[Bob Hyre]

2 year's ago, getting ready for trip to Vegas,, I order 2 metzlers from Hal...... I always run Bridgestone,, but Hal had the Metzlers on sale for good price....... I installed rear tire and run a few days to see if any wobble occured on bike... NONE.... (PS) I never install both on same day,, you can't tell which one is bad if problem......... Few days later, installed the front...... I balanced best as I could.... Wow,,,, the wobble was really bad... I figured bad tire.... I removed and put on Bridgestone 709,,, balanced the same way,,,,,, NO WOBBLE,, thank goodness....

Tire is now wore out and going on another trip.... Well,, I purchased the Marc Pharnes balancer over 1 year ago and have used on other bike tires with great results......... I decided the other day to put the Metzler, which wobbles,, back on and try again........... I mounted and balanced tire with new balancer....... Put on bike and HOLY COW,,, no wobble......

I am now a believer that all these tires and not bad,, but the balance is crappy.... I will now get to wear out that Metzler that has been on my shelf for 2 years.....:lol:

 

[Fluke189]

i'm glad it worked out. I never balance my tires, just mount them and ride and no wobble yet, but I've only done one tire change on the GL1800.

 

[AccuEb]

...is there a relationship between wobble & cupping? My 2010 wing has about 11k on it now but I noticed a slight wobble at 7k that progressive is getting worse. Mind you, to feel the wobble, I have to decelerate to 30- and take my hands off the bars. Last weekend was a Blue Knight toy ride and I could really feel it. Fatboy never did it; maybe the front end is heavier?? If I hit a pothole, would that muff-up the front balance? It might sound stupid, but all my toys, tools & equipment have to be race-ready, running like a top or I can't be bothered. Besides recommending therapy...anyone got a suggestions?

 

[Bowtie]

A motorcycle is no different than a car. Some tires need mor weight than others to correctly balance them. I can't understand why someone would think that you can just mount a tire and don't need to pay any attention to the balance. I will say that it's not uncommon for a car to take several ounces of weight where a bike may only need a fraction of an ounce to maybe 2 ounces.

Jeff...

 

[AccuEb]

A motorcycle is no different than a car. Some tires need mor weight than others to correctly balance them. I can't understand why someone would think that you can just mount a tire and don't need to pay any attention to the balance. I will say that it's not uncommon for a car to take several ounces of weight where a bike may only need a fraction of an ounce to maybe 2 ounces.

Jeff...

...so, not like I ride with no hands, but what causes the shimmy? Do I need that over priced bracket-stablizer-thing

 

[laen]

Centramatic

 

[tazmun]

Centramatic

+1..... I put on new E3's, and have a little over 5k
and the tires are still "perfect"!

 

[morriebowie]

Centramatics.

 

[tfdeputydawg]

RideOn

 

[silverbullett]

DynaBeads, nuff said!

 

[Pigeon Roost]

I think Bob Hyre is close to figuring it out, but no cigar. By my theory, it was not the balance in the first place. Although an out of balance tire or tires will cause vibes and vibes can initiate the decel wobbles, those out of balance vibes would likely be noted in the blurred mirrors or handle bars even when the wobbles are not present.

Bob is right on about the cause of many of these wobbles not being bad tires. I think it is more common than realized that one source of the wobbles is mismounted tires. If the beads are not fully seated on bith sides there will be a strong lower frequency vibratory input at certain speeds.

Use a tire lube that lubes while still wet, but sticks the rubber to the metal when dry; such a glycerin based soap solution (RuGlide or NoMar). Use it sparingly, but get those bead to rim contact areas well coated. Shoot the air in there with very high volume and NO valve stem core in place; get those two really LOUD BANGS as the beads do seat and don't use excessive pressures -- high volume and good lube a key.

One other tip; after getting the new tire mounted, but before lubing or seating the beads. lift the wheel/tire assembly abut 24" above the floor and drop straight down onto the tread of the tire. Turn it 45 degrees and repeat; repeat that several times. This helps assure that one side is not already close to seated while the other side is down in the relief valley, but will now be very evenly resting against their respective bead seats. Now paint a little wet lube around the contact area and shoot that air in BIG TIME!

So if you find a new wobbling tire, break teh beads seat and try again. But if the beads were damaged by putting too much leverage onto them, the tire is toast.

prs