Wheel Slime

[Kohmeo]

Evening,
Got some questions about wheel slime.
1. Has anyone used it? My friend and I are running Ride On Slime and Road Pilot 4s. He has an older ninja 636 and I'm on the stt.

2. It has been fine for 3 years but but last year I noticed a small shimmy at around 80mph and my friend's ninja was around 90mph and we are getting strange cupping patterns on the tires.

My assumption is that the slime has become a solid and is messing the balance up but I wanted some input.

Either way I'm not using the slime again. The last time I had my wheels balanced they put a car battery's amount of lead weights on the rim and it looked dumb.

3. What are you all doing for wheel balancing and anyone use road pilot 4s?

Thanks,

 

[Kurlon]

Gah, having changed tires in a shop for a bit, if we encountered slime, you paid a LOT extra for that mess. Just mount the tire, only put air in, and balance with weights, it’ll be fine.

 

[Cooter]

100% this ^^^^. Put a plug kit under the seat.

The Michelin Pilot Road 6 is out now so how old are yours?? The 'car battery amount of weight' is a sign theres an issue, so ya I'd fully expect cupping if I ignored that clue.

Motorcycle tire aren't like car tires. Don't wait for them to be bald, replace them when they need it, like if they were cupping of something:black_eyed:

 

[Barrett]

Evening,
Got some questions about wheel slime.
1. Has anyone used it? My friend and I are running Ride On Slime and Road Pilot 4s. He has an older ninja 636 and I'm on the stt.

2. It has been fine for 3 years but but last year I noticed a small shimmy at around 80mph and my friend's ninja was around 90mph and we are getting strange cupping patterns on the tires.

My assumption is that the slime has become a solid and is messing the balance up but I wanted some input.

Either way I'm not using the slime again. The last time I had my wheels balanced they put a car battery's amount of lead weights on the rim and it looked dumb.

3. What are you all doing for wheel balancing and anyone use road pilot 4s?

Thanks,

The last time I had my wheels balanced they put a car battery's amount of lead weights on the rim and it looked dumb.

Because XB wheels have unique specific factory balancing reference marks that either went ignored or were unrealized. Hence, all the excess weight.

 

[Kohmeo]

I have not heard of these reference marks. This set my friends and I mounted them ourselves and took them to get balanced. Thank you for this info.

 

[Cooter]

Because any wheel needs to have the ability to be balanced 360*... I think he's referring to some tires have a balancing mark on them (that signifies the lightest part of the tire), so thats supposed to go by the valve stem. Supposedly the heaviest part of the wheel and thereby cancelling each other out, in theory. IME, it's usually only worth a .25oz or so, but still worth the trouble.

A 'car battery worth of weight' is an entirely different issue, and not something rotating the tire would fix. Sticky/dried tire slime would do that, especially if the tire was not put into service immediately to spread that goo around evenly.

FYI, the front and rear axle torque procedures for Buell are pretty specific and bearing killers if not done correctly:upset:
and IIRC, Buell front wheels are spec'd to have the balance weights on the brake disk side. Not sure where I read that, and it is counter-intuitive to dynamic balancing, but it's what I do.

 

[kz6fittycent]

If you're not going over 120mph, balance beads work really well. People will say all kinds of stuff about them, I've used them and they work. Now, I'll brace for the opining.

 

[njloco]

I love Ride-On, just make sure you balance the wheels first and then put the required amount of Ride-On. You'll get a smooth ride and your tires will last a lot longer.

 

[Barrett]

Because any wheel needs to have the ability to be balanced 360*... I think he's referring to some tires have a balancing mark on them (that signifies the lightest part of the tire), so thats supposed to go by the valve stem. Supposedly the heaviest part of the wheel and thereby cancelling each other out, in theory. IME, it's usually only worth a .25oz or so, but still worth the trouble.

A 'car battery worth of weight' is an entirely different issue, and not something rotating the tire would fix. Sticky/dried tire slime would do that, especially if the tire was not put into service immediately to spread that goo around evenly.

FYI, the front and rear axle torque procedures for Buell are pretty specific and bearing killers if not done correctly:upset:
and IIRC, Buell front wheels are spec'd to have the balance weights on the brake disk side. Not sure where I read that, and it is counter-intuitive to dynamic balancing, but it's what I do.

I think he's referring to some tires have a balancing mark on them (that signifies the lightest part of the tire),

No "he's" not. I'm referring to the balancing marks that the Italian wheel company who built the XB wheels was kind enough to place inside most all them. Even mentioned in factory service manual.

 

[Cooter]

I think he's referring to some tires have a balancing mark on them (that signifies the lightest part of the tire),

No "he's" not. I'm referring to the balancing marks that the Italian wheel company who built the XB wheels was kind enough to place inside most all them. Even mentioned in factory service manual.

Why the mystery? You have my curiosity! Can you elaborate?

 

[njloco]

I tried looking in the shop manual and could only come up with this.

 

[Cooter]

That there is a funny lookin' Buell wheel:black_eyed: Haha.

Ya, I dunno either? Maybe he'll share the mystery, maybe he'll delete it. Barrett likes to keep us guessing:angel:

 

[DamMechanic]

I’m a bead fan also.
The last time I had the local bike shop change out two tires and replace the valve stems it was $220.
A friend and I went in half’s on a tire machine and now we have lots of friends. We live in a rural area and it’s 60 mile round trip to the bike or any tire shop. Everyone has been happy with the beads.