wheel balance

[dartex]

my 15 f3s has had an ongoing front wheel balance problem,so back to dealer I bought it from not much luck didnt seem it was a problem to them then went to too a local tire dealer in town who by chance owns two spyders, he checked the balance on both front wheels one good one not so good removed the balance weight the wheel now came into balance but he noticed when spinning the wheel that wheel/tire had a slight wobble to it,went to another spyder dealer who checked both wheels with a DTI left wheel showed .005 the right wheel was at .025,so after much time and calls brp said change the tire now the fun starts after they installed the tire they told me they could not balance the wheel on the shop machine mmm and now it shakes even more then before ridden by a mech said seemed fine to him and also seemed to a problem finding a good pressure gage to check pressures is it the way brp do biz allowing dealer not to have the equipment to service their product????? next move back to the local shop in town let him balance tire then perhaps get rid of those factory tyres or raise holy hell with brp

[VA Dan]

my 15 f3s has had an ongoing front wheel balance problem,so back to dealer I bought it from not much luck didnt seem it was a problem to them then went to too a local tire dealer in town who by chance owns two spyders, he checked the balance on both front wheels one good one not so good removed the balance weight the wheel now came into balance but he noticed when spinning the wheel that wheel/tire had a slight wobble to it,went to another spyder dealer who checked both wheels with a DTI left wheel showed .005 the right wheel was at .025,so after much time and calls brp said change the tire now the fun starts after they installed the tire they told me they could not balance the wheel on the shop machine mmm and now it shakes even more then before ridden by a mech said seemed fine to him and also seemed to a problem finding a good pressure gage to check pressures is it the way brp do biz allowing dealer not to have the equipment to service their product????? next move back to the local shop in town let him balance tire then perhaps get rid of those factory tyres or raise holy hell with brp

Try dyna beads

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[Xyzzy]

My F3-S wheels are not perfectly balanced. There is a pronounced shimmy at 55 MPH that causes the front fenders to vibrate.

I tried adding dynabeads but that made things much worse. I had to remove the tires to get the beads out. The static electricity (?) in the tires caused the beads to clump. I use dynabeads in motorcycle tires with great results, but motorcycle tires are round in profile and do not have lateral bars in the carcass that can catch beads.

I ended up talking the wheels and tires to Wal-Mart to be remounted and balanced. Unfortunately the machine they used to secure the wheels uses a hydraulic spike grip to hold the wheel so little marks were left on the barrels of my rims. The wheel/tire combos took between 2 and 3 ounces to balance which IMO is way too much. I plan to balance the wheels by themselves soon. I need to get a tire changer and a dynamic balancer or find a way to get access to one. My F3-S still has the shimmy. It is one of the few things that disappoint me with the Spyder. I've never had anything like this before in more than 20 motorcycles.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

......and I feel your pain.......BRP unfortunately has little control over the dealers.....They are the problem here not BRP....It sounds like you have BAD tire /or tires which is not un-common with KENDA's........a good dealer will step up and go to bat for you and BRP to give you new tires under warranty......a BAD dealer will BS you till you GO AWAY in frustration........This is a Warranty issue and you should DEMAND it be fixed.....by someone.........Get someone to start a claim to BRP about it................jmho........Mike

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

My F3-S wheels are not perfectly balanced. There is a pronounced shimmy at 55 MPH that causes the front fenders to vibrate.

I tried adding dynabeads but that made things much worse. I had to remove the tires to get the beads out. The static electricity (?) in the tires caused the beads to clump. I use dynabeads in motorcycle tires with great results, but motorcycle tires are round in profile and do not have lateral bars in the carcass that can catch beads.

I ended up talking the wheels and tires to Wal-Mart to be remounted and balanced. Unfortunately the machine they used to secure the wheels uses a hydraulic spike grip to hold the wheel so little marks were left on the barrels of my rims. The wheel/tire combos took between 2 and 3 ounces to balance which IMO is way too much. I plan to balance the wheels by themselves soon. I need to get a tire changer and a dynamic balancer or find a way to get access to one. My F3-S still has the shimmy. It is one of the few things that disappoint me with the Spyder. I've never had anything like this before in more than 20 motorcycles.

......Two things here .....I don't think Walmart has the best equipment or the best trained personnel to work the equipment they have....although it's not Rocket science, it does take some intelligence ..................Mike

[dartex]

the tire they installed and did not balance was a new tire being installed as directed by brp as I said this on shakes more than the one they took off and now the spyder pulls to the right any one have a good number for tech support not the last guy who was customer service he was I think just reading out of a how to keep the customer happy and hope
they wont ask any tech questions book

[Xyzzy]

......and I feel your pain.......BRP unfortunately has little control over the dealers.....They are the problem here not BRP....It sounds like you have BAD tire /or tires which is not un-common with KENDA's........a good dealer will step up and go to bat for you and BRP to give you new tires under warranty......a BAD dealer will BS you till you GO AWAY in frustration........This is a Warranty issue and you should DEMAND it be fixed.....by someone.........Get someone to start a claim to BRP about it................jmho........Mike

I have (yet) to ever ask for any warranty work on any of my bikes. I'd much rather figure out things on my own. I understand that most people do not think the way I do. Every little thing that I uncover eventually gets fixed although in a lot of cases it takes a lot of time. I have a good relationship with my dealer and I know the techs. If I had a catastrophic failure or needed recall work done I would take it in, but for "ordinary" things I am content to keep the number of hands messing with my bikes to a minimum. At the very least I know that anything broken or installed wrong/backwards/upside-down was done by me. Have I broke a lot of stuff in the past? You know I have! But I am much more self-sufficient now and to me that is worth the price.

I didn't buy a Spyder for a very long time due to the track record of the older design. Had I bought one I may have been lucky and not had problems but the old design didn't give me a good vibe. The F3, especially the engine, is a clean-sheet design. I bought the service manual before I bought the Spyder, just to see what care they took when they designed it. There are a lot of little really cool things they did with the ACE 1330 to make it easier to service and stuff. (Seriously, it took me a weekend to read the service manual!)

Anyways, even though my Spyder is my "daily driver", I classify it as my toy, so if it is down for whatever reason I accept that. I have other bikes and stuff. I think that the tendency for people to expect perfection from manufacturers and dealers is a bit misguided. Machines are designed and manufactured (mostly) by humans. I accept imperfection as long as it is not egregious. Am I weird? Maybe. Do I let stress wear me out? Nope. Am I lucky? Maybe. Do I have fun? You know I do!

YMMV

PS - I'm always looking for an excuse to buy obscure tools!

[Xyzzy]

......Two things here .....I don't think Walmart has the best equipment or the best trained personnel to work the equipment they have....although it's not Rocket science, it does take some intelligence ..................Mike

Someday I'll figure out how to do that multi-quote thing.

The guy who mounted and balanced my wheels/tires at Wal-Mart was pretty squared away. He let me watch and learn. He took his time and did a pretty reasonable job. It still shimmies but much less than before. For the $8 it cost me it seemed like a good deal. I tipped him $10 because I know they don't get paid much and he was real helpful. The marks left by the machine are hardly visible. (I'm not a fan of painted wheels because eventually they get chipped and stuff.)

Now, given time and experience and better tools can I do a better job? I sure hope so!

I'm considering getting a "no-mar" tire changer. Their videos look pretty slick. The cost isn't too much of an issue but available garage space is. I really don't need to change many tires. Ideally a group of friends would kick in a bit to buy a unit to share. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere. (Well, most of the time that is a plus!)

[danotech]

I used ride on because the beads did not work for me either

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[Orange Spyder Man]

Kendas are sorry POS tires... its obvious BRP put the cheapest tires they could find on these spyders... buy some real tires and see how much different/better it will make your spyder ride..

osm

[Chupaca]

if the tires were mounted correctly, they have mounting indicators for positioning the the valve stem in line with tire high/low side. The balance seemed close as you indicated and wonder if some other factor is adding or causing this problem. Alignment, front end issues etc... if the tires are bad ( out of round, seperated etc) the dealer should jump in and have them changed out. They should check the rims as well...

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Someday I'll figure out how to do that multi-quote thing.

In the lower right corner is a quote icon with a plus sign. Click it for each message you want to add, then click the reply with quote for the last quote. Took me awhile to figure it out too!

[dartex]

had my front wheels balanced by a good tire shop in town still shaking even worst with new tire installed called another dealer who called brp and in very short order told them too take the two wheels off another f3s and see what happens ,seems they are thinking in the right directions now will keep posting updates

[happyspyder2039]

had my front wheels balanced by a good tire shop in town still shaking even worst with new tire installed called another dealer who called brp and in very short order told them too take the two wheels off another f3s and see what happens ,seems they are thinking in the right directions now will keep posting updates

my tires are doing the same. BRP is having dealer replace just tires under warrenty. I would prefer getting full tire/rim set but.

[dartex]

we will see after we replace both wheels what happens if its smooth its brp problem what they do with my old wheels and tyres will keep the updates posted seems a bunch of spyder riders have the same problem just keep on them and they might do something about it

[dartex]

up date trailered my f3s to a good dealer in central texas!!! rode a demo f3s with 216 miles on it smooth no vibration or shake.the dealer swapped these with my spyder front wheels test drove what a big difference still slight pull to the right think a laser alignment will fix this problem in near future. end result the dealer did a good job and so did brp. thanks every one for your input

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

Road force verification & balance

[dartex]

up date have put 300 miles on the f3s since front wheels and tyres were replace so far no shake from 54 to 65 so it would seem brp has a problem with either the wheels or the tyres hope the ones they took off go into the dumpster!!! ps am a brit in texas that's why I spell tires the way I do

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

ps am a brit in texas that's why I spell tires the way I do

I apologize in advance to the OP for taking a wandering turn here, but your comment reminds me of an incident when I lived in England for a year in 1988/89. I was in a Texas DIY store (for the yanks reading this it's the English version of Lowes and HD) when I heard a lady making announcements over the PA. I just had to find her since her accent was right out of the heart of Texas. Turned out she was English from Newcastle, I believe it was. But with her accent you could drop her right into the middle of the state of Texas and she would have fit in perfectly. The irony of it all just kind of floored me!

[happyspyder2039]

up date have put 300 miles on the f3s since front wheels and tyres were replace so far no shake from 54 to 65 so it would seem brp has a problem with either the wheels or the tyres hope the ones they took off go into the dumpster!!! ps am a brit in texas that's why I spell tires the way I do

Did they replace tires & rims?
how did they balance them?
weight placement- a lot grouped together?

[dartex]

they just swapped both rims and tyres from a new f3s ran smooth so no need go over factory balance, so in the end I don't know if it was the rims or the tyres don't think brp care they are getting to much bad press except from me now a happy camper

[happyspyder2039]

they just swapped both rims and tyres from a new f3s ran smooth so no need go over factory balance, so in the end I don't know if it was the rims or the tyres don't think brp care they are getting to much bad press except from me now a happy camper

thats good. I hope they will do the same for me. Balancing can be a pain from my past experiences