Trouble Balancing Rear Wheel

[mjblair]

I have encoutered a problem balancing the ST1300 rear wheel that I'm suprised no one else has mentioned.

It is impossible to balance the rear wheel without using the axle shaft. The reason is the spacer between the two bearings falls to the low side of the wheel and cause the wheel to be heavy regardless of where you rotate it.

The spacer is flopping around in there and makes it impossible to balance unless of course you take the bearings, flange bearing and spacer out.

So I had to modify my balancer (nomar) so it would accept a shorter shaft like th ST's and now I can get a perfect balance. The big ST shaft centralizes the spacer and everything stays where it's suppose to.

Make sense, your thoughts? Anyone encounter this?

 

[sennister]

I have seen an adapter specifically for the ST1300 to address this in a wheel balancer that Marc made. Although the listing on Areostich's web site mentioned that the adapter for the 1300 isn't available. The member here called STPaulK has one. I think his is kind of a prototype deal though.

 

[ernest62]

The spacer in my wheel is not loose however if the spacer does fall and rests on whatever bar you have through the wheel then it is isolated from the wheel and will not effect the balance. Plus being so close to the center of the rotating mass I would expect that any effect would be unnoticable. I have a Marc Barns balancer and have had no issues.

 

[nm6r]

The spacer in my wheel is not loose however if the spacer does fall and rests on whatever bar you have through the wheel then it is isolated from the wheel and will not effect the balance. Plus being so close to the center of the rotating mass I would expect that any effect would be unnoticable. I have a Marc Barns balancer and have had no issues.

+1

Also have the Marc Parnes balancer.

Ray

 

[Mellow]

+2 even if it did affect the balance it's at the very central point and probably affects the balance at such a minute amount it's more effective to keep your rims clean of dirt.

Just my opinion of course.

 

[Tom Mac 04a]

>So I had to modify my balancer (nomar) so it would accept a shorter shaft like the ST's <

I just did my ST's rear on a No-Mar unit last month.... Had no problem at all.

I can say tho, that there are 3 size cones for the No-mar balancer and the cones for the ST was a $15? option. (not the small ones that come standard).

best
Tom Mac

 

[mjblair]

Hum, I've got the small ones?

>So I had to modify my balancer (nomar) so it would accept a shorter shaft like the ST's <

I just did my ST's rear on a No-Mar unit last month.... Had no problem at all.

I can say tho, that there are 3 size cones for the No-mar balancer and the cones for the ST was a $15? option. (not the small ones that come standard).

best
Tom Mac

 

[mjblair]

+2 even if it did affect the balance it's at the very central point and probably affects the balance at such a minute amount it's more effective to keep your rims clean of dirt.

Just my opinion of course.

It definately does affect the balance. Until I centralized the collar, I was off maybe 5 grams or so. But the way I found the problem was by rotating the tire 180 degs. and finding the I had a new light spot.

 

[Mellow]

It definately does affect the balance. Until I centralized the collar, I was off maybe 5 grams or so. But the way I found the problem was by rotating the tire 180 degs. and finding the I had a new light spot.

I'm surprised it did. But, I've only balanced 3 or 4 wheels myself. I'm now using ride-on which seems to do a good job.

 

[sennister]

I'm surprised it did. But, I've only balanced 3 or 4 wheels myself. I'm now using ride-on which seems to do a good job.

So do you not use any weight? Or do you get it close and then add in Ride On with the assumption that this product will fine tune things?

Also do you notice any vibration when you first start out on cold tires? I ask this because I bought a Ride On kit for my father to use in his 2003 Corvette once he removed the run flat tires. He mentioned that he notices a little vibration at first then after a couple minutes of driving it goes away. Maybe the car compound is different than the MC. I also bought a kit for my truck but haven't put it in my tires yet as I need new tires soon and I wasn't going to waste it on old tires.

 

[Highrider]

I have encoutered a problem balancing the ST1300 rear wheel that I'm suprised no one else has mentioned.

It is impossible to balance the rear wheel without using the axle shaft. The reason is the spacer between the two bearings falls to the low side of the wheel and cause the wheel to be heavy regardless of where you rotate it.

The spacer is flopping around in there and makes it impossible to balance unless of course you take the bearings, flange bearing and spacer out.

So I had to modify my balancer (nomar) so it would accept a shorter shaft like th ST's and now I can get a perfect balance. The big ST shaft centralizes the spacer and everything stays where it's suppose to.

Make sense, your thoughts? Anyone encounter this?

I made my balancer because I feel the bearings on the comercial balancers are not free or sensitive enough. I can get an accurate static balance to 2-3 grams. I made some nylon bushings that fit into the spacer and hold it on center.

 

[mjblair]

I made my balancer because I feel the bearings on the comercial balancers are not free or sensitive enough. I can get an accurate static balance to 2-3 grams. I made some nylon bushings that fit into the spacer and hold it on center.

That's excellent, I didn't think of nylon, Apparently you had the same problem I did with the spacer. I ended up using my shaft and shortening up the commercial balancer to accomodate the shorter length of the bike's shaft. This illiminated the problem.

If this had been a dealer, I doubt that they would have cared.

I thought my bike was smooth with tire out of balance but wow what a smooth ride now.