50/50 tire recommendations?

[David Underbakke]

Do replacement tires and tubes require any balancing? I get the impression you just buy and install tires and tubes without any efforts to balance the tires? ___________ David Underbakke

[Michael Nelson]

On Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 10:48:14AM -0600, David Underbakke wrote:

> I get the impression you just buy and install tires and tubes without any > efforts to balance the tires?

If I was riding exclusively off-road I wouldn't bother balancing. But I unfortunately have to ride a hundred miles or more to get to where I want to ride off-road, so I balance mine using a Marc Parnes balancer. Well worth the money, IMO. Michael -- "It's not what I don't understand about religion that bothers me, it's what I do understand." -- Mark Twain San Francisco, CA

[Jeff Saline]

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:48:14 -0600 David Underbakke writes:

> > Do replacement tires and tubes require any balancing? > > I get the impression you just buy and install tires and tubes > without any > efforts to balance the tires? > > ___________ > > David Underbakke

<><><><><><><> <><><><><><><> David, The short answer is sometimes they do require balancing and sometimes they don't. : ) For dirt work you can probably get by without doing any balancing and will never notice any difference in performance or tire life. For pavement with knobbies or even 50/50 tires balancing is probably not worth the effort. For pavement using street oriented tires at excess of legal speeds, balancing is probably going to result in a smoother ride, better performance and longer tire life. My experience on the KLR is I started balancing the tires. Now all I do is mount them and wear them out and put on new tires. Using ultra heavy duty or heavy duty tubes might cause a bit of a balance issue. The rear ultra heavy duty tube I've been using for the last 20,000 or so miles has a hunk of tube inside it. At least I'm guessing it's a hunk of tube. I think when the valve is installed they punch a hole in the tube and then put the valve in place. And I think I got lucky enough to have the piece they punched out of the tube end up inside the tube. When it's inflated and out of the tire you can feel it rolling around. Caused me some trouble when I first tried to balance that tire and tube combination. Now I just forget about balancing on the KLR. I don't normally ride my KLR faster than 70 mph and usually the fastest I'll go is 65 mph. But that's in the twisties in the Black Hills. I figure anyone can go fast on a straight road. I like to go fast for my ride in the curves. On my airheads I balance the wheels before mounting a tire and tube. Then I often don't have to balance the assembly once the tube and tire is mounted. In Germany in the early 80s I balanced a rear wheel on an airhead using the axle and two jack stands for a balance rack. That bike was smooth as could be expected at 120 mph indicated on the autobahn. I only did that once. But I broke the ton a few times with that bike and never had a balance issue. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[mikeypep]

You really should balance them somewhat. I use the simple axle spin technique; support the axle and slowly spin the wheel. The heavy spot goes to the bottom. Add weights til it doesn't stop at the same point every time. It seems to work just fine up to 75 MPH. AFter that I'm hanging on way too tight to notice any wheel hop. - In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, David Underbakke wrote:

> > > Do replacement tires and tubes require any balancing? > > I get the impression you just buy and install tires and tubes without

any

> efforts to balance the tires? > > ___________ > > David Underbakke >

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Nov 12, 2007, at 8:48 AM, David Underbakke wrote:

> Do replacement tires and tubes require any balancing?

Yeah, you can usually get away without doing it. Having said that, if I have the time I do balance mine. That Marc Parnes device looks pretty slick! I hadn't seen that before. -- Blake Sobiloff http://www.sobiloff.com/> San Jose, CA (USA) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Blake Sobiloff]

On Nov 12, 2007, at 7:46 AM, tilster187 wrote:

> Hello: My tires are getting sad, so I need to start looking for > replacements. Anyone have any 50/50 experience? Brand, where did you > get them, price...all that good stuff would be appreciated. Thanks.

If you're truly a 50/50 rider, then the Kendas Jeff mentions are reputed to be great. They seem to grip very well off-road and do OK on the pavement. Plus, they're relatively inexpensive. If you're really a little more pavement than dirt, I'll nominate the Continental TKC-80. Better on the pavement than the Kendas, but not quite as good off-road. They're still pretty good off-pavement, though. On-pavement, you can confidently lean the TKC-80s very far over without them feeling squirrely, and they have silica in the rubber compound that really helps the grip levels on wet pavement. The biggest downside is that they're a little pricey. I get mine from Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse http://www.mawonline.com/> since they're one of the few things my local shop doesn't stock. -- Blake Sobiloff http://www.sobiloff.com/> San Jose, CA (USA) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Michael Nelson]

On Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 11:14:13AM -0800, Blake Sobiloff wrote:

> Yeah, you can usually get away without doing it. Having said that, > if I have the time I do balance mine. That Marc Parnes device looks > pretty slick! I hadn't seen that before.

Works great, and it's extremely sensitive due to the knife-edge low friction bearings it uses. -- "It's not what I don't understand about religion that bothers me, it's what I do understand." -- Mark Twain San Francisco, CA