Dynabeads, or similar products: Yes or no?
- Thread starter r2c9y
- Start date
Yes, they work. They will constantly re balance your tire as it wears.
docw1
Bill Rankin
I prefer to use Ride-On which will not only help to balance the tire but also help to plug punctures.
My sister, who is an engineer, says they cannot work- however, I both balance my tires, and use Dyna beads, and I have found them to eliminate cupping on my front tire, which used to be a problem. Always a smooth ride, up to extra-legal speeds.
I've used balance beads for years and they do work. Now, they don't get distributed until approximately 30mph so leave the existing weights on the wheel. Otherwise you may feel an imbalance at low speeds. I reuse the beads so over time hardly any cost.
Andrew Shadow
Site Supporter
Hah! That's a good one. You started off with a bang- a first post that is a question around which there is about as much agreement as what is the best oil to use.
Do some research and you will mostly likely not find any credible science that supports the theory behind balancing beads, or least I couldn't so if you do pass it along.
Despite that you will also find no shortage of rational and very experienced riders who are long-time users of balancing beads and who swear by their effectiveness.
They work because the tire attempts to rotate around the center of mass, so the lightest part is farthest from center, which encourages the beads to migrate to that part of the tire.
They work.
Now can we get back to oil?
Chris
Now can we get back to oil?
Chris
Does that mean the tire fails to rotate?
The worse your inbalance or suspension is, the better they work, as they need this "shaking" to find their counterbalancing location.
RideOn has the advantage to stick into this location once it has found it. Beads need to be flung over again after every start....unless you use the ones claimed to electrostatically cling to the walls.
Not heavily marketed to the MC crowd because of the small qty we would use. Truckers are the main consumers.
And your local mechanic is not likely to push them either as they don't particularly like them bouncing around their floor after changing tires for customers who don't disclose the beads.
RideOn has the advantage to stick into this location once it has found it. Beads need to be flung over again after every start....unless you use the ones claimed to electrostatically cling to the walls.
Not heavily marketed to the MC crowd because of the small qty we would use. Truckers are the main consumers.
And your local mechanic is not likely to push them either as they don't particularly like them bouncing around their floor after changing tires for customers who don't disclose the beads.
mello dude
Half genius, half dumazz whackjob foole
Curious, what kind of engineer is she? (I'm a mechanical)
I tried them in my car... big mistake! Shakes on the hwy...
I run balance beads in cruiser type bikes.. (Valkyie now) and they're fine for that... smooth ride....
In sport type bikes, though, where you could blast into triple digits on occasion, I dont find them effective, so on those type bikes, its balance weights.
Officer to me..."Do you know how fast you were going?" Me... "Cant say I know sir."
When I was commuting my 125 miles a day, I was going through tires every three to four months. And before @Byron moved out of SoCal, he would come over and change out my tires for me, with his portable No-Mar tire machine. Then he would spend a few minutes, balancing each tire. And he was good at it, VERY good at it!
Once he moved, I picked up my own No-Mar tire machine and found, even though trained by the best, I couldn't balance my tires, no matter how hard I tried! So I went to beads and now, my tires seem to be balanced all the time. And even after my little 2,449 mile trip up to WeSTOC in Billings Montana, I had no problems with my tires being balanced.
Once he moved, I picked up my own No-Mar tire machine and found, even though trained by the best, I couldn't balance my tires, no matter how hard I tried! So I went to beads and now, my tires seem to be balanced all the time. And even after my little 2,449 mile trip up to WeSTOC in Billings Montana, I had no problems with my tires being balanced.
When I was commuting my 125 miles a day, I was going through tires every three to four months. And before @Byron moved out of SoCal, he would come over and change out my tires for me, with his portable No-Mar tire machine. Then he would spend a few minutes, balancing each tire. And he was good at it, VERY good at it!
Once he moved, I picked up my own No-Mar tire machine and found, even though trained by the best, I couldn't balance my tires, no matter how hard I tried! So I went to beads and now, my tires seem to be balanced all the time. And even after my little 2,449 mile trip up to WeSTOC in Billings Montana, I had no problems with my tires being balanced.
So not running weights at all or just compensating for the "Supra Balancing" with beads?
drrod
Site Supporter
My observations gleaned from some 80 sets of tires on different bikes, including the ST.
- many of today's tires do not require balancing. Manufacturing tolerances are better? Who knows? But many tires do not seem to need balancing. Not saying there are not some wheels that are out of balance though. I check my wheels' balance periodically and always check the balance of newly mounted tires and balance if needed. Cleaning the rim is a step that some people skip when balancing.
- Ride On - expensive, and did not prevent all flats (in my experience). When you take a tire off, with it in place, I found it was distributed in a relatively narrow band around the center of the tread area. Any puncture off that narrow line would not have been affected by the Ride On. I don't know how many flats it prevented but I had flat tires using Ride On where the puncture was well within the tread. It doesn't take too many bottles of Ride On to pay for a balancer.
- glass beads - I only used these on a couple of tires before I quit. The reason being that the glass tended to get pulverized into a very fine powder and this powder would clog the schrader valve, when checking the pressure, resulting in a slow leak.
Net result - I just check and balance if needed. YMMV
- many of today's tires do not require balancing. Manufacturing tolerances are better? Who knows? But many tires do not seem to need balancing. Not saying there are not some wheels that are out of balance though. I check my wheels' balance periodically and always check the balance of newly mounted tires and balance if needed. Cleaning the rim is a step that some people skip when balancing.
- Ride On - expensive, and did not prevent all flats (in my experience). When you take a tire off, with it in place, I found it was distributed in a relatively narrow band around the center of the tread area. Any puncture off that narrow line would not have been affected by the Ride On. I don't know how many flats it prevented but I had flat tires using Ride On where the puncture was well within the tread. It doesn't take too many bottles of Ride On to pay for a balancer.
- glass beads - I only used these on a couple of tires before I quit. The reason being that the glass tended to get pulverized into a very fine powder and this powder would clog the schrader valve, when checking the pressure, resulting in a slow leak.
Net result - I just check and balance if needed. YMMV
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She is actually a civil engineer ( PE), and specializes in structural failure. I'm an EE, and have two other sibs who are different flavors of engineers.
bdalameda
PaleoCyclist
I used to used balance beads all the time. I don't right now as I had a problem when I had my ST1100. Balance beads work most of the time just fine but I had a situation happen when I installed a new tire with the beads and experienced a very noticeable shimmy and the wheel would phase in and out of balance depending on speeds. I tried everything to stop it without success so I contacted the manufacturer of the beads. I was told that in some cases the internal carcass of the tire is molded in such a way that this type of cyclical imbalance can happen and also loose steering head bearings can amplify the issue. I removed the beads and rebalanced with weights and the problem was resolved. I do use the beads in my trailer tires.
I am definitely going to try thee beads in my trailer tires. Thanks for the tip!!
No, it means that quoting only part of a sentence . . .
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