Wheel balancing

[Stretchamus]

Bought mine new, lots of weights on the rear

And every other bike I have owned, have also had both wheels balanced

Best regards Stretch

 

[thornley]

That's an interesting thought and may hold some water if the only roads you ever rode happened to be billiard table smooth?

And as for rear wheel bearing failure? In the real world, were I ride, the roads are littered with potholes, dropped and raised manhole covers and all other untold shite and debris it matters not one jot

I agree with your point but high frequency vibration that can easily be removed from the drive chain is a no brainer. It will have a potential effect on the shock and bearing, those forces have to go somewhere. Why not get rid of them for a couple of quid?

By the way I ride in the same real world and over the last 35 years have seen the quality of road suraces deteriorate to the shite levels we seem to accept whilst being taxed to death as motorists/riders

 

[bod]

I would say you've been lucky then in not experiancing a front wheel wobble

Next time you're out on your bike try the following ..... roll the throttle off from 60mph and only very lightly grip the bars allowing the bike to slow under it's own steam. In the majority of cases of an imbalanced front wheel the bars will gently shake as the bike decreases speed through the 50 to 30mph range

I often coast down a hill on a back lane near home none handed, and you're right, it will wobble as the speed reduces if out of balance.
I once had a stop to stop tankslapper doing this on a ZZR1100
I put it down to the squidgy suspension as the tyres had been recently fitted and balanced.

 

[m1keyp]

I always balance my own tyres (front & Rear)

The balancer that I use is this one:-

http://www.abbastands.co.uk/product_details.asp?id=14

and the BMW rear adapter came from this guy

http://www.marcparnes.com/BMW_Motorcycle_Wheel_Balancer.htm

Its kind of satisfying knowing that they are right.

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

I agree with your point but high frequency vibration that can easily be removed from the drive chain is a no brainer. It will have a potential effect on the shock and bearing, those forces have to go somewhere. Why not get rid of them for a couple of quid?

Interesting that you mention the drive chain as that is the point that the most vibration is likely to come from yet nobody dynamically balances wheels in situ on a bike like often happens at many premium car dealerships.

Take a bike that has a chain fitted. You replace the tyre and have the wheel balanced. You then fit that balanced wheel to a bike with worn sprockets and a drive chain with tight spots. When that wheel now spins is the whole assembly still balanced?

I think not

 

[bod]

Interesting that you mention the drive chain as that is the point that the most vibration is likely to come from yet nobody dynamically balances wheels in situ on a bike like often happens at many premium car dealerships.

Take a bike that has a chain fitted. You replace the tyre and have the wheel balanced. You then fit that balanced wheel to a bike with worn sprockets and a drive chain with tight spots. When that wheel now spins is the whole assembly still balanced?

I think not

I agree! You only have to run the bike in top gear on the centrstand . . it shakes all over the place.

 

[thornley]

Interesting that you mention the drive chain as that is the point that the most vibration is likely to come from yet nobody dynamically balances wheels in situ on a bike like often happens at many premium car dealerships.

Drive chain as in the method used to deliver the power to drive the vehicle. I don't mean those nasty greasy things

Take a bike that has a chain fitted. You replace the tyre and have the wheel balanced. You then fit that balanced wheel to a bike with worn sprockets and a drive chain with tight spots. When that wheel now spins is the whole assembly still balanced?

I think not

The wheel is the largest potential out of balance force and the simplest to correct so why not do it for a couple of £s? Why leave a worn sprocket and a chain with tight spots on a bike when you've taken the wheel off to re shod it?

 

[thornley]

I agree! You only have to run the bike in top gear on the centrstand . . it shakes all over the place.

Then have the wheel balanced! Find out why, bearing problem etc?

 

[Nice 'n' Fat]

The wheel is the largest potential out of balance force and the simplest to correct so why not do it for a couple of £s?

By all means do it if the fitter has the appropriate tools but in answer to the OP it's just not really a problem provided the wheel is fitted correctly

I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't have the rear balanced to save a few £'s but my point is that it's just not critical to have balanced which can't be said of the front

 

[thornley]

By all means do it if the fitter has the appropriate tools but in answer to the OP it's just not really a problem provided the wheel is fitted correctly

I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't have the rear balanced to save a few £'s but my point is that it's just not critical to have balanced which can't be said of the front

We shall disagree. I feel that a wheel should always be balanced when a new tyre is fitted. If you don't, you don't know if the wheel is slightly out of balance or massively out of balance or indeed in balance. You won't know unless you check it yourself if the wheel is running true within limits. Balancing shows this up to.

You have two wheels, they are both responsible for the dynamics of your machine why ignore one? Out of balance forces cause damage why accept it?. If the tyre fitter doesn't have the appropriate tools he aint touching my bike.

 

[TeaPig]

In an ideal world there's no doubt the wheel should be rebalanced when a new tyre is fitted.

The tool does exist to allow wheels like the GS rear to be fitted to a balancing machine, any fitter that claims they don't exist is simply tight or stupid.

In the pragmatic world in which I've covered many, many thousands of miles on GS's, I've never had the rears balanced as I fit the tyres myself and am too tight or stupid to get the right tool to balance them (though I do the fronts as that's easy). I've never experienced noticable wheel wobbling, shakes at any speed, including >>100mph or had failed shock or wheel bearings even after >100k miles. I'm not claiming to be clever in this observation, I just think the tyres I've fitted are pretty well balanced ex factory.

 

[Mr K]

Always get both wheels balanced.

If you're struggling to have the rear wheel done, take it to a car place, they're used to alloys or spoked with a big hole in the middle.

 

[bmwrich58]

Two types of "rear wheel" adapters used for balancing BMW wheels...

Left one is for Air/Oilheads and some 3 bolt wheels..Right one is for Hexheads.
Mark Parnes made the Hexhead one (on the right) but it is *no longer* available according to his web site.

As a side note...
People will argue all day long but,...
If balancing your wheels makes YOU happy then do it.
If not then don't do it.
But don't let someone make you feel BAD for what ever you choose.

I do it cuz it makes me feel HAPPY,and the bike performs better..!

 

[mikeyboy]

i balance my rears on a standard car wheel balancer,any garage should be able to do it if they know how to set the machine up.