Hi All,
I'm in the throes of new tires for my Silver K75. At a recent club meet/thingey a comment was made that my rear was getting, ..well squared off. And they are over 10 years old... So I ordered up a set of Dunlop 404's. That took over a week to get delivered.  During the wait period I started painting the wheels/rims. But part of this is balancing the wheels. Now I have a wheel balancer that I made a while back. Works fine for front wheels But the rear is a challenge I've never quite overcome and I would like to solicit suggestions about how to either modify my wheel balancer  or how to go about it. These are K75 which I suspect is the same as a K100 rear wheel. And I'll post a photo of my wheel balancer - which BTW you can purchase for < USD $50. off EBay, but this one is home made.

Scroll down below the order form at this link. The photos may give you some ideas.

If you already have the balancer, this will make it work with the rear wheel. 

https://www.wunderlichamerica.com/Wheel_Balancer_Adapter_Motorcycle_Workshop_Tools_58

A similar adapter was sold by Harbor Freight about 15 years ago.  It's been discontinued for a long time, but they occasionally come up on eBay.  That's where I got mine.

One tip, put the bare wheel on the balancer and find the heavy spot.  On my wheels it is somewhere other than the valve stem(usually 30-45 degrees away).  Mark that point on the wheel and orient the tire's light spot mark there rather than at the valve stem.  It will make balancing easier.

Ooh, such interesting ideas. Just came from the garage. Seems I had something very much like the pieces shown in Laitch's link.  But smaller? But I ran off to the hardware store to see if I could get some parts that might make it fit. Hardware store closed at 5:00PM on the dot and I got there at 5:05. Spent the last hour seeing if my pieces would fit. Ah, they may/almost do. The cones did not quite come through the center hole in the rear wheel but it gives me hope that if I can figure out the other side... Then I thought what about the centering plugs that the K75 incorporates in bolting the rear wheel. (one to each bolt) Whee they also  fit, almost. All of which means I can have a cone on one side of the wheel but how to center the other side. Two cones, one on each side don't seem to work. And then there's Point-Seven-five's adapter. That would also probably work without any further head bonking on my part. You say they come up occasionally on eBay? Ok, I'll get the tires tomorrow and probably use their balancer but doing my own is also an option.

thanks guys.

I found that the K1100 RS rear fitted on a dynamic ballancer. It was 4.5in wide rim but the K100 Y Spoke is 2.75 so may not work too well but worth a try.

RicK G wrote:I found that the K1100 RS rear fitted on a dynamic ballancer. It was 4.5in wide rim but the K100 Y Spoke is 2.75 so may not work too well but worth a try.

Just an aside, I've been assured that static balancing is just as good as dynamic but I'm not so sure. After one static balancing I popped the K75 up on the center stand and revv'ed it up to 80mph. It was jumping around quite a bit. I'm sure I would feel that on the Highway. I'll opt for dynamic if it's an option.

Any ideas on to what speed a dynamic balancer takes a wheel to balance it?

jjefferies wrote:

RicK G wrote:I found that the K1100 RS rear fitted on a dynamic ballancer. It was 4.5in wide rim but the K100 Y Spoke is 2.75 so may not work too well but worth a try.

Just an aside, I've been assured that static balancing is just as good as dynamic but I'm not so sure.

Any ideas on to what speed a dynamic balancer takes a wheel to balance it?

On a narrow rim yes it can be as good but using a dynamic ballance machine the wheel fits works heaps better than no ballance.
If you have access to a lathe you can make a 20mm shaft with two cones that hold the wheel true and lock into place.

RicK G wrote:

jjefferies wrote:

RicK G wrote:I found that the K1100 RS rear fitted on a dynamic ballancer. It was 4.5in wide rim but the K100 Y Spoke is 2.75 so may not work too well but worth a try.

Just an aside, I've been assured that static balancing is just as good as dynamic but I'm not so sure.

Any ideas on to what speed a dynamic balancer takes a wheel to balance it?

On a narrow rim yes it can be as good but using a dynamic ballance machine the wheel fits works heaps better than no ballance.
If you have access to a lathe you can make a 20mm shaft with two cones that hold the wheel true and lock into place.

Rick, you confused me a bit. My thought is that dynamic balancing is better than static balancing and both are better than no balancing. The big question I suppose does it make any difference in the long run as the wheel/tire  wears down, gets dinged and possibly changes the balance as a result.

I was under the impression that static balance did not work the way it was done so dynamic or nothing. The speed that dynamic balance uses would be around 30MPH maybe less. I have had to redo the balance sometimes but usually it lasts the life of the tyre.

I static balance my wheels and have had no problem with vibration even at speeds well above of 90mph.  Patience is the name of the game, it takes me about 10-15 minutes to get it where I'm happy. 

As I mentioned above, check the wheel first, I have found that the BMW wheels have heavy spots that don't line up with the valve stem.  Those heavy spots can make static balancing a royal pain in the ass.  I also tape the weights on the rim until I have enough weight positioned properly to make the balance perfect, then I stick them.  It makes it easy to start over if I'm having a problem.

Last point, treat the bearings for the balancer like gold.  The less stiction they have the, the better your balance will be.  If your balancer came with sealed bearings remove the dust covers and wash the grease out with brake cleaner.  I keep mine in a plastic bag and lube them with a drop of my wife's sewing machine oil when I use them.  This is important because of the cheap bearings that are used in a lot of balancers.

jjefferies wrote:After one static balancing I popped the K75 up on the center stand and revv'ed it up to 80mph. It was jumping around quite a bit. I'm sure I would feel that on the Highway. 

That's a dangerous technique and demonstrates little about the wheels. The motorcycle is designed to be operated at load. It's no wonder it was vibrating.

Laitch wrote:

jjefferies wrote:After one static balancing I popped the K75 up on the center stand and revv'ed it up to 80mph. It was jumping around quite a bit. I'm sure I would feel that on the Highway. 

That's a dangerous technique and demonstrates little about the wheels. The motorcycle is designed to be operated at load. It's no wonder it was vibrating.

+1  Unless you really screwed up the balance of the wheel, what you are probably seeing is the slop and friction in the drive train, wheel bearings and the brakes.  All that stuff goes away under load.

I bought this Bikemaster stand from Tucker Rocky, a US motorbike parts distributor any bike shop can order from's, private label, for about US$50 several years ago. It has a balance bubble in its base for finding level on yer workbench or garage floor, and four adjustable legs to assist in the levelling. The four-bearing shaft has two Allen screw, adjustable cones for axle-type wheels, and the large aluminium ring below is the bolt on attachment for BMW four lug wheels (or five if you've a K1200RS/GT wheel). With a coupla boxes of either black or silver 7-gram (1/4oz) weights I can balance Airhead to K bike to 6" wide modern wheels, and I can use it as a trueing stand for spokies. A mate fabbed a five lug ring for balancing the latest BMW wheels and I borrow it when necessary. Point is, these balancers are still available from (now called) Tucker Powersports through any US-based motorcycle shop.

$50!  That whad to be more than a couple years ago.  Only $129.95 now.  Still, a nice looking piece of kit.

https://bikemaster.com/bikemaster-wheel-balancer-and-truing-stand-151965.html

Point-Seven-five wrote:$50!  That had to be more than a couple years ago.  Only $129.95 now.  Still, a nice looking piece of kit.
https://bikemaster.com/bikemaster-wheel-balancer-and-truing-stand-151965.html

The receipt says $53.08 and it was bought four years ago when I was an area rep for Tucker. Ah, the good ol' days of cheap parts at near cost. It retailed then for $93.95, still cheap for its usefulness.

Homemade one made out of a scrap piece of aluminium beam, 4 bearing a mate gave me, and piece of straight steel bar. The cones were machined up in my ancient lathe, one cone is stepped so it can do both front and rear. In order to reduce friction the bearing seals and grease were removed and it is now lubricated with Tri Flo PTFE. The unit mounts onto two saw horses. After SSD, Mick and I changed SSD's tyres we balanced both his wheels easily the only problem was that we had to turn off the garage fans as the wheel kept on rotating. We fitted my Shinko on Friday and balanced it using two lots of 15 gram weights opposite each other. The previous Michelin Pilot Activ balanced dynamically by the tyre used 11 weights totalling 77 grams. When I get my front which is back ordered  I'm going to get them dynamically balanced and then check them with the static balancer and compare the result.
Regards Martin.