Balancing Front (Spoked )Wheel

[Sal Paradise]

I think my front wheel is out of balance. I have a slight shake of the front end when slowing down between 55 mph and 40 mph. Its noticable if I let go of the bars. At other speed it seems fine. As cheap as I am and as much as I hate dealers touching my bike, I thought I'd ask- Anyone here a guru with these spoked wheels?

I found one broken spoke which I replaced. I tightened any loose spokes I found. I did some measuring with a tape, jacked up the bike and spun the wheel and tried to take out any wobble or run out by tightening and loosening just a bit.

Should I just take it to a shop or is there a better way to true and balance?

 

[schnabba]

probably a worn tire - I had the same thing, stock tire was causing this around 4000 miles. At 6500 on the tire, it was awful!

new tire fixed it up. I did try balancing it first, before going the new tire route. (the rear tire was getting close anyway)

only seemed to do it on deceleration, and only if you weren't touching the bars, and only around 55-45 as you decelerated.

Still not sure if it's just how all tires are, if it was the tread pattern on that stock tire, ???...

 

[simpson]

crap. looks like I need new tires too.

-simpson

 

[Sal Paradise]

Interesting. Yes its the stock tire at 5500 miles.

My back tire isn't looking all that great either....

 

[simpson]

Mine are at 7500 miles...I guess I am headed over to the "What tires for my Thruxton?" thread.

-simpson

 

[MES]

Just make sure that the wheel is true and balanced. If it is, then it is almost certainly the tire just living it's life.

tires and head shake.

All (damn near all) tires reguardless of make or type will produce some headshake at some point in the tire life.

some do it sooner rather than later. Sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it goes away for a bit and then returns but at a different speed range or severity.

mine had one at 30-35mph. It started at about 1k from new and lasted about a month and then went away. Now it's back at 70-75mph. It's almost spent now so it doesn't really matter.

 

[jackblack]

To balance the front wheel -Lift the bike so the wheel will spin-then let the wheel come to a stop-place some weight around the spoke at the top when the wheel stops---spin again --it should then find it hard to stop at one place----go try it you will understand what its about ----ive done it lots on dirt bikes- Goodluck

 

[Baltobonneville]

Something learned from the mechanic

He said that the weights are mostly balancing my wheels, not the tires. He determined this when he was putting the new tires on.

I think the lesson is to not pull the weights off if you're mounting tires without checking first.

 

[wolfie]

Yup, I just notriced a little headshake on decel today, also while not touching the bars. little over 6k on stock front.

Time for a new front.

 

[unclecharlie]

A cupped front tire will cause headshake. So will low air pressure, or a misaligned rear axle.

 

[DIRK]

check the steering head and swing arm bears for play. most often it is however the tire causing the issue. tire true will not usually be an issue. had a 70bmw with 1/4 in side to side and 3/8 up and down play with no vibration or wobble issues.

 

[MES]

..... or a misaligned rear axle.

this is a good point. People think that beause the shake is in the front the problem must also be in the front. This is usually true but not always.

swing arm bushings, bad rear shock or any one many things could produce a head shake.

In this case, my money is on my first post.

 

[sanjuro]

sorry to drag up an old thread, but I figured better to start here than making a new one for the same topic.

Just got new Avon Roadriders a couple weeks ago and now I've got front end issues. It's most noticeable around 50-60, but I think it's always there to a degree. Seems to ride smooth, then go shake shake shake, then smooth, repeats the cycle about every two seconds.

I was careful installing the wheels after the new tires were put on, and even pulled them today to re-grease the axles and double check the rear alignment. I don't think that's the issue, but I'm gonna measure it on the swingarm as i'm starting to not trust the indicators.

I doubt it's a tire cupping issue as I've put on less than 500 miles.

Any ideas?

 

[schnabba]

was the problem there before the new avon tires? how about the wheel? Is it true? (I take a pencil, use a rubber band or tape to hold it to the front fork, and get the lead near the wheel - spin the wheel around - see how close the wheel is side to side, then if it moves towards or away from the axle - just like a bicycle wheel). I only use a pencil because I tend to have them around the garage, and it's a quick indicator.

Check for that - then, have the front wheel balanced. I was surprised by the amount of weights these crappy rims take to balance out properly.

 

[sanjuro]

Didn't notice the problem prior to the avons. The shop did balance them (with big ugly weights on the spokes). I'm thinkin about giving dynabeads a shot. Will have to try that true test, not sure if the shop checked for trueness.

 

[Deano]

[ I was careful installing the wheels after the new tires were put on, and even pulled them today to re-grease the axles and double check the rear alignment. I don't think that's the issue, but I'm gonna measure it on the swingarm as i'm starting to not trust the indicators.Sanjuro
+1 on not trusting the indicators. The increments are not accurate enough as a very slight turn makes a big difference to chain tension, but hardly noticeble on adjusters. I think correct rear wheel alignment is well and truly overlooked.

 

[sanjuro]

Just tried the pencil test...i suspect the rim is out of true. Used a rubber band to mount the pencil on the fork and set the tip as close to the lip of the rim as I could without touching it. Slowly spun the tire and after about a quarter turn could hear the lead touch rim.

Does this definitely mean the rim is out of true?

How much might I be looking at to fix this situation?

 

[Deano]

Hey Sanjuro, a little test I always do is when the wheel is out of the bike, hold each end of the axle and give the wheel a spin along the ground, then pick it up while its still spinning. You can really get a feel for whats going on, balance wise, as its spinning.
I'm not sure on the cost of fixing a out of true rim in the states, but one I had done here in NZ cost me $75, and this was his labor time only, no parts. He said he just loosened off various spokes and then retightened them all while trueing it up.

 

[schnabba]

also use a pencil on the other side - see if the rim is really off center, or maybe the rim edge is bent outwards (is it a consistent width). Depending on the tire lever, it's easy to start bending the edge of those steel wheels...

out of round is important too. Check to see that the rim stays a consistent distance from the center as it rotates.

How about the tire surface? As it rotates, is the tire bulging in one area, or does the tire itself look ok as it spins?

Another thing to check - make sure the fork legs are at the same height in the triple tree - then, you may want to loosen the axle bolt and the pinch bolts, then go through the correct tightening sequence with that. These are a few cheap things to try.

 

[sanjuro]

I picked up a spoke wrench on my way home from work, checked and tightened the spokes, and took it for a quick ride. It seems better, but there is still a slight (though lessened) vibration. Checked the spokes, made some minor adjustments, and did the pencil test on the rim again after the ride.

Will take it for a spin tomorrow and try the other tests as well. I think it's close, but to get it there I may have to take it to a trained professional...I'm kinda pushing the limits of my abilities on this one.