Well I've worn out my stock rear tire and will be installing a set of Avon Distanzias before a trip I have planned for mid-March. I noticed that there are no weights on my rims, so evidentally Husqvarna doesn't balance them from the factory. So am I ok just installing the Distanzias and hitting the road, or should I have them balanced? What are you other SM riders doing as far as balancing? Thoughts?
I use dyna beads in my ninja and run no weights, I was skeptical at first but pretty much forgot they were there after a week or so. Cheap, quick and easy plus they seem to do the trick. Just my opinion of course.
A good dealer will balance your rims first and add most of the weight on the inside of the rim. Which will leave just a small weight on the outside for your tire.
Do you have a TE with a rim lock or a SM? The OP is asking about balancing the wheel on an SM, which I would say is usually so minor that you'd never be able to tell the difference. On a TE, I would think it would pay to balance it once to compensate for the rim lock, then not bother anymore.
If you ride your supermoto as a commuter I could maybe see the benefits of wheel balancing. But if you're ripping it up in the twisties, with constant throttle and course changes and on a motor as thumpie as the 610...you won't apprecciate the added effort of balancing IMHO. I used to do it, quit and never even felt the difference.
I have both, the SM set-up does not have rim locks and that is the one I balance. The TE set-up does have rimlocks and I don't bother to balance that one because it is used primarily off road.
That's my policy. My TE has to do some road miles between dirt sections and it makes it much more comfortable to ride (and probably less stress on suspension etc). Changing the tire doesn't make enough difference to notice so no need to balance again after each change. I wouldn't bother balancing the TE at all if it didn't have a rim lock or if I never used paved roads. For an SM I'd suck it and see - take it for a typical ride and if you can feel any bad vibration or shimmying then a balance would be worth trying to see if it helps. On the other hand, if you're having the tires fitted at a shop and they don't charge too much for a balance it's maybe worth having it done then just to make sure you don't have to go back later.
Well I got my new tires mounted (Avon Distanzias), and I had them balance them as well. I ended up with 4 weights on the rear and 2 on the front. I don't know the exact amount of weight since the bike isn't handy at the moment. The bike felt fine to me before, but feels smoother now, so I guess it must have made a difference. Or maybe the difference is just in getting rid of my square rear tire and replacing it with a round one.
I have an SM, I balance them on the Snap On Tire balancer I have. It is hard to put weights on the inside as it has a tube and spokes, you could do it, but they might move and you couldn't find them. Mine had weights on both wheels new. I changed both, the Tube is what really throws it out. The wheels are both a little out, but the tube threw a little more in. I run at the racetrack and you would notice the out of balance at 80-90 mph. I also found that brand new mine was out. I balanced my wheels at 300 miles and vastly improved the ride. Also if you run at the track, try not to go below 25 or 26 psig as you can pop the stem out of the tube on the stockers. I put Metzler heavy duty tubes in and haven't had trouble. YMMV
