Anyone else tried tire balancing beads?

[the Ferret]

wow never knew anyone that had a Moto Morini 3 1/2. Those were cool looking bikes. How was it?

[the Ferret]

Very cool! Thanks for posting the pic. i'm sure many here have never heard of one much less seen one..even in pics. So Italian looking.

[Houtman_imp]

They just had an International Moto Morini rally in the South East of England , they also had a 500 but the 350 was more popular.

[Banned_imp]

Very cool! Thanks for posting the pic. i'm sure many here have never heard of one much less seen one..even in pics. So Italian looking.

I certainly never have. Cool looking bike, were they reliable at all?

[4 Paws_imp]

I tried the beads on a previous bike, worked great until I had a problem - even with checking air pressure while stem was NOT anywhere near the bottom I got beads into the schrader valve. Royal PITA. I carried replacement schrader valves with me everywhere and was extremely reluctant to check pressure on the road. Since all air compressors end up full of moisture my tires undoubtedly had moisture in them though I never really noticed an off balance feel from any clumping.

Hopefully your extended experience will be better,

[Jim21680_imp]

I tried ceramic Dynabeads on my second bike, the BMW F800ST. I've ridden thousands of miles with them, and thousands of miles without them, and could tell absolutely no difference.

As for the CB1100.....mine, like most others I suspect, came brand new with no balancing weights or beads or anything of that sort. Just a properly-aligned yellow dot on the tire lined up with the valve stem on the rim. When I replaced the stock tires with Angel GTs, I did the same, and have ridden happily ever since.

I'm sure some will disagree, but I think modern tires are manufactured with very good weight tolerances, and the need for balancing weights is greatly diminished.
For bikes like ours, that's even more true (I rarely exceed 70mph on the CB). As for a race bike or hooligan that regularly exceeds 120 or so, they may be more applicable.
But for casual riders like us, who mope around town running errands or head out to a nice country road on the weekend, I just don't believe they're needed.