Author Topic: Ounces of bounce - Unbalanced front tire! (Read 2218 times)

Skonnie Boy · « **on:** July 04, 2011, 07:05:39 PM »

Long story short, got an unbalanced front tire. Super annoying hopping at 25-40mph. There's 1.25 oz's of weights on my newly installed Bridgestone. I don't think they bothered to take off the old spoke weights. I'm about 2,000 miles from home, how stupid would it be to remove the new weights? How much worse could it get? Does tire balancing happen with the tire attached to wheel? Opinions?

scottly · « **Reply #1 on:** July 04, 2011, 07:16:05 PM »

That's way out of balance, (or out of round??) if it's happening at such a low speed. Where are you now? If there anyplace you can work on the bike? I would try to static balance the wheel on the bike, but you would have to remove the brake caliper to remove drag.

haill · « **Reply #2 on:** July 04, 2011, 07:25:41 PM »

you should mark on the tire where the weights are now, take them off try, if no good install them on the direct opposite side to the mark you placed previous, or drop in on motorcycle shop and get them to balance it for you again...

BobbyR · « **Reply #3 on:** July 04, 2011, 07:58:22 PM »

I would put the bike on the center stand an spin it to see of your tire is out of round or the tire and or wheel is running true. Getting a bounce at 20mph is very unusual from balance.

seaweb11 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2011, 08:14:28 PM »

Was the tire just put on?

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #5 on:** July 04, 2011, 10:11:12 PM »

Yeah, just got a new front. I'll have to try to lift the front up and see, just have to wait until the better half wakes up tomorrow so she can counterbalance. Funny, had not thought how simple the "balancing" was, just hang it in the air and see which way it turns...

scottly · « **Reply #6 on:** July 04, 2011, 10:47:32 PM »

Quote from: BobbyR on July 04, 2011, 07:58:22 PM

I would put the bike on the center stand an spin it to see of your tire is out of round or the tire and or wheel is running true. Getting a bounce at 20mph is very unusual from balance.

1+ Hold a pencil or some kind of pointer against the fork leg, with the point close to the side of the tire, and turn the wheel, watching to see if the distance between the tire and the pointer changes. If the tire isn't seated properly on the rim, it could be out of round, and the extra weights were needed to balance the wheel.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 04, 2011, 10:55:28 PM »

That is a great idea. I will def include that in the troubleshooting session tomorrow.

Hey Scottly, you're an AZ person, right? Happen to be in Lake Havasu right now. Funny.

scottly · « **Reply #8 on:** July 04, 2011, 10:59:57 PM »

There are Sohc knowledgeable folks in Kingman, not that far from Havasu!!!

seaweb11 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 04, 2011, 11:54:55 PM »

I asked because I and many others have had tires put on and not sealed evenly on wheel. Bump, bump, bump at low speeds.
Check along the edges for an even strip where tire meets wheel.

Kong · « **Reply #10 on:** July 05, 2011, 04:20:33 AM »

Having bent two rims in the last three years I'd put in a bet that balance is not your problem. With the thump starting at such a low speed and being more or less confined to a speed range tells me that you've bent your rim too. I bent one of mine when I hit god's own pothole and the other one bent when I hit a raised rail road crossing with one rail that stood very high. The symptoms were exactly like yours. The solution? A new rim. If they are really bent you can not fix them by spoke adjustment.

My next best guess would be that you have a problem with the tire. I've had this happen many times to automobile tires, internally a "tread separates" and you get a bump in the rubber that acts just like a bent rim. Usually you can just ride down the road at slow speed and look at the tire and see the hump (this usually works with a badly bent wheel too).

That said, you know even if you are 2000 miles from home there are still probably bike shops where you are and having a wheel balanced is not at all expensive.

On Edit: A thing about that balance. An ounce and a quarter is a good bit, but not an absurd amount. However whenever it goes over an ounce just ask the guy who's mounting the tire to break it back down and spin the tire around on the rim and try it again. As I hope you already know, if its a new tire you should align the yellow dot with the air valve to aid in getting proper balance.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #11 on:** July 05, 2011, 11:14:25 PM »

Quote from: Kong on July 05, 2011, 04:20:33 AM

As I hope you already know, if its a new tire you should align the yellow dot with the air valve to aid in getting proper balance.

I did not know that, good to know.

I haven't hit anything really big in, well, forever. Might not have noticed the bounce as much before. Hope its not a bent rim, I like the powdercoating it has now.

If its not mounted or sealed correctly, could this be helped by deflating it all the way and reinflating? I think we may have a few days in Sturgis or parts close by, if the problem becomes untenable and in need of pro help. Till then, it seems OK above 40mph, so fingers crossed. Will update.

PS- Havasu was the best redneck Riviera I've ever seen. In Laughlin tonight, sorta like mini Las Vegas. But that's a whole other thread...

DJ_AX · « **Reply #12 on:** July 06, 2011, 12:48:49 AM »

I'd bet that the tire was poorly mounted. I've had to take my tires back to the "professionals" (yeah right

) on several occasions for various reasons.

I'll be getting tools and doing my own the next time = soon.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #13 on:** July 06, 2011, 05:35:41 PM »

I thought Nevada and the Greater Las Vegas area was all about taking chances for money. But none of the bike shops in the Henderson/ Las Vegas bike shops have the balls to work on a simple wheel made in 1973, for any price. One shop wouldn't even risk giving me a referral. No telling what chaos or trouble that might have led to. Guess we wanted to avoid Las Vegas anyway. Good riddens.

Guess I'll just tough it out until further down the road. Does anyone know of a good shop in the St. George or Provo or SLC area? That would be the next cluster of urban areas we'll hit. Open to suggestion.

Here's to you, Sin City. If I believed in the lord's burning rain, I wouldn't buy you an umbrella.

Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #14 on:** July 06, 2011, 06:14:52 PM »

Quote

ought Nevada and the Greater Las Vegas area was all about taking chances for money. But none of the bike shops in the Henderson/ Las Vegas bike shops have the balls to work on a simple wheel made in 1973, for any price. One shop wouldn't even risk giving me a referral. No telling what chaos or trouble that might have led to. Guess we wanted to avoid Las Vegas anyway. Good riddens.

FFS i wouldn't take any bike to any shop that didn't know how to put a tyre on and balance it correctly, it was the first thing i was taught when working in bike shops and really, with the right tools, isn't that difficult.... There are safety standards here for tyre fitting and we would have been in the #$%* if we let bikes out with severe balance or poorly fitted tyre problems......

scottly · « **Reply #15 on:** July 06, 2011, 06:55:48 PM »

Hate to say I told you so, but you really should have paid our fellow member in Kingman a visit...

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #16 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:57:58 PM »

I would have, but this is a honeymoon and there is an itinerary. There's other kinds of bounce to be considered in this whole scenario.

Kong · « **Reply #17 on:** July 07, 2011, 04:56:33 AM »

It could be a mounting problem, but it might not be necessary to take it back to get it to seat if that's the problem. What have you got in there now, about 30 pounds of pressure or a little less? Blow it up to 50 and see what happens. If you hear a little "Pop" it might be the end of your problem. Of course you'll let the air out and bring it back down to the right pressure before your ride it again.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #18 on:** July 07, 2011, 07:13:19 AM »

I'll give it a shot. I can see where the tire bulges out on one side, about a mm or 2 more than the opposite side. Does the trick work in reverse, deflate then reinflate?

CycleRanger · « **Reply #19 on:** July 07, 2011, 07:54:39 AM »

Quote from: Kong on July 07, 2011, 04:56:33 AM

It could be a mounting problem, but it might not be necessary to take it back to get it to seat if that's the problem. What have you got in there now, about 30 pounds of pressure or a little less? Blow it up to 50 and see what happens. If you hear a little "Pop" it might be the end of your problem. Of course you'll let the air out and bring it back down to the right pressure before your ride it again.

Could be the tube is pinched. I would find a shop that can pull the tire off and remount it.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2011, 11:21:18 PM »

Took the bike to a place in town (St. George, UT), who ended putting another weight on the tire, solving nothing. Nice guys, wish they'd have helped. In so doing, they broke my speedo cable. To make up for it, they spent an hour drilling out the cable mount screw that had been stripped since I don't know when. So now, if I can find a new (or usable) cable, I can actually mount it. Which I have to do since they broke it.

Guess the original shop that mounted the tires will get to fix it for free when I get back. End of story for now.

Skonnie Boy · « **Reply #21 on:** July 10, 2011, 08:07:11 PM »

Bonus material: The tire is mounted backwards. If future generations are looking up ACE Motorcycle in Chicago, IL, all I have is to say is stay on their asses and doublecheck their work. Maybe they ought to spend more time on the quality of their work and less time designing flyers for Mods & Rockers BBQ.

Future generations should also know about an amazing dude named Chris at Werkstatte BMW in St. George, UT. Some guy at the Honda dealer couldn't tell me much more than his name and where his shop was. Found his number on the shop door and called. He sold me the speedo cable off his 550, threw in some bolts too. If he specialized in sohc, I'd give him a shout in "Good Folks", but his specialty is obviously Beemers. Wotta mensch.

Back to square one and honeymooning and 3.2% beer. Gotta get outta Utah.

CycleRanger · « **Reply #22 on:** July 10, 2011, 08:27:35 PM »

Quote from: Skonnie Boy on July 10, 2011, 08:07:11 PM

Bonus material: The tire is mounted backwards.

Aw jeez!

This is exactly why I took a Sharpy and drew arrows on the inside of the rim before I dropped off my front wheel to have the new tire mounted!

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Author Topic: Ounces of bounce - Unbalanced front tire! (Read 2218 times)