Tires / Dyna-Beads - Pre-trip issues ...

... so when I mounted the new Battlax T30 EVO tires to my bike last week, I used Dynabeads to balance them.

I didn't have a chance to really 'test' them at high speeds until yesterday, but at 'normal' highway speeds here, they seemed OK. When I tried some other speeds yesterday on the back roads during the poker derby, I found I had some sever up/down shake in the front end.

The up / down shake wasn't dangerous feeling or out of control, but no way in hell you'd want to sustain it or have it every time you wanted to make a high speed pass.

This afternoon I jumped over to my wife's uncles place to use his tire table and other tools instead of trying to wrestle the tires at home with nothing but a couple of 12" spoons. Things didn't go well ... we took the old beads out and put the tire/rim on the balancer ... out ~1.5oz ... well, that's the problem I thought ... I only put in 1oz of beads. We put 4oz of beads in but then we couldn't get the damn bead to seal. We broke the bead again and I sanded the inside of the rim a little and cleaned it up ... filed it up and it still wouldn't seal well.

I took the wheel home and put it back on the bike hoping that riding on it would help seat the bead better by getting the tire warmed up and some road under it. I took the bike out and brought it up to similar speeds as yesterday ... at first I thought it was fixed then it started to shake up / down again. I rode it straight over to my wife's uncles place in the city.

We took the wheel off and the tire was still leaking air. We broke the bead, removed the tire from the rim, and removed the beads. I sanded the rim again where the bead seats, put the tire back on, filled it back up with air and stuck it on the balancer. It was difficult to get a good weight on it for some reason. After about an hour of farting around with it, I felt I had it pretty good and checked for leaks on the beads ... again ... leaking. WTF??

Broke the beads again and put some extra bead sealer on, filled it up, and tested it again ... STILL leaking!!!

We broke the beads again and I used some Loctite non-hardening liquid gasket on the inside of the rim, filled it up with air, and tested ... bead sealed. We mounted the tire back up and since I had him there, I had him help me setup the suspension (my preload is maxed on both the front and back and it's still not in the ideal range - time for a visit to JD this winter) which is much better now.

On my way home, I reached ludicrous speed and the bike is as smooth as glass ... the only extra vibration is that of the VTEC valves being engaged with the engine roaring down the highway.

What an ordeal! This is the first time EVER that dyna-beads have failed me .... I know several of you have had issues with beads and many of you swear by them. I used to swear by them, but now I wonder if certain tires just don't work well with them compared to others possibly??

At any rate ... fixed for the trip this week.

What an ordeal!

 

This might be a dumb question Jeff, but if you had the wheel up on the balancer, why not stick a conventional sticky lead weight on?

I have read elsewhere where a poster had balanced the bare rim, and then never bothered with re-balancing after tyre fitting again. That certainly has some appeal.

 

Well - we thought about it .... AFTER. LOL! We were just so frustrated with the whole bead not seating that we weren't thinking.

... and we did actually use sticky weights (we removed all the beads) and balanced that way.

 

Maybe Jeff can recycle those beads into jewelry for harleydoods..

I wonder if buckshot would do the same thing as those dinobeads? With enough of them in both wheels ya might not need a kickstand anymore.

Is time consuming putting all those beads into the tires through the valvestems?

 

Don't they already use those things to tickle their prostates or something???

 

Maybe in Canada. Here they use each other.

 

I've never used the beads cause I've read to many stories like yours. Wheel weights work great and no need to change AFAIC. Now different subject. How do you like the T30's? I have them and currently on my big trip for the year. Great tires in the wet and dry. Very easy steering and stick like glue dry or wet so far. Even 8" tar strips in the rain are no problem. Enjoy your trip.

 

the best use for buck shot is troll hunting:chaingun:

 

glad I don't use hippy beads, my tires are balanced the old fashion way a wheel weight.

 

SOW doesn't use beads either I hear ... I heard he uses whole cats ...

I've been using the Dyna-Beads for a long time now and I've never had this issue. I suspect they might be impacted by the compounds / inside of the carcass of a tire. I'll bet had I had put on another set of PR2's it would have been no problem - but hard to say?? Either way, I'm just happy that all is well now.

Regarding the performance, I don't have much mileage on them yet - the trip starts next week, but my initial impressions are very good. As you noted, great in all conditions, the bike feels lighter and turns/tips so much easier (especially at lower speeds) and hugs the road like no ones business on a tight high speed corner (did a cloverleaf at 100kph and I felt like I could easily go faster with confidence).

Full report starting next week when I'm in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

 

Probably a riff on gerbils and hamsters..