New Tires. Problem?

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

I took the bike to the show for a few things. (2015 1300RX with11,500 miles)

1) Oil change
2) plugs
3) new tires. (they balanced the tires with Balance Beads. This is a first for me)

I got the bike home (trailered it to the shop) and took it for a quick spin. I have my own private track a few miles from the house. I know the track very well. I've never had any issues before...but last night I was getting on it and starting at 110, it started shaking. Front end vibration. The windscreen and mirrors were practically flapping. I shut it down after that. I got some fuel and went back out to hit a different secession of track that I knew was smooth as glass. Its a nice 5 mile stretch. Pavement is perfect. I get up to 80/90 in 3rd. Smooth. I give it a little more. sure as poop, 110 a bit of vibration. 120 a little more 130 to 155 it increased a little. I slowly let off and got it back down to 65 and it was perfect again.

Now...

I have never used the balance beads before. I've alllllways had the wheel weights (stick on or hammer on). I checked a few other forums for other peoples experiences with the beads, and people seem to like them.

Firstly, I did not check the air pressure before or after my ride. I was a little excited to finally have the bike back on the road (had a flat on the rear). And I was a little upset when I got back that I didn't think to check the pressure again. I will do this tonight when I get home (drove my truck to the office).

Secondly, I didn't get that knife edge feeling of fully inflated tires. Thats the one thing that throws me off whenever a get a new set (front for that matter) of tires. It normally takes me a few miles to get used to that 'fall in' feeling. Then it goes away and I check the air pressure.

So, I don't wanna throw the beads under the bus...just yet. But what, if any, is your experience with the beads?

The bike had 0.3 miles on it when I bought it. As I stated above, it has 11,500 on it now. I burred the needle with the factory Battlex tires and with a set of Angel GT's. I felt I had more grip with the Angels vs the BT. So I went for them again. The date code on the front tire is from 2016 (0516), the rear 2014 (5014). Even with that, the tires look to be in really good shape. No dry rot or anything that would suggest that they've been sitting for a while.

Thanks for any input.

[bigoltool]

Air pressures for start, then make sure the tire bead is fully seated AWA, then make sure that all fasteners are in place and tight before you ever take it out again. No experience with the tire beads, but people seem to dig them... I would surely be taking it back to the shop that mounted them though just as a CYA move.

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

Solid advice. Thanks man. I was doing a little digging and some people say that the tire might need to rotate the tire. But I'll check the air first and go from there.

[nosbig]

I know the beads that I use say not to put full amount in at first, for high speed. Start with about 1/2 and add as needed. My tires didn't need the full amount of beads to smooth out. Maybe they put to many, or not enough, in your front tire.

[VIPER]

i have tried the beads a few time with 0 success. I scrapped that idea fast and switched back to weights. I never was able to get the busa to smooth our over 100 with beads. Soon as i switched back no issues at all.

[GIXERHP]

Here is my input,,,

Do you see Race teams, using them?
Moto GP,, No
World Superbike,, No
Moto America,, No

All the Above are running as much if not more HP than a Busa, and they use good ole lead weights!

The shop that mounted your tires, is Lazy, and Not qualified to mount and balance tires!

[Mike Chambers]

i have tried the beads a few time with 0 success. I scrapped that idea fast and switched back to weights. I never was able to get the busa to smooth our over 100 with beads. Soon as i switched back no issues at all.

Never heard of beads here,stick on weights used on all my bikes, Manuel balancing not done buy digital machine as Manuel more accurate

[Mike Chambers]

Here is my input,,,

Do you see Race teams, using them?
Moto GP,, No
World Superbike,, No
Moto America,, No

All the Above are running as much if not more HP than a Busa, and they use good ole lead weights!

The shop that mounted your tires, is Lazy, and Not qualified to mount and balance tires!

My personal view is bike shops (mechanics )shouldn't do tyres they should be done by tyre specialists

[TIMMYDUCK]

Here is my input.

Some shops can and will mess your stuff up , not intentionally , just happens .

Check your rotors , I have seen them get bent on tire changes .

[POWERHOUSE]

Balance beads suck, you never should have agreed to that. A good multi-plane wheel balancer costs several thousand dollars, get your tires balanced properly with
a shop that has one . . .

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

I didn't lol I was never asked which I wanted. Its the third time I've had the bike at this shop for tires. This is the first time they've used the beads.

I did check the pressures last night and they were a bit low. 35psi. I put them up to 40 (tire calls for 41). I went down the street 5 miles, turned around and ran it up. At 130 the speedo jumps between 120 and 140. The tach does the same thing. The windscreen is flapping about 2". I'm going to call the shop and see if they'll even do anything.

Wish me luck!

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

Here is my input.

Some shops can and will mess your stuff up , not intentionally , just happens .

Check your rotors , I have seen them get bent on tire changes .

I would say the rotors are ok. I didn't put inspect them, but I had a glance at them and nothing popped out at me. Also, I didn't notice anything odd while under braking. I would imagine if the rotors were banged up, I would have felt it pulsing. But I will definitely have another look at them.

Thanks for all the replies. I was worried that it was a bad tire, but I'm getting the feeling that its the beads. It would seem that some of the beads (more like a powder) has stuck to the inside of the tire due to being tacky or sticky, and thats whats causing the problem. I'm going to call the shop here in a few minutes to see what/if they'll help a brother out.

[sixpack577]

35psi is fine, and not the problem.
Front or rear. The psi will rise 3-5 as the tires warm up.
The lower the psi, the bigger the contact patch, the better the grip.
40-41psi cold in a front tire is asking for trouble.
I would be nice to the shop, but if they refuse to remove the beads and balance with weights, at their cost, then there would be a problem.
They screwed it up, it's on them to fix it.
Good luck

[VIPER]

wouldnt ever go above 38 cold in front and that is pushing it. I would drop back to 36 ish front little less rear and have them really balance the tyres

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

35psi is fine, and not the problem.
Front or rear. The psi will rise 3-5 as the tires warm up.
The lower the psi, the bigger the contact patch, the better the grip.
40-41psi cold in a front tire is asking for trouble.
I would be nice to the shop, but if they refuse to remove the beads and balance with weights, at their cost, then there would be a problem.
They screwed it up, it's on them to fix it.
Good luck

I just got off the phone with the shop. The girl said the beads are now..."The industry standard". Soooo. I asked if they could still do the wheel weights. She checked and said yes. So I have an appointment on saturday to bring it back down there. I was pleasant as pie with the girl. I even used some distress psychology. I made her feel like she was the only person who could help me. Its amazing what you can get from someone when you make them feel as if they really are the only one that can help.

wouldnt ever go above 38 cold in front and that is pushing it. I would drop back to 36 ish front little less rear and have them really balance the tyres

When I get it back it will prolly be there. I'll double check it just the same.

[POWERHOUSE]

The industry standard? Wtf? Hopefully, they can redo the job right, if they have the right equipment. Ask them if they have a real
tire balancer, not a bubble balancer, and not some knucklehead spinning your wheel by hand on a trueing stand . . . good luck.

[GIXERHP]

Frank it means there tech's, dont know how to operate the Balancer in the corner of the shop,, but man they can play the hell out Moto GP on Play Station!

The industry standard? Wtf? Hopefully, they can redo the job right, if they have the right equipment. Ask them if they have a real
tire balancer, not a bubble balancer, and not some knucklehead spinning your wheel by hand on a trueing stand . . . good luck.

[Bus_Driver_Mike]

UPDATE 3-25-17


Summary:

Ride Now of Ocala. They installed a Pirelli Angel GT (factory size) front and rear. They didn't ask what type of weights I would like for balancing the tires. Shame on me for assuming they would be made from lead. They used Balance Beads. Which lead to Massive vibration 110+. If you ride a busa, you know is smooth as glass at those speeds.

I called the day after getting the bike back and asked if they could rebalance the tire using hammer on/stick on weights. I was told by a very nice lady, "Lindsay" that they could, and would, rebalance the tires for me. Just bring it in. I said I would be there that coming Saturday.

Saturday.
I show up with the bike and I end up talking to some random service writer. He calls another guy. "Chuck". Chuck is going to be a few minutes. Not a problem.

In the meantime...

Some guy walked out of an office, we'll call him the Service Manager, and starts asking questions. Whats this bike in for, whats that bike here for. He's looking at paperwork and talking with another service writer. Then he starts pushing bikes into the back (work area). Then he gets to my bike. There's no paperwork and this other service writer doesn't have any clue, other than I was talking to the guy service writer.

He looks at me, I sandup. "Chuck" walks in. Chuck starts to tell the SM about my issue. So the SM asks me to describe my problem. "at 110+ my bike feels like its going to fall apart". He said, and this is word for word.

"Well, the beads are the industry standard. And they're only rated upto, 80mph."

I had a feeling he was about to pat me on my head and try to send me on my way. I took a half step towards him and said "I called last week, talked to Lindsay, she put me on hold for two minutes, to VERIFY that you guys could, in fact, balance my wheels with the lead weights!". The SM seemed to be pretty steamed at this point and just said "do it" to Chuck and walked away. So I went with Chuck to get the ticket going. He asked me for all the details on the issue. So I did go into full detail. He was very helpful and seemed to be totally on my side.

End result. They fixed it. My bike doesn't want to fly apart anymore.


Side Note
I called another dealer and talked to the service writer, who I've dealt with in the past. I haven't been to that dealer in a year, and he remembered me and my bike. So, I asked him about the beads being the industry standard. He actually laughed, and said "No. Not even close. We don't use those here because there are too many problems with them. If you don't use Nitrogen with them, the moisture from the compressed air will cause it to clump up and stick together and, it will stick to one spot on the tire and really throw the balance off.

[CBXRider]

Did you inspect the inside of the tires before remounting them?

[POWERHOUSE]

Moral of the story: don't bring your bike back to that shop for anything, don't ask them any thing either, because they don't know sh**