donlop elite III

[trbig]

I figure at 130... you'll actually need very little tire pressure to keep the tire round due to centrifigul forces. The hard part is getting the core out at this speed... but the bead installation is simply a timing thing as the wheel spins around.. tossing one tiny bead at a time. lol.

OK OK, I see where that looked funny. It might be easier to run it up to speed THEN STOP before taking the weights off. But I never was one to do things the easy way!

Tod

[Jerry]

I don't think the average guy is going to feel an out of balance tire unless it's really bad.

Well, could be because the way the instrument pod is mounted on the XJ. An unbalanced tire causes the front end to vibrate, ususally kind of a harmonic. I can feel it in the handlebars, see it vibrating the fork legs, and particularly can see the instrument pod vibrating to the point where the numbers in the speedo and tach can blur. Had one front that was bad over about an 8 mph range, unfortunately it was right at about 70 mph! Above and below it seemed to be OK, or at least could not be felt much.

Wanted to try the beads to see if it was pure BS, partially OK, or really worked as advertised. Have yet to make a final conclusion, but so far the front treatment seems to be working as advertised.

1 oz is recommented for motorcycle tires up to a 140. Above that they recommend 2 oz.

I have some stick-on weights that I will take with me, can cut them with a snips to get smaller increments to use in case the beads don't work.

[79XS11F]

Dunlop TT 100s

Being that this thread is about tires can some one tell me what tires that are currently available for our bike would be an equal or better then the TT 100s that Dunlap used to sell
Rob

[trbig]

So Jerry... since you do feel a difference, does that make you UN-average?? lol.


Rob.. you're fixin' to open a big ol' can of worms with that question! lol


Tod

[79XS11F]

Why is that??? Dunlap must have replaced the TT 100 with something. I don't know if the TT 100 was the "best" tire to use but I liked them. I found them to be pretty sticky but not long lived. But you can't have a real sticky tire and long life at the same time. Not back then anyway. I currently have Bridgestone Battlax BT45Rs on my bike. They were on sale at 1/2 price and still cost me 300 dollars. i was told when I bought them that they were equal to the old TT 100s
Rob

Originally posted by trbig
So Jerry... since you do feel a difference, does that make you UN-average?? lol.


Rob.. you're fixin' to open a big ol' can of worms with that question! lol


Tod

[pggg]

You'd have to test that bead stuff on a motorised wheel balancer to be certain, but you know when the front wheel is unbalanced, not so much the back wheel, you can see/feel the front tyre isn't running smooth at high speed, shut the throttle at 50 mph, take both hands off the handlebars and let the bike decelerate right down to 20 mph or so, you should feel any wobbles then. A shotgun shell (goose shot) tipped down the tyre valve, maybe that'll do the same as those beads

[SFerinTEXAS]

BALLS

In my too many years as a heavy duty(18 wheeler) partsman I had a trucker once tell me that he put a couple of tennis ball in his tires and had been doing it for years. When he demounted the tires for a new set, the tennis balls looked just about new. Never had his tires weight balanced. That was many years ago and one of those things that lingered in my head all this time.

[Pat Kelly]

I shopped around town to replace the Dunlop 501 on the back of my MNS. Everyone quoted the tire for 160 + freight. If I brought in the rim and had them mount and balance and hand it back to me I was looking at $200.
Ordered one from SouthWest Mototires for $98 + freight (free shipping if you buy 2 tires). Mounted and balanced them in the driveway. Had time to clean the rim, swingarm, grease the axle splines, hub splines, etc. Took about 2 hours including breaks to help the kids with 'stuff'.
I'm unemployed (layed-off in June) so I just can't afford to pay someone else to do it for me (and then I'd be wondering if they did it like I would). Finding a shop/mechanic you can trust is still trial and error. You take it here and it's crap, there is crap. You get tired of paying for crap work looking for the mechanic you can trust. I know, I used to turn wrenches.
I'm able to do it myself so I choose to do so. We added 600 Sq. Ft. to our house and did it ourselves (the exception was the linoleum on the bathroom floor). Passed every inspection with flying colors. The inspectors all commented on the attention to detail. You can do that when you're not pushed to make a profit.
Yes businesses need to make money but it dosen't help to price yourself out of business. Tough tightrope to walk.

[MAXIMAN]

The averagre guy probably CAN'T feel a tire out of balance because all he does is putt around town.

However my "experienced" butt notices the slightest imperfection in balancing. of course I'm not the average rider doing three and sometimes four multi-thousand mile road trips annually.

I will not put up with "shop" balanced tires. I used to use shops XSclusively for tires. I have used every shop here to buy and install tires and will do it no more.

The mounting is no challenge for most of these guys. But the trick of balancing must be a BIG deal because I have yet to get a tire from a dealer that was adequately balanced. Within 1000 miles it is vibrating like a son of a gun.

The deal with me doing my own tires is not a matter of money. It's a matter of getting a good balance. I have watched the clowns at the local dealers and they take all of about 30 seconds to balance the tire. Usually a bubble balancer...occasionally computer ofr the more sophisticated shops. But after watching some racing friends at the track mount and balance their own I witnessed...first hand...the superior balanced acheived with a static balancing system....AND IT'S AFFORDABLE. I am totally sold on a static balance. And I don;t take this issue lightly considering how many miles I put on tires annaully. I usually go through 2 or 3 sets on Zilla ALONE in a year.

I have now mounted and balanced a dozen set of tires (5 sets of my own) and I have never been happier with the results. I've been getting 5000 to 6000 miles on a set before they get out of balance....then I usually just re-balance them and ride another 4 or 5K.

I use my local shop XStensively...but for boring...porting...rebuilding transmissions etc...I've spent in XS of 10 grand there this year alone so freebies are not an issue. It's a matter of getting it right. Tires are low priority for most shops. it's a quickie in and out thing and the job...in my experience has been less than stellar. YMMV

NOW...regarding the Elite 3. I just installed a set on Zilla for my upcoming 7000 mile trip to Tahoe/Oregon. The tires are very impressive so far. Smooth as glass and drop dead quiet. I just hope they give good service.

[Jerry]

I have returned from the Oregon rally, put over 3K on the new Elite 3 rear tire. No rain, but did everything from striaght-haul to twisties around Mt. St. Helens.

The Elite 3 performed very well. Quiet, excellent handling, looks just broken in.

The ride with the bead balancing was as good or better than any shop-balanced set of tires I've ever had. This is seat of the pants impression, but for my $.02 I would recommend them to anyone who does or wants to try their own balancing.

[DELL82]

I currently run D404's However the rear needs replacing and I was suggested a D401 which I believe was the old D496 or D498. Don't know which. The 12/32" tread depth is better than most and has a 73H rating. One bad thing noticed was that the D401 has Harley Davidson on it O well no one reads the rear anyway. Has anyone run this tire? Made for heavy cruisers like mine, XJ1100J