Using Counteract Balancing Beads

I'd heard good things about Dyna Beads tire balancing beads but if you click the link you'll see they no longer have offices or warehouses in Canada. When I decided to try some of these I found many Canadian distibutors had switched to Counteract Balancing Beads because shipping from the US make Dyna Beads far too expensive to be feasible here.

So I found a local-ish distributor and picked some up. A buddy and I ordered together so we asked for a bulk amount. He was able to get them for us in 4 oz. packages that had broken on the inside so they were considerably cheaper than the usual retail price.

Here's what each package contained:

the 4 oz. of beads (which we weighed and separated into 2 oz. packages), a valve stem (which didn't work in my tube), a nice chrome CBB valve cap and a sticker for the wheel identifying the tires as having CBB in them and a place to enter the tire pressure.



I didn't order the application kit so I put some things together myself, consisting of a couple different lengths of hose that fit over the valve, a small funnel that fit in the tube, a large syringe body and an electric pencil to use as a vibrating device.



With a bit of experimenting this is the set-up I found worked best for me:




First, let me tell you what didn't work so well. The guy who sold them to me suggested adding some beads to the feed tube and blowing them in with small blips of compressed air from a compressor. Luckily I only tried a small am't of beads like that because it inflated the tube slightly and when I removed the air nozzle from the tube the air came rushing out and blew some beads back out the tube.

What also didn't work too well was having the valve on the bottom of the rotation, like, at the 6 o'clock position. The beads seemed to back up and just plug the tube. Further, large amounts of beads also seemd to back up and not go anywhere.

What worked well was spinning the tire a bit so the valve was at about the 8 o'clock position and feeding the valve with small amounts of beads from the tube and hopper while vibrating the valve with the electric penscil. A bit of experimentation (and you have time to experiment, believe me) and I soon found the best place to hold the vibrator for the quickest feed. Mine worked best with the electric pencil against the tube where it slips over the valve, with it also touching the adjacent spoke, like so:



I started with the rear tire and thought it went fairly smoothly once I found out what worked. Then I move to the front and continued what I'd been doing. When the electric pencil heated up & I needed to let it cool down I tried coaxing the beads by pounding on the tire with a rubber mallet. Yikes, that worked even better and it got a lot more beads in a lot quicker. Too bad I was almost done when I discovered this.



The front wheel went much quicker but even without the rubber mallet, I'd say it would take about 5 to 8 minutes to load 2 oz. of beads into a tire using the vibration method.

One more tip: when the beads slowed down when going into the tire, I rotated the valve downward, pounded it a few times with the mallet to disperse the beads that were already in there, then proceeded as I had been. That seemed to clear the area inside the tube of collected beads and they flowed well again.


In the end it cost us $6.25 per tire (including tax) to add balancing beads. The guy we bought them from charges around $18 per tire to do the same.

I hope that helps anyone who decides to try balancing beads in their tires.

UPDATE ON INSTALLATION: My buddy had a flat in a tire with beads in it. He cut the old tube and reclaimed the beads. Instead of re-installing them when the tube was in and the tire was seated, he installed the beads into the new tube before mounting it. He just inflated the tube a bit then removed the valve. Leaving the tube hanging loosely, and the stem a bit up from the bottom, the beads poured in quite smoothly with just a little jiggling to hlep them along. When the beads were all in he then put the tube in the tire as usual. Much simpler and easier instal than when the tube is in the tire.

...and do they work well?

I've been running Dyna-Beads since I put my bike on the road. The tire wear is perfectly smooth. The only time I've felt a vibration from the tires was when I hit a good bump at about 40kph, the bike vibrated for about a second and smoothed out again. Otherwise, the bike has been perfectly smooth at any speed up to 135kph. Never felt a wobble in the bars either. My neighbour put me onto the beads after he was having tire wear issues that the beads solved.

I'm a believer in beads for wheel balancing.

Some good info.

Interesting, please let us know how they go. Do they work the same in tubed tyres as they do in the tubeless?

Tubed or tubeless, the beads don't care. Only difference is if you have to dismount a tire, the beads may spill out on a tubeless tire.

The folks at tire shops often don't believe that beads work, probably because beads make their expensive balancing machine redundant. And because their balancing machine won't spin the tire fast enough for the beads to do their thing, so they claim the beads can't work.

Works on the road for me.

The bike is new to me and I haven't ridden it yet. I put new tires on it and decided to try beads as a balancing method, in part because I'd read 16VGTIDave's opinion of them in a thread somewhere.

Once I get it on the road I will be able to give more of an opinion about whether the tires need further balancing or not.

I'm using them in tubes and can't comment on tubeless tires exept to say the recommended method for installing them in tubeless tires is to throw the bag they come in right into the tire without breaking it open as you are putting the tire on the rim. The bag will break and the beads will disperse the first time the bike is ridden.


BTW here's a short video on vibrating the beads into the tire.

If they work as well as Dyna Beads then you will love them. I tried them in my 75 tires and was impressed enough to put them in everything. All the bikes and the van, both sets, the summer and winter tires.
When you replace the tires you can even reuse the beads in the new tires. I have used then in multiple tires. The Harley I put in a half worn set of tires and they are in a second set. The van beads are on there second set of tires.
On the tubeless tires just scoop them out and pour in the new. On tubes I cut the tubes open to pour them in the new.
I'll never use lead weights again.
Leo

Hmm. Might have to give this a shot if I get new tires.

Try them in the tires you have. You just might be surprised. They work.
Leo

I used along hose as you did, I even tried the electric pencil. It worked ok but wore through the hose and damaged the threads on the valve stem.
I use the long hose and pour slowly. With the valve stem low but not right on bottom. If things plug I just roll the tire so the valve stem comes up and the beads run back into the bottle.
Once the plug runs back I turn the valve stem down to pour more beads. Just go slow. It takes a few minutes but it's time well spent.
Leo
Leo

XSLeo said:

I used along hose as you did, I even tried the electric pencil. It worked ok but wore through the hose and damaged the threads on the valve stem.
Leo

Click to expand...

Thanks for that extra info Leo. I failed to mention the rolling of the beads back into the tube to clear the blockages.

I made sure only the side of the electric pencil was making contact and there were no instences of any wear on the plastic tube.

For a tubeless tire DO NOT put the bag and all in the tire. Put them in through the stem. The plastic bag will catch and interfere with the beads rotating.

Im using them in my xvs1300 with car tire on back pulled all wheel weights havent felt any vibration in the 6000 miles or so since i did it. when i change tires im gonna do it again.

I made an update to the initial post, outlining an easier way to instal the beads.

Scroll to the end of the first post in this thread.

Here's my update and opinion on use of the balancing beads: I used them for the 1000 miles I rode last summer up to speeds of about 75 MPH and never felt any vibration, wobble or any other difficulties from my tires.

There is also no indication of any uneven wear on either tire.

My buddy who put the same balancing beads in at the same time I did has also experienced no adverse feel or effects. His bikes are a '71 Kawasaki 750 triple and a '86 Kawasaki Concours.

I would say they work just fine.

Great scott!
Exactly what I was looking for - Forum win!

Wow! These beads are not for these kinda of tires. They are made for steering tires on a tractor trailer and massive mud tires. I have done tires for 4 yrs and would not do this as it is dangerous.

Really? Who told you that? Can you provide any documented test results?

I ask because I have over 25k km of road experience that says otherwise. Plus my neighbors experience, which is probably over 70k km by now. Plus many others I've read reports from on other forums. I also have beads in both sets of tires for my car, and my wife's car.

The rep from the manufacturer. I have balanced thousands of sets of car tires and truck tires. If a car tire asks for more than 3 ounces it normally means the rim is bent. I am speaking to the fact that 2 ounces is a lot of weight for a bike rim and tire. I have balanced transport tires that only need 2 ounces. Not to mention these are made for tubeless tires. I am not speaking from riding experience I am speaking from yrs of experience working in many different tire shops. As far as proof go talk to any good tire guy, he will tell you the same.