Wheel balancing

steelie600

Does anyone here balance your wheels??

Ive got the tackle to do my own, but just wondered if its an essential thing to do, as im not likely to be going fast enough for a while anyway. But while im building my weight loss reward (full suss) I might aswell get it 100%

ilovedirt

It's called truing, and yes it is essential. You can get your LBS to do it for you, mine charges a tenner per wheel, or you can get a spoke key for a few quid and do it yourself. I do mine, and it's dead easy to do. I've saved myself a LOT of money by learning to do it (approx £60 - the cost of the spoke key). Have a good read of this, and then have a crack!

estampida

I think that guy is getting confused

wheel balancing is done but only on pro bikes for the track and road racing, not mtb as the tyres are too big to really adjust for (but they do glue small weights to the spokes just above the nipple)

this guy is right about wheel truing, but read up on it - its not that difficult and a spoke key is £6, and you can use the frame / fork for small adjustments

or if your in Edinburgh, I am a wheel-smith......... and will undercut anyone in the city for price

the most difficult thing is getting the dish right on a frame, it might look right but when it goes on my wheel jig you can see why every-time they pulled a wheelie it pulled to 1 side..........

YeehaaMcgee

ilovedirt wrote:

It's called truing, and yes it is essential.

Wheel balancing is something entirely different to truing. Balancing involves adding weight to reduce vibration when the wheel rotates.
I've not known of anyone to bother balancing an MTB wheel.

ilovedirt

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

It's called truing, and yes it is essential.

Wheel balancing is something entirely different to truing. Balancing involves adding weight to reduce vibration when the wheel rotates.
I've not known of anyone to bother balancing an MTB wheel.

Ah, I know of the term in reference to cars, however like you say, I've never heard of anyone balancing mtb wheels!

steelie600

Yeah I meant balancing, not truing (can do that). Was a bit pished last night, so my fingers didnt type what I was thinking, damn you Jack Daniels!!

Cheers for the input, I didnt think it was necessary myself tbh, but thought id ask so I can add it to my list of things to do.

mrmonkfinger

do MTBs travel fast enough to warrant balancing?

YeehaaMcgee

mrmonkfinger wrote:

do MTBs travel fast enough to warrant balancing?

I've topped 40-45mph on mine quite often, surely with a wheel of 26" diameter, that would show up any balancing issues wuite badly?

bails87

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

mrmonkfinger wrote:

do MTBs travel fast enough to warrant balancing?

I've topped 40-45mph on mine quite often, surely with a wheel of 26" diameter, that would show up any balancing issues wuite badly?

Have you balanced your wheels?

Did riding that fast show up any balancing issues badly enough to make you get your wheels balanced?

I've never heard of anyone doing it on a bike. What happens if you balance your wheel, then the tyre gets moved round in the course of sorting a puncture? The tyre is a significant proportion of the wheel weight, so it would have to be put back in exactly the 'right' position.

So, OP, I'd say no you don't to balance a wheel.

nicklouse

balancing a Road wheel does help.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/w ... nts-20934/

MTB not worth it.

YeehaaMcgee

bails87 wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

mrmonkfinger wrote:

do MTBs travel fast enough to warrant balancing?

I've topped 40-45mph on mine quite often, surely with a wheel of 26" diameter, that would show up any balancing issues wuite badly?

Have you balanced your wheels?
Did riding that fast show up any balancing issues badly enough to make you get your wheels balanced?

No, and no.
Especialy off-road, sine the bike is moving about so much anyway.

bails87

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

bails87 wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

mrmonkfinger wrote:

do MTBs travel fast enough to warrant balancing?

I've topped 40-45mph on mine quite often, surely with a wheel of 26" diameter, that would show up any balancing issues wuite badly?

Have you balanced your wheels?
Did riding that fast show up any balancing issues badly enough to make you get your wheels balanced?

No, and no.
Especialy off-road, sine the bike is moving about so much anyway.

Ah right, that's what I was thinking.

I regularly hit 40mph+ on my CX, and even on wheels built by a bumbling nincompoop (me) there's no issue. Nothing that isn't overwhelmed by the poor road surfaces anyway!

YeehaaMcgee

I think I worded it kind of wrong, as well as mis-spelt "quite", ha!
What I was thinking is that if mtb wheels needed balancing, then surely riding one at 40+mph would show that. It doesn't, so wheel balancing is not needed.
Maybe the actual weight of bike wheels is low enough to make any slight imbalances inconsequential.

bails87

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I think I worded it kind of wrong, as well as mis-spelt "quite", ha!
What I was thinking is that if mtb wheels needed balancing, then surely riding one at 40+mph would show that. It doesn't, so wheel balancing is not needed.
Maybe the actual weight of bike wheels is low enough to make any slight imbalances inconsequential.

Ah, yes, I think I misread it at first, thought you meant thta riding at that speed meant balancing was important. I see what you mean now. And I agree about the weight too. An MTB rim weighs nothing compared to a car wheel, and you've got pretty big 'inputs' from the ground to deal with as well.

YeehaaMcgee

bails87 wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I think I worded it kind of wrong, as well as mis-spelt "quite", ha!
What I was thinking is that if mtb wheels needed balancing, then surely riding one at 40+mph would show that. It doesn't, so wheel balancing is not needed.
Maybe the actual weight of bike wheels is low enough to make any slight imbalances inconsequential.

Ah, yes, I think I misread it at first, thought you meant thta riding at that speed meant balancing was important. I see what you mean now. And I agree about the weight too. An MTB rim weighs nothing compared to a car wheel, and you've got pretty big 'inputs' from the ground to deal with as well.

Of course, the large diameter of the wheel means the wheel rotates fairly slow for a given road speed when compared to say a 17" car wheel as well.

The Rookie

And has a larger radius so the out of balance force is greater.....

MTB tyres are big and squashy enough to damp out any balanve related forces, road tyres have very little give (and could be used going much faster) so it's more likley to be an issue.

leaflite

I dont think it would make much difference. Whilst my rear wheel seems fairly spot on, my front wheel is noticably out of balance-when the bike is lifted up, the wheel rotates quite quickly until the heaviest part is closest to the ground. However, I have yet to notice this on the trail.

YeehaaMcgee

leaflite wrote:

I dont think it would make much difference. Whilst my rear wheel seems fairly spot on, my front wheel is noticably out of balance-when the bike is lifted up, the wheel rotates quite quickly until the heaviest part is closest to the ground. However, I have yet to notice this on the trail.

Aye, same here. wheel generally rotates until the valve is at the bottom of the wheel.

tomrob36

I just had to deal with this on my new Giant TCR. I have the 30mm SLR1 carbon wheels. Right now I have 3 wheel magnets mounted on the opposite side of the valve stem. Without this setup I could feel the oscillation from the imbalance at high speed. Amazing how a few grams off and it's very noticeable.

kickaxe

tomrob36 wrote:

I just had to deal with this on my new Giant TCR. I have the 30mm SLR1 carbon wheels. Right now I have 3 wheel magnets mounted on the opposite side of the valve stem. Without this setup I could feel the oscillation from the imbalance at high speed. Amazing how a few grams off and it's very noticeable.

So you did this on your road bike and resurrected a 4 year old MTB thread?!