Motorcycle tire changer

[Marcus]

I made this thing to help me break the beads of the tire and hold the wheel/tire assembly while I am working with the tire irons. I plan to glue some carpet or rubber to the wood for scratch protection, but for now, I just throw a couple of old towels on them.

[digr]

Been thinking about building one of those for a long time now, thanks for posting

[digr]

Do you use the beads for balancing? I put them in my rear wheel this year and if I change the front I will use them there also. I have heard nothing but good about them.

[RED caddy]

A couple years ago, My local bike shop, that does the mounting, balancing and truing on my dragster's front tires, talked me into trying the balancing beads in my brand new, ($165.00 each) Goodyear Frontrunner "pizza cutters". (Note to self, NEVER take advise from the busted up EX MX'er at the Honda shop)

First pass, by 300 feet out (about 75 MPH) the frontrunners were bouncing 18 inches off the ground. (looked a LOT higher than that, from the pilot's seat) Scared the crap outta me, the guy in the other lane, the starter and the "voice in the tower". (The tech inspectors have only recently stopped red azzin' me about my "globetrotter" tires)

When I thumbed the kill switch, things really got fuzzy. (decelerating, against engine compression, shifted the weight transfer and inertia, forward, loading the already bouncing front end, violently. Turning my, normally sedate, weekend ride into a big blue hop toad)

Long story short, another new pair of tires and tubes, properly balanced with spoke weights, and armed with a freshly scrubbed fire suit, all was again well.

They may be the cat's ass for street driven donor cycles, but dragster's really don't like 'em.

RED

[cutter]

Marcus! Damn, I thought you'd been abducted by aliens.

[akabull]

Sounds like that was one hairy ride!

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by digr

Do you use the beads for balancing? I put them in my rear wheel this year and if I change the front I will use them there also. I have heard nothing but good about them.

I've just changed a couple and put the little dot at the valve stem and no balancing was necessary. I do think that I will be using beads of some sort eventually. My Goldwing front tire is susceptible to cupping and I've heard that the beads help. It seems that truckers use Dyna beads with good success. Some people use regular BB's and I've heard of some using airsoft BB's. Most of the guys on the MC forums that have tried them say they work very well. I can see why they wouldn't be good for dragsters when the tires spin up to speed before the beads can catch up.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by cutter

Marcus! Damn, I thought you'd been abducted by aliens.

Nope, just too darn much work!! I try to check in when I can, or have something worth while to contribute (or even maybe not worth while).

[MotorDoctor]

I look at those tire balancing beads the same way I look at Splitfire spark plugs, Slick 50, anything from JC Whitney, Magic oil additives, etc. Just another product to fleece the sheep. They put forth "theories" that sound good but in practice either do nothing or make it worse. Back in the '70s there was a product that claimed to seal tire punctures and provide dynamic balancing. Had the same experience as Red. Coming out of the pits down the front straight at SIR the front wheel was vibrating, but finally smoothed out about the brake markers for turn 2. Hammered the brakes, and the front wheel started hopping again. The forces acting on a wheel are constantly changing, unless your balance method will fix the weight where it needs to be, it can't possibly work. Another case in point: Had a customer with a GL that insisted on putting some magic beads in his tires. Put his wheels on our high speed balancer (spins those wheels about 120mph) and let him watch the results. Needless to say, he wanted them removed. But the forums say what wonderful stuff it is....
Just another example of the mis-information highway in action

[~Stick/MIG~]

Nice job!!... Looks like it should work well!!

I need to make one also!

Thanks for sharing!!