Tire balance problemo??

[wantakaw59]

Quick question while I'm thinkin on it..
This old 2000 Nomad 1500 is smooth as silk at all speeds up to and including the 75 mph range. I did notice, however, that when cruising on the slab at 75 when I went to pass and hit up around the 80 mph range a small vibration was felt. I can't tell if it's coming from the motor/drievline, or the wheels?? This old Nomad only had 2500 miles on er, so I'm figuring it may still have the original tires on it, 10 year old tires!! I'm hoping it's nothing more than in need of a good wheel balance?? How do they even "speed balance" a motorcycle tire when the wheel isn't on the bike?? (I take my wheels in to get tires changed and they charge me good $$ for tire balance). I'd love to hear responses here that say your Nomad cruises with NO vibration to speeds almost breaking the sound barrier?? Thanks in advance guys/gals...jim

[chuckster131]

I balance my own, built a static balancer. Very resonable to make and it works great! I had tried the dyna beads, and for some reason my front tire wouldn't stay balanced at highway speeds like 75-80mph it would get a bounce in it.
Once I rebalanced with my new static balancer they are spot on now over 100+
You can go to (you tube) and search motorcycle tire balancer and see how to make one, or they do sell them on ebay and other places.

[cactusjack]

When you get those 10-year old tires replaced, you might want to consider balancing with Dynabeads. They are self-balancing and give a very smooth ride.

[ringadingh]

I balance my own tires as well with stick on lead weights. I made my own balancer and it works quite well.

[macmac]

Has 2,500 on it and what does it have now?

Check the date code on the tires.. pre 2000 had a 3 digit date code post 2000 has 4. Either kind are located on just one side of the tire inside a very rounded oval.

The first 2 digts are the week of the year, and the last digt(s) are the year. Shelf life of a new tire on a shelf in the darkened storage area light, with no weather is 6 years. A tire is ok after 6 years, but has dried out some, and is not worth the price it was new.

If you have dry rot, aka sun cracks i would get them off. I tend to be a little fussy with rubber.

I used to static balance my tires with 2 C clamps 4 blocks of wood to champ the axel down on a pair of jack stands.

Roght now my bike rides glass smooth at any speed with no weoghts of any kind in the ft tire and Dyan beads in the rear. So far I haven't gone over mach 4, because the neighbors complained last time I went mach 3.

[wantakaw59]

Thanks for the info guys!! Just the stuff I was looking for. First time I ever heard of those "Dynabead" things. Great info on the tire dating Mac..thanks. Will go check it out later today... I think I put about 800 miles on it in 4 weeks Mac. Not too bad for October riding in Ohio. LOVE this Nomad so far!! Oh, no visible dry rot whatsoever. Maybe they have been changed. My MC license only allows me Mach 2 speeds. If the mild vibration didn't come into play until 82.3 mph, I wouldn't even worry about it. Thanks much for the responses guys...jim

[macmac]

Well, my biggest concern, and I don't know how to tell you any other way than a hands on and visual inspection is to check the U joint!

I once owned a 1500 Nomad for 361 days, and poof it was stolen. But before that i did the basic swing arm service and found a bad U Joint. It was bad from day 1.

The factory robot failed to get proper grease in one plane of the cross joint, and that killed the needle bearings. I didn't feel it, but never the less I sure should have.

Another problem is the swing arm has NO Adjustable pre-load method. And so the swing arm is a bit too free to move from side to side.

Any respectable swing arm has a method to adjust bearing pre load. A basic setting is usually around 0.002", and a show room Nomad will exceed that any day, on any bike, at any time, and it just gets worse with use.

That 1500 was at 0.138" when I did the swing arm, and that figure is huge!

I did my 1600 replacement for the 1500, but forget the figures. This 1600 has a good U joint and was in part why I was in there. Also I found heavy rust starting on all 3 spacers.

These were power wire brushed clean, and heavily greased going back on with a stiff marine chassi grease, while the splines all got molycoat for Audi cv joints.

If you get the lic for mach 3-4 be sure to wear ear plugs

[wantakaw59]

X-cellent info on the swing arm Mac...thanks!! That has to be one of the most overlooked sections of a motorcycle. Those readings ya got are alarming!!

[zoom45]

I switched to Dunlop D404 years ago and started balancing my own using the stick on weights. The last time didn't require any weights. No problems here. I watched the youtube videos and set it up using two jack stands to support the axle. Works great.
Zoom45

[wantakaw59]

Did you guys that are using Dynabeads in the rear put in any type of "valve filter"?? I checked the site out, and they say to "shoot a blast of air in the tire before checking pressure" to avoid having a bead block the valve if you aren't able to put a filter in?? Also, has anyone using the beads actually noticed a difference in tire wear. They claim BIG numbers on their site. If the numbers they claim on increased tire life are even close, EVERYONE should have those thangs put in!!

[macmac]

Not sure is with a car tire wear is gonna happen all that fast, unless maybe you over psi the tire.. I have about 5,500 on a Dunlop SP 5000 with just under 2 oz of beads because I spilled some installing thru the valve stem. No filter here either, and it's no problem to add air.

The tire began like with 10/32 nds and has 7/32's now. That was after my Moose meet jeep, Nomad meets jeep incident too, where I went back and measured 81 feet 6 inches of rubber on the road. Abuse, but I lived to ride another time, like to ride home from there.

I did swing the valve stem 180 degrees, so I can kneel, instead of lay down to add air.

[recumbentbob]

Originally Posted by wantakaw59

Did you guys that are using Dynabeads in the rear put in any type of "valve filter"?? I checked the site out, and they say to "shoot a blast of air in the tire before checking pressure" to avoid having a bead block the valve if you aren't able to put a filter in?? Also, has anyone using the beads actually noticed a difference in tire wear. They claim BIG numbers on their site. If the numbers they claim on increased tire life are even close, EVERYONE should have those thangs put in!!

I used dynabeads in my last bike it had 90 degree valve stems and I did not use any filters and never had any problems. I'm getting ready for new tires now and will use dynabeads again. They are great.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by wantakaw59

Did you guys that are using Dynabeads in the rear put in any type of "valve filter"?? I checked the site out, and they say to "shoot a blast of air in the tire before checking pressure" to avoid having a bead block the valve if you aren't able to put a filter in?? Also, has anyone using the beads actually noticed a difference in tire wear. They claim BIG numbers on their site. If the numbers they claim on increased tire life are even close, EVERYONE should have those thangs put in!!

I agree. But there are non-believers among us who mock what they don't understand.