i thought like cars the default had to be yes but does not seem that this a view shared by all... ive also found that those that dont charge half as much as those that do
There is a school of thought that it is essential to balance the front but not so essential for the rear. For what it is worth, I always get the tyre fitter to balance both wheels and always have done but then I've been using the same tyre fitters since the mid/late 70s. Andy
Ideally yes especially the front, but on my last tyre change the machine was down so I had fit only and spun them in abba stand to check for bad heavy spot and they seemed ok so Im using them. Tested to 150 with no problems so far.
Yes, because you're not just balancing a tyre but a wheel aswell, no guarantee that the wheel is perfect either.
Had loads of tyres fitted over the years and never had one balanced yet. Don't like the look of the led weight they hammer on the side of the rim or the ghastly looking led they stick in the centre of the wheel. Never had any problems on the road or the track.
i dont balance mine, cant feel anything even when the clocks go blank the wheel weigh nothing anyway...
Yes. At the speed a superbike will do, why take the chance. I fit my own tyres on my scooter and haven't balanced one yet. A for weights looking unsightly, my local fitter fits black stick on weights that are hardly noticeable, even on carbon wheels.
If the wheel is well made and good and true and the tyre is fitted correctly with the balance spot either in the right place next to the valve or against where the wheel is heaviest then you may not need to balance the wheel at all. Imbalance normally only shows up within a certain revolution speed of wheel and tyre unless you have something wrong. So you can ride out of it by going slower or faster. I didn't balance the wheels on my RD250LC Yamaha when I rebuilt it because of looks, I fully expected some type of wobble at around fiftyish on this bike as it's quite slow and so far up to about 90mph then It has been fine with no wobble at all. Try it without first if you don't want weights on the wheel and if it needs them at least get the front done as a minimum if you hit the imbalance period when riding.
I really can't see the benefits of not balancing a wheel on a big bike. If you don't like the unsightly weight, get a one that's the same colour or paint it yourself. I've never walked up to a nice looking bike and then thrown up at the sight of a wheel weight. In fact, I can't say I've ever noticed them at all. As posted above, you can ride through an imbalance. Would you want that imbalance when you are cranked over in the middle of a corner? I wouldn't thanks all the same. Here is a black weight on my 1098R wheels. I can't say i noticed it until this thread.
Why wouldn't you. I have had two tyres now that were terrible, maybe I am unlucky. The first came with my ZX10r gen 1, it was so bad that eventually the head stock bearings wore a flat spot from all the vibration. The second was a maxxis sport tyre, I check everything for true, couldn't find the cause for vibration, changed the tyre and hey presto, sorted.
I have had a speed wobble/minor tank slapper on a ZX6R on a fast sweeping motorway bend, this was eventually diagnosed as an out of balance front wheel due to a sticky balance weight coming off the wheel with a relatively new tyre. Even though the tyre may have a red dot it does not account for variation/damage to the wheel casting/machining or anomalies in the tyre. If you ever drive a car with an out of balance front wheel you will recognise that the out of balance goes into resonance at certain speeds relative to the rolling radius of the tyre and at peak resonance the steering gets some pretty violent shaking. This can be damaging and is at least uncomfortable, the same effect on a bike is dangerous in certain driving conditions. I would never drive a performance bike with an unbalanced front wheel and it takes a few minutes when fitting a new set of tyres to balance both wheels, why would you not do this?
