My original front tires were cupped at 16,000 miles, so I ordered a set of Federal EVOs online, same size as originals. I got the tires mounted at Cycle Gear and they added 2 ounces of EZ Beads to each tire, and after a couple hundred miles at 18 pounds pressure, they are much smoother riding than the old ones. EZ Beads are ceramic beads about half the size of a BB, very light, and when a tire is changed, they can be added carefully just before they seat the bead, or they can be added if the valve core is removed. All the old wheel weights are removed. We will see how they work this season, at this point the tires made an improvement in the handling and ride.
I bought the centrimatic wheel balancers. Easy install and they made an immediate improvement. Slight vibrations before weren't noticeable, but once I installed them, I could tell things were better.
When I'm slowing down in my neighborhood, I can hear the beads spin.
We have seen far too many instances of the beads IN the tires clumping from moisture or tire installation lube. They then CAUSE imbalance rather than help. The centramatic balancers have none of these problems and also do not cause low speed wobble that the tire beads can.
Its far better to balance the tire/wheel assembly correctly before installation rather than rely on a band-aid approach. Cycle gear does not have a proper balance machine so used beads as a band-aid. Get the job done right.
New front tires with EZ Beads
Reply With Quote
