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Magic Beads! (tire balancing beads - yay or nay?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter shwaz
  • Start date Start date
Two things in this world i know about, there isnt any magic unless its playing cards and no God/s . Always hope. Balance that tyre the proven way and you wont have any issue if the rest of the bike is ok. Ive fitted 1000's of tyres and only reason they came back is they weaved and that was more with bike set-up or worn/loose steering head bearings. And no thats not a misprint. its 1,000s of tyres. 1978-1995 and the record was 35 tires on a sat morn during a 4hr shift. A few that brought there wheels in. Me tyre changing, boss doing the bike fitting. Record for a fitting took one person 11mins 28secs to do a Stock Katana front and back tyres one day.
 
Not sure how a discussion of magic got into this thread. There's nothing magical about it.
 
I balance the rim, no tire. Mount the tire, balance normally is unchanged. If it is changed, I rebalance. Done. No beads needed or wanted.
 
1980GS1000E said:
I balance the rim, no tire. Mount the tire, balance normally is unchanged. If it is changed, I rebalance. Done. No beads needed or wanted.
Click to expand...

Exactly how it should be done, with one exception. Try putting the yellow dot near the heaviest part of the rim. (Not really at the valve stem) In the long run you more than likely use less weight.

And if the tire has only a yellow dot?
Regardless of the type of wheel, if there is no red dot,
mount the tire with the yellow dot next to the valve stem.

Why do it that way?
We’ll start with the yellow dot, because it’s easier to explain.
The yellow dot indicates the overall light static balance
point of the tire. In other words, it’s as though the tire is a
bit lighter in the area where the yellow dot is located.
How does that relate to the wheel?

On an aluminum wheel, the valve stem marks the heavy
point of the wheel. So, you’re matching the light point of
the tire with the heavy point of the wheel, because that’s
likely to give the best initial balance.
 
I omitted that part, but I do align the mark with the stem. I try to get the rim as close as possible.
 
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Just FYI...

On vintage bikes with aluminum wheels, the wheel's heavy spot is very often NOT where the valve stem is. It's well worth checking this on your olde bikes and perhaps making a subtle mark somewhere to mark the true heavy spot.

Sometime in the '90s, casting technology got a little better and on pretty much all modern bike wheels the heavy spot is indeed at the valve stem, or there's no heavy spot because the wheel is in balance.


Also, some makes and models of tires come from the factory perfectly balanced -- Avon RoadRiders and many Michelins are the ones I've encountered. If you balance the wheel and then install Avon RoadRiders from then on, you won't need to rebalance. (I always check anyway.)
 
Quick explanation of balancing. Remove all previous weights. With a axle/rod fitting thru the bearings and hopeing its on free rolling wheels of a balancer give the wheel a slow spin and let it come to rest. Marking the tread with chalk at 12 o'clock (the lightest part of the wheel), bring it down to 3 or 9 o'clock position. Keep adding weight to the rim at the marked area till the wheel stays put in the 9/3 position and doesnt rotate around back to the 12 o'clock position. If done correctly the wheel will stay put in any position you care to place it. Wheel in this instance means wheel/tyre combo. If you are anal like me and others you can check for the heavy spot on a bare rim(180 degrees from lightest spot) as above but please dont add weight yet. You can then mount the tyre with the yellow/red dot at the heaviest part of the rim and proceed as above. Heavy spots on a bare rim dont mean at the valve stem, can be anywhere. Tyres with no Dots you just have to take pot luck as they be in most cases good quality tyres. Tubes are also pot luck and flipping a tube around to try and get a better balance in most cases will drive you mad. I think thats a pretty idiot proof explanation.
 
I'd take a 55 lb sack, my last bag ran out and now I'm stuck with using lead because I'm not paying $2 an ounce for industrial grinding beads.

Could split a bag, too bad you're in Ireland. What's the price for 55lbs?
 
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Grimly said:
I've been looking for suppliers of 1mm ceramic beads. Seems I need to buy 55lb sacks of them.
Click to expand...

I also did a brief search when this was mentioned and didn't easily find any small scale suppliers in the US...

But I'll deal with one bike at a time, my 3oz for $15 should arrive on Tuesday and that will do me for this one
 
Doesn't work for me, too many tires to do.
And I hate paying ridiculous prices.
 
Hmmmm, anyone want to split a bag of these? I can buy a 55 pounder and sell smaller bags for a reasonable price to forum members.

Grimly, I can send a pound or two to Ireland if you want them.
 
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