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Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else This is an opportunity to ask any question, and post any notice you wish that doesn't fit into one of the other sections.
Photo by Sean Howman, The Pamir highway in an unseasonably cold late October, Tajikistan

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Sean Howman,
The Pamir highway in an unseasonably
cold late October, Tajikistan



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Old 10 Oct 2013
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Balancing the wheels
How important is it to balance the wheels when changing tyres? Seems that would be difficult to do in remote areas.
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Old 10 Oct 2013
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Don't bother...

You won't feel it on a loaded up travel bike. You won't really feel it on most bikes unless you're going 70mph plus.

The lighter the wheel/bike, the more you feel it.

In all honesty, you don't really need it on the back wheel of most travel bikes ever.



When you buy a new tyre, if they're a good brand they will have a paint mark (red or yellow circle usually) which tells you that it is OPPOSITE the heavy part of the tyre.

Line that up with your valve stem as that is as close as you need to be.
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Old 10 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by croissant_warrior View Post
How important is it to balance the wheels when changing tyres? Seems that would be difficult to do in remote areas.
Depends how fast you ride. The slower you go the less relevant wheel balancing is.

Most car tyre places will not be able to balance moto wheels. But these days, even in remote cities, moto dealers and workshops will often have one of these balancing stands which cost about 50 bucks and allows the fitter to manually balance moto wheels.



Its certainly not critical or essential, but there is no doubt for me that also off road riding is a better experience with balanced wheels than without. But if you cant get it done, then there is no need to be worried or upset about it.
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Old 10 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by colebatch View Post
Depends how fast you ride. The slower you go the less relevant wheel balancing is.

Most car tyre places will not be able to balance moto wheels. But these days, even in remote cities, moto dealers and workshops will often have one of these balancing stands which cost about 50 bucks and allows the fitter to manually balance moto wheels.



Its certainly not critical or essential, but there is no doubt for me that also off road riding is a better experience with balanced wheels than without. But if you cant get it done, then there is no need to be worried or upset about it.


Unless you ride a shaft drive... You need special adaptors to balance the rear wheels.


The average front wheel is maybe 30-40 grams out of balance with a new tyre...

You can feel that off road ????? really ??? A blob of mud weighs more than that.
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