wheel balencing?

[nick_c]

How important is it to have the wheels balenced on a bike? just got around to fitting the tyres I got off this site and the garage that fitted them said they can not balence them do not have the equipment, even though they advertise a motorbike tyre service.

Cheer's Nick.

[Gemini]

well i have driven a car with unbalanced tyres before and it was a bit shakey to say the least, so on a bike i certainly wouldnt risk it

there are plenty of bike tyre fitters out there so go to another that can balance them

better to be safe than sorry

gem

[masterofinsanity]

never got mine balanced, i stripped my rims completely and when i had the tyres refitted i was gonna take em back to be balanced but never got round to it, they feel fine to me.

[Caz]

it's not dangerous, but the bike may feel horrible; especially at high speeds.

Give it ago - if you're getting weird vibrations and the bike feels horrible, its almost certainly the tyres so get em balanced.

[Jamz]

I've heard some nightmare stories about vibrations and shaking at speed.

The front wheel is well worth getting balanced... but the rear?

See, the thing is, you'll have the wheel balanced, and then you put it back on the bike with spacers and sprockets and stuff!

There's no way that's going to still be balanced, surely?

[deviant]

I've heard some nightmare stories about vibrations and shaking at speed.

The front wheel is well worth getting balanced... but the rear?

See, the thing is, you'll have the wheel balanced, and then you put it back on the bike with spacers and sprockets and stuff!

There's no way that's going to still be balanced, surely?

Well the spacers and that don't actually rotate, it's only the sprocket/carrier. Which is fairly small and light compared to the wheel and tyre, so not going to be a major contributor to vibration. I'd expect them to be pretty well balanced anyway.

I'd expect most imbalance to originate from the tyre, due to variations in the rubber, with a bit of a contribution from the cast wheel. Both of which will be corrected by balancing.

A decent tyre place will probably charge something like a tenner a pair, even if you haven't bought the tyres from them. Personally I don't see why you wouldn't get it done. Alternatively for less than £100 you could buy the kit to balance them yourself.

[Jamz]

I've heard some nightmare stories about vibrations and shaking at speed.

The front wheel is well worth getting balanced... but the rear?

See, the thing is, you'll have the wheel balanced, and then you put it back on the bike with spacers and sprockets and stuff!

There's no way that's going to still be balanced, surely?

Well the spacers and that don't actually rotate, it's only the sprocket/carrier. Which is fairly small and light compared to the wheel and tyre, so not going to be a major contributor to vibration. I'd expect them to be pretty well balanced anyway.

I'd expect most imbalance to originate from the tyre, due to variations in the rubber, with a bit of a contribution from the cast wheel. Both of which will be corrected by balancing.

A decent tyre place will probably charge something like a tenner a pair, even if you haven't bought the tyres from them. Personally I don't see why you wouldn't get it done. Alternatively for less than £100 you could buy the kit to balance them yourself.

I think what Nick means is the car tyre place can get the tyres on the rims, but can't do the balancing.

I've had quite a few tyres fitted at a similar place, and I think their problem was that the spindle that goes through the wheel when they're balancing it is too big for a bike wheel. Hence they'll do your tyres for about £5 per wheel rather than rip-off bike place prices, but you can't have them balanced.

[deviant]

I think what Nick means is the car tyre place can get the tyres on the rims, but can't do the balancing.

yes, what I was suggesting was that he took it to a bike tyre place who would charge a trivial amount to balance it.

or buy one of these and some weights and do it yourself...

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

[RedexRobB]

those stands are more accurate too, no need to calibrate them since gravity is a constant

[mongo]

those stands are more accurate too, no need to calibrate them since gravity is a constant

I have the abba balancer, and in all honesty i would just use a pair of car axle stands and the spindle off the bike on the car axle stands.

You dont have to balance the rear wheel as much, just the front. Its much easier to balance a motorbike wheel than a car wheel, as with a car wheel you have to do the inside and outside. On a bike wheel you just make sure it doesnt stop in the same place everytime while balancing....