Changing tires myself??

[Massimo]

The same here, no dots but I put the DOT number on the valve ! No vibration !

 

[K9F]

Deed is done and despite wishing for better weather it was raining stair rods.

Off with the old.



On with the new. Just need both the weather and lockdown to ease to see what they can cope with.

 

[storm42]

ride it a while before installing those beads, you may not need them. the beads in mine threw it out of balance, ive since ran two sets of tires with no beads or sticky weights and zero vibration.

I used them and found they introduced an uncertainty to the bike that was dangerous. I fitted them to my ZRX1200 and did the iron butt 1000 miles in 24 hours thing, I found that they would balance sometimes, but if I set off a bit quick I would get differing degrees of vibration. On one occasion, the resultant wheelie from setting off a bit quick didn't land until I had passed 100mph and when the wheel spun up the vibration was so bad I couldn't see properly and I am fairly sure if I had to tip into a corner I would have been down.

The tires I had on, had ribs on the inside and I figured out that if the centripetal force was sudden and high enough then it was possible for the beads to clump together held in place by the ribs. They may work for something as slow as a Landy and possibly in a bike tire that doesn't have ribs inside and is ridden a bit more sensibly, but my ZRX has a turbo and likes to go fast Incidentally I wasn't the only one that had problems.

I believe Leon Haslam tried them in his BMW race bike but that didn't last long.

 

[K9F]

Amazing how results differ. I lost a weight off my other steed and it was cheaper and easier to ditch the rest and install 3 ounces in my 260 rear tire rather than drop the wheel and go get it balanced. Once again smooth as silk in speeds on unrestricted autobahns well over a ton. They're in on the FTR and if I have problems I'll add another half ounce. No internal ribs on mine, had there been I probably wouldn't have tried them or asked for advice from the UK distributor as they obviously need a smooth surface for centripetal force to distribute them where they may be needed or evenly around the circumference if they're not! When racing here the weights need to be taped on many circuits as they too are deemed dangerous in their own right.

 

[storm42]

I was introduced to them on another forum some years ago by a guy that lived near the Kyalami circuit in SA. He had some fast vehicles and was pushing the beads at every opportunity, a few of us bought them and as it is on forums the first problem was blown out of all proportion, that was just how hard it was to get the damn things in through the valve.

Without trying them, a few decided they couldn't work and were obviously snake oil, some said they were ok but most were indifferent. When i had my problems along with a couple of others, the guy from SA got a bit huffy and basically told us we didn't know what we were on about, this made me do a bit of research and it turned out he was something to do with the company.

Some of the guys removed them before they wore their tires out, including me so for some it was a real problem, but not so much for others, like you say it is amazing how results can vary so much but if the ribs in my tires had anything to do with my problems then I would suggest there wasn't enough research on the product.

I suppose the bottom line as with most things is, if it works for you!!!!!

 

[Max Kool]

I simply can’t find a single reason why I would put a scoop of beads in my tires, when one or two stick on weights do the job perfectly well (if any).

or even worse, some goopy slime.