[The_AirHawk]

The No Mar works. I have a couple of customers that went in on one and they are the rage of the riding neighborhood. My biggest issue is the tire balancer. Not that old school doesn't work, but with modern hi-pro tires I think i prefer the electronic high speed balancing.

Exactly how fast do you intend to go? I've got a Marc Parnes portable that can balance a tire within a few grams - it's just a hardened shaft, two precision roller-bearings (mounted in a couple of special fixtures), and a set of matched cone-adapters.

Prior to getting that from The Wife for my birthday, I didn't balance tires at all, as seldom did I put the bike over the Ton, with the bulk of mph spent making mpg at 35-60.....

 

[The_AirHawk]

I guess you could go without balancing if your not going over 60mph. So you've never had even the slightest wobble or hop when you took it over that speed?

So you're saying there's no "wobble or hop" when you balance the tires? On "perfectly balanced" tires I can still feel the road surface imperfections - those rollers don't make a "flat" surface, and they broom the shyte out of concrete roads so much these days, it might as well be a gravel road (compared to the way they used to build 'em). Seriously man, this isn't 1978 - even Kenda makes tires that are pretty close to being balanced, from the factory.

Tell me true, Moke - aside from the Track, how fast do you go at a sustained speed on the roads? If you're doin' much faster than "60" on the backroads around here, you (not "YOU" you, necessarily) are ****ing insane, have a Death Wish, or are plain Stupid. Seriously.

I use a balancer now, but that's because I have one.

One Pirelli I mounted-up for a friend didn't require any weights on my Parnes balancer - there was NO discernable heavy spot, anywhere.

I pay-attention to the manufacturers reference-marks, and actually read their published mounting data, and place the marks where they suggest. Helps a heluva lot.

Stop using Dunlops, and you won't need 7 or 8 ounces of weight just to keep the oscillations down to a manageable level.

 

[The_AirHawk]

You gotta keep your stash somewhere.

It was a bit of an exaggeration, but typically it has taken better than an ounce of weight to balance every Dunlop I've mounted, which is probably a couple-dozen by now. No matter what fiddling I do with the tire-position - that just moves the weight around, doesn't reduce it. I just accept it as a matter of course, and get on with it.

I never said I don't go over 60mph - I asked you "aside from the Track, how fast do you go at a sustained speed on the roads?"

I would guess not much more than the "flow of traffic". Considerably slower than Track speeds, I would say.

Look - we're arguing the same side of the issue here, and splitting hairs again. Do I want a balance as close as possible if I'm going out on the track? You betcha. But most people use their motos for this thing called "pleasure riding", with the next largest group called "commuters". I've found actually balancing tires for either of these purposes to be nearly superfluous. Oh, I check the balance of every tire I mount - but if adding only 1/4 to 1/2 oz. of weight will bring it into "full balance" - I generally just skip it. Typically, you won't notice it. Seriously.

It's not the amount of weight, but rather - it's the time you've got to put in to balance the damn thing that's the pain. That will almost-certainly double the time spent on a tire change. And my patience is finite.

 

[The_AirHawk]

25 years ago there were about 200000 deer hits per year. Now it's 1.5 million. That's a lot more increase in hits than increase in cars. Part of the problem is that the wackos have virtually stopped hunting in the East. The fools even put food out for the deer in winter. Too many idiots watching Animal Planet and Bambi.

10 years ago, it was estimated that there were nearly 2.5million deer living INSIDE the Little Rock City Limits. That's about 4-times more deer than humans living there. People were complaining about the deer eating their roses and hanging plants. So, the Game Commission solicited talk about allowing bow-hunting within the City - stupid-ass activist groups had a field-day.......

I imagine the population is higher, now.