isn't flat... after I got everything set up, and the jack
in place, Carolyn helped me. I held the bike "plumb  " and she jacked
it up until the front wheel wasn't touching, and tightened the screw-type
jack stands, the bike is very solid and steady. The calipers are in socks and
zip-tied up to keep them from rubbing on stuff or scratching anything
while they're hanging there. In order to get the wheel out with it
barely off the ground, I removed the fender (easy).



Assuming I manage to get some suitable weights tomorrow, I'll
chime back in and let y'all know what it took just to balance the
wheel.

-Mike

[Robert]

If you are questioning if the rim is off balance I believe mine is. I had the tire from the factory mounted when I originally bought the bike. I put on a Michelin tire on and before I went to balance it I took off the old weights. I rebalanced the tire and it took a 1/2 once more weight  roughly in the same spot. My thinking is next time I change the tires I am going to balance the rim and see. My guess is, it is out, I'm not really sure how much but what are the chances that 2 tires need the weight in the same spot. If that is the case I am going to look into having the rims balanced out.

 That said the ride on should have been able to compensate for the any imbalance. After balancing my tires it was pretty good but I had ordered some Dyna Beads for someone else and I put in 1 1/2 ounce in front and rear. The bike feels super smooth on the road at any speed now. Dont get me wrong it was not anything much before but now its just the road you feel. I would also say the bias ply tire is harder than the radial thats one advantage of radials is the smooth ride. The rear Michelin Pilot GT4 has a bias belt that keeps the stiffness and weight but the radial plys keep it smooth. Its in their advertising and maybe this is in part what you are feeling the stiffness in the bias tire.

Lifting these bikes up is not the easiest thing to do, the wing guys have the regular motorcycle jack and lift the bike like you would any other. The engine is most of the support but the exhaust is the balancing. I am fortunate to have a lift and that makes lifting these bikes very easy. I support it under the engine guards and then under the shock mount behind the engine. It works well and I can lift to any height.

I would make a suggestion go to any tire place they have stick on weights and they will be closer all you need is about 3 ozs because if the wheel takes more than 2 there is a problem with the tire or the way its mounted. The weights may not look pretty but you can worry about that later. The other question that comes to mind is how are you going to balance it with the Ride On in the tire? Plus did you pull all the weights off and see if the Ride On without the weights will balance the tire?

[hubcapsc]

I took off all the weights before I put in the RideOn. For
some number of years I have used only RideOn, no
weights, with great success.

When I balance the wheel with weights, I'll consider the wheel
"normalized", and then I'll install the new tire and put
in RideOn.

go to any tire place

Tomorrow's Sunday. There's no tire places. 

If I manage to get the stick-on weights from CycleGear, I expect
to be shocked at how much it takes to balance the wheel, but
we'll see...



-Mike

[Robert]

I took off all the weights before I put in the RideOn. For
some number of years I have used only RideOn, no
weights, with great success.

When I balance the wheel with weights, I'll consider the wheel
"normalized", and then I'll install the new tire and put
in RideOn.

go to any tire place

Tomorrow's Sunday. There's no tire places. 

Mike

I was wondering about Ride On so thanks for the information but please post the outcome I would really like to know if these rims are indeed off. 

[hal47]

Mike you might want to try this, first take your tire off and balance the wheel,them install the tire and find the heavy spot, them spin the tire around to where the tire heavy spot is where the weights are on the wheel, them remove the weights and rebalance the whole assy again.

[Dragunslayer]

When I put my Michies on I left the factory weights on the wheels and installed the NEW tires ( I have a No-Mar Machine ). Once done  I threw them on the static balancer and they took zero weights.

Michy claims their tires are perfectly balanced which is why you DO NOT FIND any marking on them indicating a heavy spot.

[hubcapsc]

Mike you might want to try this, first take your tire off and balance the wheel,them install the tire and find the heavy spot, them spin the tire around to where the tire heavy spot is where the weights are on the wheel, them remove the weights and rebalance the whole assy again.

Hi Hal... good to hear from you!

That's a good idea. The tire is off, I hopefully will obtain the stick-on
weights today. As it is, the wheel is practically a perpetual motion
machine, it might take a lot of weight. I made this YouTube video,
does this amount of unbalance in the wheel seem unreasonable
(I've never been motivated to see if my 1500's wheels
were balanced)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB9VDohjF0Y

Hal, will you be at meet in the middle?

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

I got the weights. 7 gram ones. It was hard to find the balance
place, I tried many different combinations, so I backed off to "keep
it simple". Six weights (three on each side) directly across from
the heavy place on the wheel was too much, 5 directly across from
the heavy place, and the heavy place stayed where it was. So I
got out the bolt cutters and cut one weight in two. Six directly
across from the heavy place and half of one (3.5 grams) on the heavy
place is perfect.

Back out to install the tire, and see if I can spin it on the rim as Hal
suggested if needed. Avon doesn't mark the light
place on their "tyres"...

-Mike

[postoak]

Robert - can you tell us what lift you have and/or provide a link to it?

[hubcapsc]

I was unable to spin the tire on the wheel. The balance, with the tire
on, was almost perfect anyhow. I took off the half weight, and put on
a whole one near the same place, it is very balanced now. I think
of it as six weights to balance the wheel and one weight to
balance the tire. I probably have to go pick up hay bales out of
the field after work tomorrow, maybe I'll get the wheel
back on on Tuesday afternoon or so... can't ride it though,
gotta change out the back tire too... I'm going to put the
rear wheel (no tire) on the balancer too, and see if it is
anywhere near balanced....

-Mike

[hal47]

Mike no not going to make the ride, 1 1/4 oz. doesn't sound that bad, your valve stem could make a difference depending if you have the steel one.      Have a good ride.

[Robert]

Robert - can you tell us what lift you have and/or provide a link to it?

Unfortunately the one I have is a commercial twin post automotive lift. I dont think you would want something like that, sorry. They are pretty difficult to lift comfortably but the wing guys do it all the time. Look at a Goldwing board and you will see they just use a regular motorcycle lift.