Dynabeads - Anyone use them?

[Popeye the Sailor]

[Speeddog]

Good stuff. 

[duc_fan]

 

I've had that XKCD posted on my cube wall at work for nearly a year now.  Classic geek humor. 

[VisceralReaction]

Well to resurrect this old thread. I didn't realize it was almost a year ago that we talked about this.
So I put some new Bridgestone BT021s on the ST. I hadn't driven the ST in a bit due to working on it etc.
Upon driving it for the last couple thousand miles it had a vibration in the bars. nothing terrible, just a vibe is all.
I couldn't remember if it was always there or not. After reading this last year I had wanted to try these and just
never got around to it. I was walking to the guys at Traxion Dynamics about fork parts and noticed they were
carrying the dynabeads. I asked about them and they said they had played with the beads with a shot GL tire.
They said the beads balanced it perfectly and that sold them on the product. Long story short I put the beads
in the tires and the vibe is gone. Even at low speeds of 25-35mph it rides now smooth as glass. No vibe in the bars
or anything. Now we'll just see how the tires wear with the beads in them. So based on my experience they beads work
at low speeds on non problamatic tires. I was suprised.

[Jarvicious]

So you install them through the valve stem?  Could be an interesting experiment to go run around town feeling your bike at low and high speeds, stop off at a gas station and install beads.  Continue ride.  What are they, $9 bucks per tire?  That's worth an experiment. 

[chris1044]

Well to resurrect this old thread. I didn't realize it was almost a year ago that we talked about this.
So I put some new Bridgestone BT021s on the ST. I hadn't driven the ST in a bit due to working on it etc.
Upon driving it for the last couple thousand miles it had a vibration in the bars. nothing terrible, just a vibe is all.
I couldn't remember if it was always there or not. After reading this last year I had wanted to try these and just
never got around to it. I was walking to the guys at Traxion Dynamics about fork parts and noticed they were
carrying the dynabeads. I asked about them and they said they had played with the beads with a shot GL tire.
They said the beads balanced it perfectly and that sold them on the product. Long story short I put the beads
in the tires and the vibe is gone. Even at low speeds of 25-35mph it rides now smooth as glass. No vibe in the bars
or anything. Now we'll just see how the tires wear with the beads in them. So based on my experience they beads work
at low speeds on non problamatic tires. I was suprised.

FWIW, this concept has been used in large offroad truck/jeep tires for years in the form of golf balls (yes, golf balls) and BB's.  I've run these beads in the last three sets of motorcycle tires I've done, and I have ZERO complaints...they work, and work good. 

[VisceralReaction]

Yeah they just trickle through the valve stem. Let me tell you the 90 degree elbow on my front stem was a PITA to get
the beads into though. I went for a nice ride yesterday and was really pleased with the lack of vibration in the bike.
I'll sure use them from now on and just buy the packs and toss them in when changing the tire rather than trickle them
in via the stem.

[zooom]

so...for those that use them...do places charge you more when putting on a tire for you for recovering or dealing the dynabeads like they do when they have to deal with green slime or PJ1 Tire Balance or any other in tire product that they aren't aware of having to deal with?

[Greg]

When I bought my tire changer, I wasn't sure what to do about balancing, and didn't really want to purchase a static balancer, so I went with the Dynabeads. The bike is now incredibly smooth, and I will use the beads from now on in all my tires. Highly recommended  

WARNING: I never could get these little fockers through the angled valve stem, even using an electric engraver to assist.

[chris1044]

Never had a shop do my bike tires as I do them myself.  But, as a former auto tech, there should be ZERO issue when doing a motorcycle tire with these beads in it aside from the mess on the floor that will follow. 

The issue with tire balance/green slime is that it's a f#&k#*g mess.  Big time.  And the shit gets everywhere.  These I don't think there'd be an issue..just tell them and they probably won't care.  The main reason people get pissed off when this stuff is unknown is that dumb asses come in with fix a flat in their tires (which worked so well, eh?) and don't say anything...that stuff is flammable...if you nick the rim and create a spark when breaking the bead it can catch and it's not pretty.

Recovery will likely cost you but it'll depend on the shop.  They're cheap, just buy a new bag. 

[seevtsaab]

I've got em and I'm happy with them. Interesting operation to get them installed.
I left the existing wheel weights on from prev tire change, I'll pop them off at some point.

I'd go with BB's or something cheaper / larger but, remembering to put them in, and keeping them
in during tire install, hmm i envision issues.

Anybody succeed at recovering these? I'm pretty cheap when it comes to nickel-and-dime stuff.

[Triple J]

I used them on my SMT. They seem to work very well.

Put them in when you mount the tire if possible...getting them all in thru the valve stem is an exercise in extreme patience.

There's no way I'd try to recover them either.

[Scissors]

Snake oil for several reasons.

[Triple J]

Snake oil for several reasons.

Lets hear them. Either they work, or my SMT has perfectly balanced rims and tires out of the box.

[ducatiz]

I am skeptical that most riders under 75mph even benefit from traditional wheel balancing.  Modern mc rims and tires are pretty damn good to start with.  I haven't changed my stock weights on my Monster since owning it, and going through 4 sets of tires.  I have a simple balancer, but haven't used it since the first tire change.


mitt

I can tell you balancing makes a huge difference, at least with my trailer.

It has 12" wheels which have a "max 55mph" logo on them.  They were not balanced.  that trailer used to jump around and shudder constantly on the highway.  I got the tires balanced and VOILA, the trailer was completely stable -- even up to 80 mph.  the difference was noticeable right away.