Beads or Weights??

Hey guys,

I'm planning on purchasing tires for the bike this month and have decided on getting the Pilot Road 3s.
I mentioned this to a friend of mine last night and he told me that there are (2) options when balancing the wheels: Beads or Weights.

Which on is better?
Can you guys explain to me how the beads work? I get the whole centripetal force thing... I just can wrap my brain around the concept.

Thanks,

 

Some people swear by beads, others swear off of them. Personally I don't think the beads work as advertized on every installation, all my bikes use the traditional weights for balancing, YMMV. You can do a google search for more reviews on dyna beads, but you'll probably find like I did, that they are not 100% effective. Of course there are plus and minuses with everything, but I think traditional weights have a better track record.

 

I used dyna beads and I wasnt impressed. Save your money and do the weights.

 

Dyna beads worked well on my vf750s, but the mechanic was pissed when he swapped my tire lol (they went EVERYWHERE as soon as he took the tire off)

 

My last set of tires (pr3's) were balanced with the dyno beads even though I said I wanted weights. I did not have the confidence in them at the time. I think is was just an oversight on their part as that shop used dyno beans most the time. Rather that waiting there for them to do a re and re at the time, I thought that I would give them a try. I can't say I noticed ay difference between the beads and regular weights. I got reasonable wear out of the last set of tires as well. I have switched back to the regular weights not necessarily by choice. This is what my regular shop uses. I just might go back to the beads though when I paint the wheels just for cosmetic reasons.

 

ok. Thanks guys for the responses.

 

Around town and on the highway below warp speed the beads work fine, no difference. If you wanna go fast, they suck out loud, and you get a mean shake as they can't quite keep up and are constantly cycling between balanced and REALLY un balanced. Standard weights are the way to go.

 

Stay away from beads! Read the different tire manufacturers web sites, use of beads voids your tire warranty. Motorcycle Consumer News tested them a few years ago and concluded they don't work. If they worked as good as advertised don't you think they would use them at the track.

 

Lets add some fuel to the fire:

I've been using NAPA "balancing compound" (generic dynabeads) for years. I ride my bike hard and never had a problem with wobbles or shakes or weird balancing traits. I never feel unsafe on my bike due to them... If you do I think its all in your head. Let the flame war begin :chaingun:

 

I'm not gonna flame you, I just shared my personal experience. I used the weight reccomended by Dyna Beads (one oz front two oz rear if I remember correctly) and it shook like a put a quarter in it up past 80, worse as speeds increased. I've also heared of people using them with no worries or complaints like yourself, including on track bikes which Dyna Beads specifically reccomends you don't do.

 

Besides the fact that beads will void your tire warranty, you also can not use any type of tire sealant if you have them installed...they don't work well if Slime or Fix A Flat is put in the tire. Not sure how they would perform if a plug is installed.

 

My thought is that everyone understands how weights work and no two people agree on how, or even whether, the beads work. Stick with the weights.

 

Ride-On Tire Sealant & Balancer has worked for me on both my V-strom & Triumph TBS. I do all my own tire changes at home being a daily commuter. It has always balanced well. Most importantly it seals if you get a small puncture. I have found a few small nails in tires I did not realize when changing tires. I have used beads but do not like that they spill all over the garage when changing tires. Weights have always worked fine and are cheaper but I like that Ride-On helps prevent leaks.

 

some people say that beeds work as good as weights (not my experience) some say they dont work as good as weights. never heard anyone say that weights dont work as good as weights.

 

Why would they work?

Put a mess of plastic beads in a tire and spin it. Centripetal force will cause the beads to "sling outward" within the tire so that they are in contact with to the outermost inner surface of the tire. One would expect them to disperse at random, and move around quite a bit as the wheel accelerates or decelerates (decelerate is not actually a word or even a concept, but lets just use it briefly here).

Why would the beads seek to gather at any one point? They're just going to fly around at random.

More importantly, why would they attempt to gather at the lightest point to offset the opposite heaviest point? Are they smart? Are they magic?

Try this: mount 2 new tires and do NOT balance. Go for a ride. 9 times out of 10 you will be surprised. Because modern tires are pretty consistent. If you line up the yellow dot with the valve stem, chances are that the tire will be balanced enough that you won't notice any vibe. I've been 190 (actual) on a busa several times, many of those on BT010's that I installed myself and did not balance. I've put the bike in the 9's with the oem clutch and no air shifter, on various SS tires that i installed myself without balance. That's 147 in the traps. No probs. No vibes. No death. No crash even. Just motorcycle.

My point is: there has never been a perfect tire balance job, because perfection is not achievable. What there has been is a hell of a lot of tires that were balanced good enough to perform in any reasonable conditions without vibration. This has often been accomplished with careful weight balancing. It has just as often been accomplished with no balancing at all, also by filling the tire with foam beads from a bean bag chair, or spitting three times in each rear tire (twice in each front) before installing, or by pee-ing in the flower bed between front and rear tire change, or sometimes by picking a large booger and cutting it in half and putting half in each tire.

Sometimes none of these methods will work and the tire will vibrate obnoxiously at certain speeds. When this happens, it's because the tire or wheel is way out of whack for some reason.

Most tires today are not out of whack. They're dang good regardless of whether or how you balance them or how you wear your hat while peeing.

Beads schmeads.

 

ound::chaingun: Damn son, tell us how you really feel!!!!!!!!

 

Just wondering, what do you call a negative change in velocity, negative acceleration? That's technically correct but the common use term would be deceleration.

As to the second point, agreed. Beads don't work, beans do though. I prefer dried black beans or the small lima beans.

As for balancing...

How To Balance a Motorcycle Tire and Wheel from SportbikeTrackGear.com - YouTube

 

Any change in velocity is acceleration, as you apparently already know. Beans won't work either, but you should try some coffee beans anyway and see if they get ground into coarse or fine grind. Don't use castor beans, they may poison your tire. :nerd:

 

Weights are for tires.

Beads are for your wife/ girlfriend anus when doing it doggystyle. Just dont let go of the string.

BZ

 

Ok professor, I stand corrected. As I usually did in my ME classes. :yield:


Best college moment, professor is handing mid-terms out and holds mine up in front of the whole class to say he's proud of me. I spelled my name right on the exam - and for that he gave me 1 point out of a possible 100. :doh: