Balance

I had bought new tires for the Cannonball and had been waiting for the right time to install them. The old front tire had been shaking for a while and, because I get up to 18,000 miles out of front tires, I decided to go ahead and get it mounted.  Boris doesn't have a balancing machine so we just installed it without balancing.  It shook about the same as the old tire so I began thinking it is either out of balance or I need a new front shock absorber.

My brother David has a balancing tool, quite simple actually, a rod with two bearings.  Place it in the center of the wheel and let it find the heavy side.  It was way out of balance.  It needed six weights to get it balanced, but it did work.  Much better now.

I am waiting to do the rear tire as the current Michelin Power Pure has just over 7,000 miles on it.  It is getting to the bottom of the tread, so I am using that as a gauge for the new tire.  The new one will have to hold up to 4,000 miles of sustained speed over only 12 days.  So I am waiting until the last minute before installing that one.  When mounted, I will take it to David's for the same balancing service.

Inside the garage.  The device sits on the two jack stands.