FJRiders.com

Before this thread gets locked because its turned into a tire tread, I've gotten as little as 1800 miles on a Pirelli Angel, and 8000 miles on some early Avon tractor tire. Down here I have generally gotten 3500-5000...the lesser when riding with some yahoos from Georgia or a Michigan douchetard.

I put the dot on the valve stem. If I need more than 1.5 oz to balance it, I break the bead on the tire, rotate it 180 degrees and try again. On rare ocassion, I have break the bead a 3rd time and move it 90 degrees (IOW - 90 degrees from original mounting).

Every time I balance a wheel for the first time, I usually check the rim. Most of the time, the heavy spot is at or near the valve stem. Not always, but most of the time.

wheatonFJR wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:09 am Before this thread gets locked because its turned into a tire tread, I've gotten as little as 1800 miles on a Pirelli Angel, and 8000 miles on some early Avon tractor tire. Down here I have generally gotten 3500-5000...the lesser when riding with some yahoos from Georgia or a Michigan douchetard.

For informational purposes...

All moot if you balance the bare wheel first (with valve stem and TPMS installed)...... at first, you'll naturally see the heavy spot is at the valve stem, but as you fine tune the balance, it may not necessarily be at the valve stem....... after balancing, then you can put that yellow dot anywhere you like.
Then there are red dots...... those are for maximum runout. I have seen tires with both red and yellow. You'd have to get your dial indicator out to see where the max/min runout is on the wheel, and where you take that reading is important (not on the outside rim).
I find over half the tires now don't have any dots at all..... I suppose ignorance is bliss.
I read this years ago....... https://www.tyrebaydirect.com/knowledge ... ellow-dot/

Yeah - the static balancer (er.... gravity) doesn't lie. I have yet to find a machine that does as good a job. When that wheel won't turn (or just ever so slightly barely moves), it's good to FJR nominal. That can be the case with a crap ton of weights, but I like to try and keep it to a minimum. I have found that for the most part, the amount of weight and the location of the weight from tire to tire doesn't change much.on the same rim. IOW - the tire is usually fairly balanced.

Out of dozens of wheels I've balanced, only a couple have had the heavy spot at the valve stem. Sometimes it is close. Sometimes not. While 7 7g weights is a lot, I've had a couple tires close to that.

I'm impressed at the mileage some of you are getting out of the RS4 fronts. I am usually one of the guys that get a lot of miles out of a front tire. But at 7,400 miles my front RS4 was WAY past due replacing. I was a bit disappointed by that but it did see of a lot of hard use in Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina. Still, it was a great handling tire and it was perhaps the best handling tire at end of life that I have ever run. On another FJR I've got a Shinko Raven that Ray recommended in one of the other sandboxes. It's got over 10k miles on it with lots left to go. Not the sportiest of tires. And providing local use which isn't as hard on it, but still impressive life.

2-4 7 gram weights is normal for me, balanced with Garmin TPMS on the valve stem.

I mount tire, inflate, add the TPMS, then balance before removing the prior weights. New weights almost always need to go somewhere else. So I don’t worry about the balance of the bare wheel.

Hppants wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:02 pm Yeah - the static balancer (er.... gravity) doesn't lie. I have yet to find a machine that does as good a job. When that wheel won't turn (or just ever so slightly barely moves), it's good to FJR nominal. That can be the case with a crap ton of weights, but I like to try and keep it to a minimum. I have found that for the most part, the amount of weight and the location of the weight from tire to tire doesn't change much.on the same rim. IOW - the tire is usually fairly balanced.

That is not my experience. Some tires take zero weight. Some take lots. It's been all over the place.

SkooterG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 3:22 pm

Hppants wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:02 pm Yeah - the static balancer (er.... gravity) doesn't lie. I have yet to find a machine that does as good a job. When that wheel won't turn (or just ever so slightly barely moves), it's good to FJR nominal. That can be the case with a crap ton of weights, but I like to try and keep it to a minimum. I have found that for the most part, the amount of weight and the location of the weight from tire to tire doesn't change much.on the same rim. IOW - the tire is usually fairly balanced.

That is not my experience. Some tires take zero weight. Some take lots. It's been all over the place.

Perhaps you misunderstood. I've had all over the place as well, from 1/4 oz to (I think) 2 oz. I've never had a tire balance with zero weight. But my point was, regardless of the amount of weight it takes, when Mark Parnes says it's good, it's dead nuts good. Gravity doesn't lie. Now - the tire machines at the cycle shop? Not so much. They are usually pretty close with the amount of weight, but the location is usually off.

Hppants wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 4:20 pm

SkooterG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 3:22 pm

Hppants wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:02 pm Yeah - the static balancer (er.... gravity) doesn't lie. I have yet to find a machine that does as good a job. When that wheel won't turn (or just ever so slightly barely moves), it's good to FJR nominal. That can be the case with a crap ton of weights, but I like to try and keep it to a minimum. I have found that for the most part, the amount of weight and the location of the weight from tire to tire doesn't change much.on the same rim. IOW - the tire is usually fairly balanced.

That is not my experience. Some tires take zero weight. Some take lots. It's been all over the place.

Perhaps you misunderstood. I've had all over the place as well, from 1/4 oz to (I think) 2 oz. I've never had a tire balance with zero weight. But my point was, regardless of the amount of weight it takes, when Mark Parnes says it's good, it's dead nuts good. Gravity doesn't lie. Now - the tire machines at the cycle shop? Not so much. They are usually pretty close with the amount of weight, but the location is usually off.

Yup. I be stoopid. Misunderstood. And agree that the Marc Parnes balancer is the Dog's Danglies! I have had actually had a couple tires require no weight. Not a common occurrence.

If I could balance the tire with Dogs Danglies I give it a go, but the Parnes balancer gets the job done.

Not exactly today, but on our trip I rode the dragon.

Evidently the photographer missed oppurtunities to get pictures of me dragging my knees.

So I settled for a scenic one.

FJRs are pretty bikes. That's for sure.

Rode it to work. That's not the cool part though. After work I ended up channeling my inner JWilly. On my way home it's 96 degrees with a heat index of over 100. Heading north on the interstate about 1-2 miles from my exit I see a motorcycle on the shoulder on the southbound side and a young man sitting off a bit further in the grass. Debated which to do, do I exit and hop back on southbound with what tools I have on the FJR or go home first and grab my truck? No idea why he's pulled over or what might be wrong I choose home figuring if nothing else I can grab them a bottle of water as I have no idea how long they might have been there. I grabbed my gas can for the mower which has about 2 gallons of fuel in it, the tire plug kit from under the FJR seat, a compressor that can plug into the lighter in my truck, and 2 bottles of water and head back out.

It's only been about 10 minutes or so since I spotted him on my ride home and as I arrive on the scene, I note he picked the best possible area to pull over. Nice broad shoulder, and there's already a work truck there and the rider is sitting in the passenger seat in the AC. I walked up and he opened the door, and I handed him a bottle of water. Young Hispanic kid and he thanks me profusely for the water. I ask what happened and he thinks he just ran out of gas. Small Ninja, 250 or 300 I can't tell for sure. Told him I brought some fuel if he wants to put some in and see if we can get him running again. The truck driver gets out and the 3 of us walk back to the bike and we pour in about half a gallon. Bike cranked a bit but finally caught and settled into a decent idle so it looks like his guess was right. He hasn't owned the bike long enough to know it's range and I didn't note a fuel gauge.

I told him the next exit is 4 miles away and there are 2 gas stations so he should really stop and fill it up. He thanks me repeatedly and asks what he owed. I just shook my head and told him "This is just what riders do for each other".

Nice Darlas Dan. :>)

danh600 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 2:48 pm Not exactly today, but on our trip I rode the dragon.

Evidently the photographer missed oppurtunities to get pictures of me dragging my knees.

So I settled for a scenic one.

FJRs are pretty bikes. That's for sure.

Rode it to the New River Gorge Bridge to do the walk. Left at 5:20 in the morning, got home at 8:30 last night. Got rained on a few times, bad fog, sunny skies, 68 degrees riding and then in the 90's riding. Definitely a wide range of weather.

The Bridge Walk was awesome! If you haven't done it, sign up and give it a go.

That second picture would be a no for me!

I'm terrified of heights Dan. Certainly not my thing but it was really good and I didn't experience any issues. You don't have to sit down, they give you the option.

Decided it was time to at least pull the final drive and remove the left foot rest to look at the drive shaft and U joint. Splines on shaft on both ends were fairly dry. Small surface rust on both ends of shaft. Not bad. Cleaned and lubed and reinstalled everything.

Should have pulled the center stand and completed the swing arm service but it's hot. Was in the garage at 615 this morning to reassemble what I did do. Up over 95 today and humid. I'll complete the other work after the riding season.

Festus wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 9:53 am Rode it to the New River Gorge Bridge to do the walk. Left at 5:20 in the morning, got home at 8:30 last night. Got rained on a few times, bad fog, sunny skies, 68 degrees riding and then in the 90's riding. Definitely a wide range of weather.

The Bridge Walk was awesome! If you haven't done it, sign up and give it a go.

Yer killin it Steve! Well done!