Home Wheel Balancing

I started a thread recently asking if it was possible to balance wheels on the bike. The concensus of opinion was no, but YC thought it would be possible to use the centre spindle on a pair of axle stands.

I can confirm he was right and it works beautifully and the wheel turns with almost no detectable resistance, give it a small spin and it carries on going for ages. See how the heavy spot finds the bottom, same spoke at the bottom as before I touched it, spin all you like, it's the same spoke every time, and it only took 10g to balance it out so it wasn't a really significant heavy spot...

Just thought I'd share, may come in useful for anyone with a balancing problem, or a tyre they want to buy on the internet and fit at home. Saves paying 35 quid upwards for a wheel balancer.

[rictus01]

possible.... of course, just as a matter of interest, how long did you spend (time wise) on it?

back in the 80's we always done it that way, but then we also fitted our own tires to, a bit of round bar in a vice does the same job

Cheers Mark.

i do it on all three of mine just like in that above, takes about 10 mins per wheel works a charm. tested up to about 165mph!

No time at all, it balanced up almost straight away, and the wheel was already off for the new tyre getting fitted. I was just balancing it with steel nuts and a bit of sticky tape though as I need to buy some wheel weights, so when I was finished I removed them and took them back in the house out of curiosity to stick on the kitchen scales. I only had to add more nuts two or three times before I had it staying still at any point in the rotation. Sods law now I've taken the tape off, the next time it'll refuse to balance up and take ages.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

No time at all, it balanced up almost straight away, and the wheel was already off for the new tyre getting fitted. I was just balancing it with steel nuts and a bit of sticky tape though as I need to buy some wheel weights, so when I was finished I removed them and took them back in the house out of curiosity to stick on the kitchen scales. I only had to add more nuts two or three times before I had it staying still at any point in the rotation. Sods law now I've taken the tape off, the next time it'll refuse to balance up and take ages.

LOL that kind of thing happens to me all the time.

Works great. I balance my wheels by holding the axle in one hand with the other end resting on a wooden railing.

Not great for every bike though. The resistance in my wife's Ninja 250's wheels made it somewhat inaccurate (still "good enough" though).

[tigersaw]

Never bother, tyres are off to fix puntures, turn it round etc too often. Then again if my bike reaches 70 mph I must have gone over a cliff

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

The concensus of opinion was no, but YC thought it would be possible to use the centre spindle on a pair of axle stands.

What you mean "thought", I use that method all the time!

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

What you mean "thought", I use that method all the time!

Christ first the grammar police, now the meaning police!

OK, I didn't read it properly and YC "knew" a pair of axle stands would work.

Pedant! Happy now?

[yorkie_chris]

Heh, difference between theory and well practised and proven is worth being pedant about!