Dyna Beads

[wirespokes]

Kind of curious about trying something similar. I've heard the Dyna Beads are tiny ceramic balls. Why not use some tiny ball bearings or BBs? Anyone tried that?

[Ncdan]

Kind of curious about trying something similar. I've heard the Dyna Beads are tiny ceramic balls. Why not use some tiny ball bearings or BBs? Anyone tried that?

Best of my recollection #8 bird shot in the same weight works fine but before I would do anything, after putting on a new tire, get on a smooth asphalt straight road, get up to the maximum speed you run at a constant bases, pull in the clutch, thus eliminating motor vibration, costing down in speed and feel the vibration or lack of, down to slow speeds. It if feels smooth don’t add anything.

[malik]

I've been using the DynaBeads for years & some 300,000kms on the V7's. Seem to work well - I get good mileage from my tyres, and I don't have to re-balance the wheel after replacing the flat, just put another ounce in the new tube. The ones I use are 1mm, I believe. Using steel, you may have to experiment with weights. Then there's friction temperatures. I wouldn't bother, the ceramic ones are cheap enough in quantity (bulk), even more so if you are in the States rather than overseas, like some of us.

[Huzo]

The wheel can vibrate due to uneven mass or out of round.
If it’s out of round, no amount of beads will work.

[Perazzimx14]

I used to use Dyna Beads then switched to CounterAct which are tempered glass coated Teflon. Off the big auction site they are much cheaper than Dyna Bead.


Last year after reading about folks not balancing tires at all when I was mounting up a new set of Shinko 705's I decided not to using any balancing. Pu them on went for a ride and smooth as silk at all speeds. Rode those to Labrador and back and  got the same mileage. Rear went 6K the front is still going strong at 11K and still no imbalance. Any tires I've installed since I forgone any balancing and the expierence has been the same. Now Id only spend the time balancing if I put new tires on the bike and expierence an imbalance. Even then 1st thing Id do is unseat he tire from the bead and rotate it 180 degrees and try again.  Adding any weights to a wheel now would be a last ditch effort. YMMV.

[wrbix]

^^^^^^...agree. After meticulously balancing new installs only to find some of the weights AWOL when at the end of tire’s life, I lost my enthusiasm for the balancing act. If I were going for a land speed record, but .......

[Groover]

I opted for this when I put the Sport Demons on my G5 (converted to tubeless) - Also offers some flat-tire protection. Seems to work very well for balancing. I'd use it again.

https://www.ride-on.com/us/support/tire-types/motorcycle-formula

https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Tire-Sealant-ATVs-UTVs/dp/B00DX8BTE2 (same thing from what I understand as the motorcycle formula)

[Bisbonian]

^^^
Same here. I haven't balanced a tire in years on any of my motorcycles unless I introduce something to it that may cause imbalance (3M tape to run tubeless).

I've had the beads actually introduce vibration in a tire, I will never use them again.

[wirespokes]

What got me thinking of this was having a vibration in the bars once the engine was really in tune and balanced. Rear tire is new and balanced, but the front is at about half. Pulled the front and balanced, but it wasn't easy - as soon as I found the weight to counteract the heavy spot, it stopped at a new place. Not wanting to add more weight I got it close enough which was good enough to eliminate the vibration that was numbing my right hand.

Installing the rear a couple weeks ago I converted to tubeless (LM3) - not an easy task. I don't have a mill so making a flat landing in the well of the rim for the tubeless valve took a while. I didn't balance the bare wheel, but next time I think I will.

I've heard the DBs don't work below about 20mph which makes sense. But I can't imagine not balancing a tire unless everything is pretty well balanced already. I've always balanced my tires and tend not to feel any vibration in the bars. Being that this is a new bike to me, I did something I've never done before - balance a used tire.

Perazzimx14 - what bike are you referring to? I'm curious how close to being balanced your rims are. I've heard that new tires these days are pretty damn close, so it makes sense (not balancing) if your wheels are fairly close.  I'll look into the CounterAct. Thanks.

Huzo - very true - an out-of-round tire will be a problem. No two ways around that one.

When you guys use the DBs - how much do you use per wheel?

[nbags]

i have them on my loop they work well only problem when tires are pretty hot and you come to a complete stop they feel like they are stuck in one place a little vibration soon as pick up  some speed goes away and yes call was told ok to use with inner tube

[Perazzimx14]

Perazzimx14 - what bike are you referring to? I'm curious how close to being balanced your rims are. I've heard that new tires these days are pretty damn close, so it makes sense (not balancing) if your wheels are fairly close.  I'll look into the CounterAct. Thanks.

Bikes not bike as several of my friends are also in the no balance club. BMW, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki's all shapes and sizes. Tube and tubeless tires

I have no idea if my wheels are balanced as I do not check them.

[Snowman]

I used the Counteract glass beads this time around with the Pilot Road 5s. Tired of the ugly weights and it only takes losing one of them or a rock in the tread for the balance to go crap. So far, so good, no vibes.

[malik]

...........

When you guys use the DBs - how much do you use per wheel?

For the V7's I use 1oz for both front and rear, but the rear is only a 130. Any bigger, I'd use another oz..

[MarkMk]

I use dynabeads in my salt bike, smooth as a babies bum @125 mph.
 I tried to use them in my 850T, but gave up after an hour of trying to get them thru the tube valve teat,

[kballowe]

For many years, we used to balance motorcycle tires, and then we tried the beads, and then we tried just balancing the wheel.
Never noticed any difference.  In my mind, if the tire is far enough out of balance that it would cause an issue, then it's a bad tire.
Occasionally, we'll bread it down and turn the tire in increments to see if that improves the balance point.

I have a static balancer, and like to mount the wheels and give them a spin and check for runout. 
They're normally "close enough"

[wirespokes]

Thanks guys! I think I've got enough data now to try this. An ounce per wheel sounds do-able.

I recall a dynabead thread on Adventure Rider that mutated into an argument how they can't possibly work and others saying they did. Even Motor Cycle Consumer News said they didn't work, however, it was pointed out their testing was flawed: the hadn't taken into account that a wheel in the wild doesn't have a solidly fixed axle. It can move due to the suspension. The MCN test was done on a tire balance machine where the axle was rigidly fixed. In real life, when the wheel is out of balance, the axle will be affected thrusting part of the tire farther from center than its opposite side.

That was the key to understanding the physics for me.

Not running weights seems a bit scary to me  I'm sure it wouldn't be too horrible, but just re-doing the balance of my front tire made all the difference of my right hand tingling and falling asleep. Now there's no vibration at the throttle and my hand's totally comfortable.

I've heard of guys marking their wheels for the heavy spot and mounting tires in reference to that rather than the air valve. Next time, I'll spend some time balancing the wheel, or get it close, then mark the heavy spot. Then I'll try your trick of rotating the tire to match. When you say they're normally "close enough", any idea how much weight they're off from being perfect? My front wheel took 14 grams (1/2 ounce) and still wasn't perfectly balanced, but the bit of imbalance left isn't noticeable at highway speeds. I'd guess it would take another four grams to make it perfect.

[Wayne Orwig]

^^^
Same here. I haven't balanced a tire in years on any of my motorcycles unless I introduce something to it that may cause imbalance (3M tape to run tubeless).

I've had the beads actually introduce vibration in a tire, I will never use them again.

I changed my own tires for a few decades without ever balancing them. Never noticed a problem.

I got a balancer and started balancing them. Never noticed a change in anything.

So do these beads fix what isn't broken?

Whatever.
 

[malik]

Those who maintain that balancing is not really necessary may well be right. However, it has been my experience that an unbalanced tyre appears to wear out quicker than a balanced one, sometimes a lot quicker. (I know it's apples & oranges, all factors can't be replicated precisely in real life, but balance has to be a controllable factor). Being as susceptible to flat tyres in the middle of nowhere as I seem to be, I've found it more comfortable to use the beads in the tubes as the balance mechanism. It's a lot more convenient than hunting up a balancer & weights  along the way. As I generally do get a healthy life out of my tyres, and don't seem to have any of the reported symptoms of unbalancing, I'm happy to keep using them.

[Huzo]

.....the axle will be affected thrusting part of the tire farther from center than its opposite side.

I don’t know how the axle would be affected, but I think I know what you meant..
Umm, if you think about it, the tyre will always be the same distance from it’s OWN centre point (axle), regardless of how much it all moves due to suspension movement.
It is still a circle (hopefully), because the whole lot moves as one unit.
However.
If you’re suggesting that the beads are temporarily dislodged from their resting position at the top of the circle, when the tyre is accelerated radially, then you’re going to be damn right..
The guys who took a wheel and “balanced” it with beads then said they couldn’t tell the difference, either means that the damn thing was right in the first place, or THEY, couldn’t tell the difference.
Also remember if a wheel is thrashing because it’s eccentric, then beads cannot and will not ever work..

[wirespokes]

Thankfully tires are built better these days and it's rare getting one that isn't round. They even can be close to balanced sometimes.

Huzo - yes, of course, the wheel always spins about the axle. I think you got my meaning in that the imbalance can affect the axle position and cause the heavy section to 'pull' the axle out of the center of rotation.

I recall seeing a car on the highway once with a badly out of balance wheel. The thing was bouncing probably a couple of inches with every rotation.

What makes sense to me how the beads work is that you have a force vector towards the heavy section which throws the beads to the opposite side.

I've heard the same testimony as malik states: tires last longer with the beads. I've heard that the balance can change during a tire's life and the beads adjust. Lead weights don't.

[Huzo]

What makes sense to me how the beads work is that you have a force vector towards the heavy section which throws the beads to the opposite side.

THAT is the bit I don’t understand.....yet. .
Just a thought experiment.
If I took a perfectly round/balanced wheel and fixed a 1/2 kg mass to one side and spun it, what would happen ?
If I then added 1/2 kg of beads and spun the wheel where would the beads go?

[et18]

Every time I use Dyna Beads they go in as ceramic beads and come out as ceramic dust.  I skipped them for a tire change and felt no difference, so I just stopped using them.  For my last tire change I bought a cheap HF balancer, pulled the existing weights off the wheel, and then using the balancer I found I needed to put exactly the same weight back in exactly the same spot.  Balancing the wheel seems like the way to go to me,  the tire really hasn't seemed to make much of a difference. 

[GeorgiaGuzzi]

Most modern tires have a dot at the lightest spot of the tire. You line the dot up with the valve stem, and air it up. Tires installed this way have in my experience run smoother than tires that are “balanced” at a shop. Don’t know about beads, I haven’t had a bad out of balance tire to have a need for them.

[Wildroamer]

I opted for this ...
https://www.ride-on.com/us/support/tire-types/motorcycle-formula

https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Tire-Sealant-ATVs-UTVs/dp/B00DX8BTE2 (same thing from what I understand as the motorcycle formula)

My V7III arrived with one of the wheel weights ready to fall off, so I did the same. I really like what I have read and the videos I have watched of this stuff. I do, however, still have to decide on a way to top off a tire that gets a nail or something. Either a baby compressor or small can of air, I guess. There's literally zero room under the seat, so either way it'll have to go in a tank bag or pannier. So of course if I DO catch a puncture, I'm sure it'll be when she's nekkid...😦

[Groover]

Here is a good/fun review on the stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqkBfEHYzxw

[Brand X]

Most modern tires have a dot at the lightest spot of the tire. You line the dot up with the valve stem, and air it up. Tires installed this way have in my experience run smoother than tires that are “balanced” at a shop. Don’t know about beads, I haven’t had a bad out of balance tire to have a need for them.

You need to check where the rim is heaviest.(Disks/sprocket installed)  It's rare that it's right at the valve stem.. I use a Mark Parnes setup for that. Either my electric balancer or Parnes for my rig. Figure it's good enough for Moto GP/TT good enough for me. I used beads on some new truck tires, and made them worse.. No way to correct Axial balance issues with them..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFsuwBnpYjw