Page 1 of 1
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 6:52 pm
by andy@andynicholson.com
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 8:08 pm
by kdxkawboy@aol.com
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 8:46 pm
by Tengai Mark Van Horn
At 9:08 PM -0400 6/26/03, kdxkawboy@... wrote:
Those are all bordering on overkill for what you need to balance a KLR wheel.
Lister Richard Cullison made a slick "pocket-sized" balancer out of
four Roller Blade wheel bearings, some steel bar and string, all for
about $10.
I've seen it in action and it works quite well
Richard? Ya wanna add to this, maybe post a pic??
Mark
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 12:25 am
by Andy Nicholson
This info is all really useful, and I appreciate all the info I can get.
FWIW, I actually do care about the more expensive balancers, I have 2
Beemers with wheels to balance. In all honesty, if it were just the KLR
I might not even bother

When I replaced the factory (Dunlop) rear with an IRC, I was content to
line up on the balance mark, and even then I had it backwards. I just
installed a set of Metzler Karoo's and they don't have balance marks at
all, so I'll see how it goes. I'm skeptical that it will make that much
of a difference.
Ah, yes, everyone will want to know about the mileage:
Replaced factory rear tire at 2350 mi. Probably was good for another
300 - 600 miles, but I had more miles than that to get home and wouldn't
have had another chance to change the tire.
I've got 5100 miles now and there is still about 2mm of usable tread
front (factory Dunlop) and rear (IRC GP110). At this rate the factory
front is good for around 7500 miles and the IRC GP110 is good for around
4500 miles.
I swapped the tires out because I want to enjoy full knobbies for the
rest of the summer.
Cheers!
P.S. Ultra Heavy Duty 4mm inner tubes are a bit more difficult to
install than regular tubes. I didn't bother with it on the front.
storage
>drawer built into the stand in the Parts Unlimited catalog (might have
been
>Rocky/Tucker) for around $150.
Those are all bordering on overkill for what you need to balance a KLR
wheel.
Lister Richard Cullison made a slick "pocket-sized" balancer out of
four Roller Blade wheel bearings, some steel bar and string, all for
about $10.
I've seen it in action and it works quite well
Richard? Ya wanna add to this, maybe post a pic??
Mark
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 5:11 am
by Mark St.Hilaire, Sr
> P.S. Ultra Heavy Duty 4mm inner tubes are a bit more difficult to
> install than regular tubes. I didn't bother with it on the front.
Andy, where did you get Ultra Heavy Duty tubes for the 17" rear, from Fred?
What brand and size are they? About 7500 miles ago when I put Distanzia's on
my bike the best rear tube I could find was a good quality Metzler, but not
heavy duty...
Thanks,
Mark
KLR650 Motorcycle Pages:
http://klr6500.tripod.com/
HomePage:
http://home.adelphia.net/~msaint/index.html
My Adelphia Email can be "iffy." If
you don't get a response, please try:
KLR6500@...
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 6:31 am
by rfcullison
I really just copied the minibalancers shown on Rod Neff's website
http://www.pbase.com/rodneff/minibalancer. The idea, as with his
balancer stand, is that you use the bikes axle bolt. If there is too
much friction for the tire to spin easily on the axle bearings then
the bolt will roll on the two bearings on each side. On my KLR the
front wheel bearings rolled easily enough that the balancer bearings
did not move, but the back worked the other way around. This will
only work on a bike with axle bolt so it would not be useful for say
a BMW rear or my Hawk GT with a single sided swingarm, then you need
the threaded rod with the cones to center the wheel. I used the
inline skate bearings because I had them and they rolled freely. I
had some better quality bearings, but they were designed for a
heavier load and had too much friction to be usefull.
--- In
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, Tengai Mark Van Horn
wrote:
> At 9:08 PM -0400 6/26/03, kdxkawboy@a... wrote:
> >In a message dated 2003-06-26 4:54:24 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> >andy@a... writes:
> >
> >>
> >> Anyone have any recommendations for wheel balancers? Here are
the two I am
> >> considering:
> >>
> >>
http://home.socal.rr.com/bbtr/Products/BMW_Motorcycle_Wheel_Balancer.h
tm
storage
> >drawer built into the stand in the Parts Unlimited catalog (might
have been
> >Rocky/Tucker) for around $150.
>
> Those are all bordering on overkill for what you need to balance a
KLR wheel.
> Lister Richard Cullison made a slick "pocket-sized" balancer out of
> four Roller Blade wheel bearings, some steel bar and string, all
for
> about $10.
> I've seen it in action and it works quite well
> Richard? Ya wanna add to this, maybe post a pic??
> Mark
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 6:49 am
by Judson D. Jones
I don't know if you will find 17" ultra HD tubes. I forget where I got
mine, but it is an 18". I found it easier than normal to install.
--- In
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "Mark St.Hilaire, Sr"
wrote:
> > P.S. Ultra Heavy Duty 4mm inner tubes are a bit more
difficult to
> > install than regular tubes. I didn't bother with it on the front.
>
> Andy, where did you get Ultra Heavy Duty tubes for the 17" rear,
from Fred?
> What brand and size are they? About 7500 miles ago when I
put Distanzia's on
> my bike the best rear tube I could find was a good quality
Metzler, but not
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 7:12 am
by kdxkawboy@aol.com
In a message dated 2003-06-26 10:28:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
andy@... writes:
> This info is all really useful, and I appreciate all the info I can get.
>
> FWIW, I actually do care about the more expensive balancers, I have 2
> Beemers with wheels to balance. In all honesty, if it were just the KLR
> I might not even bother

>
In part, that is the reason I got the stand. Multiple bikes and I keep
getting hooked into helping other folks mount new tires. The other reason was I
wanted something to do double duty as a trueing stand.
Pat
G'ville, Nv
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
wheel balancing tools
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 11:18 am
by Andy Nicholson
I got them from Bellevue (WA) Kawasaki near where I work. They are from
Fly racing. The rear is a 4.6" x 17", the front is 80/100x21.
Dual Star also sells 4mm tubes. MSR has "heavy duty" and "ultra heavy
duty", but I don't think they have an appropriate sized rear in the
ultra. Moose also sells heavy duty tubes, their web site says 2.5mm
front and 3mm rear. I have an MSR ultra 80/100x21 and it is not nearly
as thick as the Fly, so I would guess that the MSR ultras are probably
the same as the Moose tubes.
The 4mm rear really was hard to get in. The tube is so thick and stiff
that it was especially hard to get the valve through the hole in the
wheel, and I couldn't keep the opposite bead fully in the well on the
rim when levering the last part of the bead onto the wheel. It probably
would have been easier if I had done it in sunlight with a warm tire and
tube, but I did it at night.
On the plus side, it's going to take one hell of a thistle to puncture
that tube. I sure hope so anyway, because I don't want to have to mess
with it when I'm away from my garage.
Cheers!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark St.Hilaire, Sr [mailto:msaint@...]
> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 3:12 AM
> To: 1 - KLR650 List; Andy Nicholson
> Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Wheel balancing tools
>
>
> > P.S. Ultra Heavy Duty 4mm inner tubes are a bit more difficult to
> > install than regular tubes. I didn't bother with it on the front.
>
> Andy, where did you get Ultra Heavy Duty tubes for the 17"
> rear, from Fred?
> What brand and size are they? About 7500 miles ago when I put
> Distanzia's on
> my bike the best rear tube I could find was a good quality
> Metzler, but not
> heavy duty...
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
dished corbin wanted
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 4:54 pm
by Rob Newman
looks like I just missed the last one; and the only one on eBay is
almost up to $200 and it has four days left (not sure if people
realize you can get a brand spanking new one for around $225; but ah
well)
offering up to $185 depending upon age and quality
thanks
-rob