Does anybody have any experience with this stuff? You Tube has some interesting reviews.
Ride-On Tire Balancer and Sealant
- Thread starter RonCharles
- Start date
Bmacleod
Site Supporter
I have not tried it but I'm watching this thread with interest as I have to change out my front tire shortly and I have them wondering about it myself
JohnK
Site Supporter
Switched to ride on this last tire change for the st after I got a screw first hundred miles. So a good plug and ride on goes in.
Two things I noticed was more even tire wear and smooth balanced ride. I replaced the weights with extra. Exceeding 8k miles on this set goi g to stay with it.
Two things I noticed was more even tire wear and smooth balanced ride. I replaced the weights with extra. Exceeding 8k miles on this set goi g to stay with it.
Been using it for years. Like CAdreamin said, smoother ride, more even wear, and I get 2-3 thousand more miles before I hit the wear bars.
Stopped using weights a long time ago. It goes in all my vehicles, from scooters, dirt bikes, even cars.
Balancing a tire with weights only works at that moment, 500 miles or so later, as the tire wears, your balance has changed or is gone.
Ride-on re-balances the tire every time you ride it.
Stopped using weights a long time ago. It goes in all my vehicles, from scooters, dirt bikes, even cars.
Balancing a tire with weights only works at that moment, 500 miles or so later, as the tire wears, your balance has changed or is gone.
Ride-on re-balances the tire every time you ride it.
Larry, can't remember you posting about this before. Whilst a puncture on the road wouldn't be the end of my world, I wouldn't relish walking out to the bike in a foreign country after breakfast with a long day ahead of us to find a flat. I know they're only ever flat at the bottom, but that's kinda the bit that matters, right.
I've just had two tyres fitted so if I'm going to do this I suppose this is the time. The one nagging problem I have is that tyres only last twelve months for me so the extra £'s is not too easy to swallow, but like all insurance it's when you claim that the cost is irrelevant.
So on to my question if you're still with me. Without checking I can't recall tyre size differences between 11's and 13's but they won't be very different. What amount do you use, from recollection I think I have seen 250 ml per tyre as a general rule of thumb, do you concur.
Your point about tyre wear is interesting and I can see why a well balanced tyre would wear less and now that Bridgestone have made a decent tyre for the 11 I think i'm going to do it.
I'd appreciate your views on amounts required, I know I could read nonsense on the interwebthingymadgig but I think your real world views would be wiser and better informed.
Thanks in advance.
Upt'North.
OP
OP
So, if you add this stuff to an already balanced tire on the bike, do you leave the wheel weights on or remove them?
If I remember correctly, there should be a chart either on their website, or in the package that the bottle comes in, telling you the size of the tires, and the amount that you use.
I remove all the old weights before I put it in.
Just off the top of my head (and I just woke up) I recall using one bottle for the front wheel, and two bottles for the rear wheel (check the chart to be sure). It indicates that IF your using it for balancing purposes to use a little more than you would just for a tire sealant.
I remove all the old weights before I put it in.
Just off the top of my head (and I just woke up) I recall using one bottle for the front wheel, and two bottles for the rear wheel (check the chart to be sure). It indicates that IF your using it for balancing purposes to use a little more than you would just for a tire sealant.
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
Question for the users of Ride-On -
Is there a mess to clean up when you change the tires?
Can you reuse it like the beads?
Does it do anything to the rims on the inside?
Is there a mess to clean up when you change the tires?
Can you reuse it like the beads?
Does it do anything to the rims on the inside?
UP, from what I've read, but not as a user yet, it stays in the tyre at change time, so no mess, you can't reuse it but I can't remember why, perhaps it starts to cure, it is sold as non corrosive for the rims.
Upt'North.
OP
OP
sorry for stupid question I asked before putting the brain into gear.
Ron, don't think it is, I assume if it's already balanced then leave them on, can't see it will hurt. But don't bother if you're going to use this from day one, mine were balanced yesterday and I'll leave the weights in place. That's if I can come to terms with paying MORE insurance.
Upt'North.
Uncle Phil, the ride on is easily washed off with just water, and it will not damage aluminum rims like other products do (slime), for that matter, those who use dish soap to mount their tires often find the acidic solution will corrode the aluminum rim. You can't re-use it. It clings to the center strip of the tire when the tire is removed, so unless you stick your finger in the tire and drag it through the strip of ride on, you won't have anything to make a mess.
I watched a video on the Ride On site and it showed them removing the weight stuck on the rim after the product installation had been completed.
You certainly can, but not only is there no need for it, it doesn't really work as well that way. If the tires are pre-balanced, the Ride-on will distribute evenly for flat protection and "micro-balancing". If the weights are removed, the Ride-on will distribute first to balance the wheel and then the remainder will be available for flat protection. Thus the recommendation to use more if going unbalanced. Since higher unsprung weight has only negative implications and because Ride-on is pretty danged expensive, I pre-balance the tires before adding it. Minimum weight, minimum cost, maximum protection.
Bmacleod
Site Supporter
This makes a lot of sense...
I watched a video (look down) that shows the "strip", plus these folks drilling and poking holes, and rolling the tire over a strip of nails.
The thing I noticed is they consistently placed the holes in the area where the "strip" lives. My experience with nails/etc in my tires has been in the area more to the tire's outer edge, which I think would be outside the area of the strip.
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
Thanks for the info! I like the idea of 'self-balancing' and sealant. I knew Slime does some 'ugly' things to the rim and beads can beat a plug to death.
But did you find any glass or nail or screw embedded in the tire that the goop saved you from? If not, then there is nothing to give credit to this product for.
Seriously all you believers and even non believers like me - How many flats have you had over all your years of riding? I've had one in over 400,000 km. of riding over the last 50 or so years and that was plugged and re-inflated in 30 minutes with the kit I carry.
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A couple of disagreements here with what some of the posts above said. First, it is my understanding that the stuff becomes a gel inside the tire - which is why it coats the inside center of said tire and you have to wash any residual off the rim. This means it will balance your tire once, before it gels - it doesn't move afterward. If it did, it would puddle in the bottom of the tire each time you parked - and then and only then would it redistribute every time you spun the tire. And, it would not necessarily stay in the tire when you removed it - it would spill out when you broke the bead. Second, as caldercay said, many tires get nails outside of the chicken strip - which is where most stop-leak products live.
I want to ask how many flats you have had in the last few years. I've had precious few, so, thank you, but I am not a candidate for this stuff. And I had a nasty experience with an unknown product that gummed up my rims something fierce - probably NOT Ride-on, but again, no thanks. I will say that had I experienced say two flats in 5 or 6 years then yes, I would probably use this or a similar product, but knock wood, so far I have not.
As far as balancing the tire, (go ahead and flame me - there is another thread on the balancing beads) I am skeptical. I've been wrong before, but until someone can explain the physics behind that claim, I am not a believer. Its your money, and I realize I cannot refute Larry's endorsement but in the end, YMMV.
P.S. This is the first time I have disagreed with Larry.