i was told by a wheel builder no need to balance wheels

[rexeverything]

he said as soon as the bike was backed in it would be out of balance, anyone ever hear of not balancing wheels? I am coming from street bikes, and i would not think of riding a wheel that was not balanced. any thoughts?

[Pondo]

Maybe he was talking in respect to all offroad??

My DRZ is balanced and is very smooth on roads.

The KTM when on roads starts bouncing at higher speeds. (No balance)

[kman780]

I balance all my wheels. I take the tire and rim to the dealer and rides smooth at 80 or so full knobs. Well as smooth as it can with them.

Off-road is not as important because mud will stick and through it off anyway...

[rexeverything]

he was saying that the supermoto racers do not balance their wheels. First time someone told me anything like that.

[Bigtime1]

Anyone nearby their DRZ-S that can tell me the rim size (width stamped on the rim) so I can order rim locks today while I'm "working"?

BTW, balance those things if you're going anything over 30 mph consistently. It'll make a difference in suspension performance and handling. Take a look at the SCORE bikes at the Baja1000 sometime, all the serious racers balance their wheels for this reason.

[rexeverything]

Anyone nearby their DRZ-S that can tell me the rim size (width stamped on the rim) so I can order rim locks today while I'm "working"?

BTW, balance those things if you're going anything over 30 mph consistently. It'll make a difference in suspension performance and handling. Take a look at the SCORE bikes at the Baja1000 sometime, all the serious racers balance their wheels for this reason.

That is what i thought, not sure if he was clueless or he thought i was. weird

[William1]

S front Rim Size:1.6 X 21

S Rear Rim Size: 2.15 X 18

Per service manual

[ARMRD X]

I had my rims powder coated and when I put them back together I took them some where to get them trued and balanced. I also added rim locks. The morons never balanced them. When I put them back on I didn't realize it, so when I took off for the first time I thought I was riding down the side of the freeway on the rumble strips! Get them balanced if you plan on any on road riding!!!! P.S. I was told after the fact that if you are going to install rim locks you should use 2. One at opposite sides of the rim to help balance it out. ?

[Bigtime1]

Thanks William!!

[CsHoSi]

I didn't balance my rear knobby or SM tire. The SM I noticed a little bit of hopping at ~45mph but faster than that and it was fine. I might rig up a homemade balancer eventually.

[n0dal]

I have an S with a kend 760 and an mt21 up front. I never balanced my tires and take her on the freeway consistently at 70+ mph. The ride is pretty smooth to me.

thats my 2 cents,

Dave

[SilverRider]

I run Slime in my tubes and I don't have them balanced. I have 17 inch with street tires of course. I cruise 75-80 mph all of the time. The bike feels the same as it did when they were balanced. I can see how rim locks on wheels would throw it off a little bit as they are heavy. I loose good amounts of rubber every time I go for a spirited ride on pavement so the balance would be off pretty quick anyways. That reminds me, I need to order some new tires.?

[fastgun]

My kid could run 5 miles in the old fashioned Chuck Taylor high-tops and most people would never question that he is a fine runner. Put him in a pair of high tech running shoes designed for fast long distance and he will absolutely blaze!

For certain, having your wheels balanced will not harm the tires, wheel or how they perform on the bike at speed. Without balancing the ride may be OK but with balancing it will be better.

From the above posts many riders seem to get by without balancing. I tend to notice and I am bothered by out of balance shake and shimmy. I probably try to notice it....so I have all my tires balanced....do it myself so it is part of my routine.

[LeadDoggy]

he said as soon as the bike was backed in it would be out of balance, anyone ever hear of not balancing wheels? I am coming from street bikes, and i would not think of riding a wheel that was not balanced. any thoughts?

Tireman didn't know what he be talkin about.....

[loop]

I balance all my wheels, knobbies with rim-locks included.

I hate riding with unbalanced wheels. Feels wrong. I don't like the vibes, and it looks funny, too, when your bike is bobbing due to an imbalance.

I like my bike smooth and fast.

[MutualBill]

Do you know what happens when the wheels are unbalanced? Ov every wheel rotation when the weight reaches the top of the rotation it actually picks the entire wheel up off the ground...and when the weight goes down it slams the wheel back into the ground. This is felt as a vibration. The worse it is out of balance the worse the vibration.

Sure it might not be 100% after you wear down some rubber...but it won't be grossly out of balance.

I balance everything. The wheels just work better when they stay in contact with the road.

[dukeryder]

I only balanced my Front Tire on my SM wheels and I didn't use Lead weights I just put in 8oz of Slime. NEVER had a single problem and regularly rode 90mph on my XR650SM. On my Dirt Tires I used Slime as well except in the front and Rear also never had a problem. On my Street bike I use PJ1 Balance Plus and it's fine at 100mph+.

It's called HydroStatically Balancing as opposed to Dynamic(?) balancing and supposedly helps the tire wear longer and more evenly than the Conventional Weight balancing.

[GSBill]

I use Tru Goo(like Slime) in all my motorcycle tubes. I have the rear dirt wheel balanced and the front dirt wheel has no weights on it..Smooth as glass up to 80 mph. I have no issues with stick on weights flying off..I use alcohol to prep the rim. I then beat the weights into the shape of the rim with a small ball peen hammer after I stick em so they look like they grew there. Guys that do a lot of sand tape over the weights. I have no weights at all on either motard wheel. They are smooth as glass also. 1 rim lock on each dirt wheel. Dunlop 606's on the dirt wheels and Avon Distanzia's on the motard set up.