The importance of having your tyres balanced properly

[petejw1966]

fwiw, tyre balance has no effect on a back wheel,

Sorry petejw. Can't quite believe this statement. You do see balancing weights on back wheels. If you wanted to take it further you could strap a kilo or two of lead  on one side of your back rim to see how it affects things. I reckon it might be noticed.
Not itching for an argument here, just don't completely  agree.

lol all good,
its the same with any fixed wheel, whether it be car, trailer or bike
the only purpose is for steering to prevent wheel wobble and even then
it usually only occurs around 90km/h.

and youre right u do see weights on the rear of vehicles,
whether that's because they have had them rotated or balanced from new,
I know a lot of workshops balance new tyres whether its fitted to the front or not.

[Far Canal]

fwiw, tyre balance has no effect on a back wheel,

Sorry petejw. Can't quite believe this statement. You do see balancing weights on back wheels. If you wanted to take it further you could strap a kilo or two of lead  on one side of your back rim to see how it affects things. I reckon it might be noticed.
Not itching for an argument here, just don't completely  agree.

[Far Canal]

On my recently respoked Honda wheel I used a rim that was not overly true because I was using a 17 inch rim that is no longer available new so had to make do. It would have fit in the specified + or - 2mm but it certainly didn't run true by eye. Once a new tyre was fitted it seemed to take up most of the wobble and hop. Also when riding you cant notice anything, it feels fine.
 I guess the thing is that if you had a rim that was nearly 2mm out on one side and say nearly 2mm out in the opposite way on the other side then that'd be nearly 4mm overall which would have to eat more tread off one side of the tyre than the other as per Ev's photos.

[petejw1966]

fwiw, tyre balance has no effect on a back wheel,
looking at the pic, worn or poorly adjusted shocks
will cause that type of wear.
tho u did well to get than many k's out of a tyre.

[Eveready1100]

Didn't give that a thought, Brad. Just checked it externally with a nail clamped to each side of the swingarm (as a pointer) and I can't see any runout by eye. I'll check the rim properly next time I have the tyre off.
Also thinking that while running with that shot tyre, any wheel hop may have been masked by my now expired shocks??
Might also add that with the fresh, properly balanced tyre and new, slightly stiffly sprung shocks, I can't detect any vibration from the rear end at up 190k's (fastest I've been lately) so wouldn't that have been apparent if the wheel was out of round?

[Jonesy :-)]

good thought FC
was it noticeable when riding?

[Far Canal]

Have you checked the " hop" of your wheel without tyre installed. Just a thought, you might have a wheel that is not true. I had one on my old Guzzi(with cast wheel) and had to replace it. Recently respoked a Honda 4 rim and was surprised that the maximum allowable 'Hop" was 2mm!.Maybe yours is more than that?.

[Eveready1100]

Yeah, Paul. It's not too shabby at all. In that time, the tyre performed faultlessly with a nice comfy ride and good grip in all conditions. About the only real difference I can pick between my old Spitfires and these Avons is that they are a much quieter tyre when pushing it.
With the Spitfires, I could hear them start to howl when loaded up through the bends so I could gauge how hard the (front) tyre was working. With these, they just go about the job very quietly, but give good feel as the limits are being pushed.

[Jonesy :-)]

15,700 km's..........nothing wrong with those figures

[Eveready1100]

The only incidence of a faulty tyre until this one was a BT45 I had fitted to the front a few years ago. It had a visible runout along the bead line and just couldn't be seated properly all the way round. It only reared its ugly head once the tyre was quite worn and beyond any warranty claim.

I haven't got any isues with the (brake?) disc as it doesn't have the power to lock the rear no matter how hard I stomp on the pedal, probably due to pad contamination from my dying shocks. New pads will be here any tic of the clock.
The bead of the tyre was evenly seated the entire way around the rim on both sides ( checked that before taking it in to get the new one fitted).
May have just been a bad tyre. This is now my third Avon Roadrider since swapping (begrudgingly) from the Spitfires I previously used and had such a good run out of, but these seem to perform just as well.

For the record, this tyre had covered 15,700 klms, of which about 3,000 were spent dragging the keg around, so it had a pretty good innings.

[Jonesy :-)]

Hey Errol
I agree with Jeff, probly a manufacturing, or somewhat less likely, a fitting problem (bead not fully seated in the wear zone) Your tyre was probably balanced well enough or you would've felt it.
JMOFWIW
Just out of curiosity, how many K's has it done.

And to Jeff
Do you static balance  or dynamic

[excess.11]

Errol....do you plan on buying the same brand of tyre ?
In the 4x4 industry there are tyre manufactures that require you to return for periodic checks and to rebalance wheels to retain their warranty they offer.
There are also a percentage of tyres that are just badly moulded/manufactured.
Is there a possibility there is a minor issue with the disc .......... not enough to cause lockup.....just the excessive wear over many kms that you see?
I ve never had the issue you ve experienced and have always balanced my own tyres.
Have you checked the bead of the tyre does nt have any runout around the rim?
If you balance your own tyres have you had this experience before?

[Eveready1100]

Was round at the Bundy Bike Hospital (Geoff's place) the other week and just generally talking bikes and I mentioned I'd be getting a new rear tyre soonish as it was past its use by date. He had a look and remarked that there was still a few K's left in it yet. I was surprised by this, as it was pretty far gone the last time I checked the pressures, but I had a look and there where it was parked and it appeared that I was imagining things and there was indeed some life left in it.

A couple of days ago, I went to check the pressures again and saw that the tyre tread centre was gone! Got down to have a close look and when I rotated the wheel, there was a patch about 1/3 the diameter of the wheel that was worn out, while the rest of the tyre was still ok.

Subsequent discussions at Geoffs resulted in this abnormal wear being put down to the tyre not being properly balanced when it was fitted, and he insisted on me taking my newly fitted tyre back to the shop to get it done properly this time.


 ^ 1st third of the tyre - ok


 ^ 2nd third of the tyre - so far, so good


 ^ Last third - The scary bit! There were little blisters in the centre where the plies were just about to break through to the surface.

Also thought I'd better say that the bike exhibited no outward signs of anything amiss at the rear. No vibration or undulating was felt at all, and that this wheel has never been locked up since that tyre was fitted.
Just thought I'd share this, to prevent anyone else being caught out like this.