I took my front wheel and tire in to have it mounted and balanced. The shop said they couldn't complete the balance. Short on time and patience with incompetence I took the assembly and resigned to have it done elsewhere.

Later it was suggested to me that the assembly should have been balanced without rotors. Doesn't quite make sense to me, but WHATEVER....


Do you balance with or without rotors?

 

Ive always ballanced with the rotors. I've seen it done without em, but I never understood why someone would want to. I think the difference is negliable, since the rotors are mounted close to the center of the wheel, but I like to have all of the mass on the bike that is going to be there when its going down the road.

In all honesty, I really don't know if your suppose to or not, but my wheels have always ballanced great with the rotors on.

 

WITH!!! Any rotating mass MUST be left on the wheel to provide a proper balance.

Unlike a car, your rotors are mounted TO the wheel. Your rotors wear unevenly, so adding them onto a naked balanced wheel will cause wobble. Not a severe amount, but as you increase in speed, it may become noticable.

 

I balance my fronts with rotors and my rear with rotor but with no gear and cush. the damn thing just gets in the way. Never have any problems.

Also, look into balancing your own tires.. its so damn simple and cheaper. If you have bearings in good condition, the tire will rotate very freely with its own bearings if you let it spin on its axle held up between a couple milk crates. Buy a box of sticky weights and weight up the light spot. I balanced my tires before I took them to the track and had no problems at all. I was very pleased with the results and how much money I will end up saving since I will be changing tires very often.

I suppose the rotors may have an effect, not so sure though. I know most of the off weight comes from the tire. Tires always have a heavy spot.

 

What complete and utter poppycock ..lol ... of course wheels can be balanced with the discs on and so they should be, they are part of the wheel really and should be left in situ ... anyone who says they need to come off has no clue about wheels or balancing ... they are precision items anyway so won't have any undue effect but why take them off ... an exercise in pointlessness methinks :-)

Jules

 

I would be more worried about my discs being taken off & put back on correctly, small error & it would get expensive. Balancing a wheel is not that hard (if I can do it, anybody can) & yes I left the discs attached.

 

Not enough people use the phrase "in situ" anymore.

 

wow what a crappy shop

 

It was balanced by a competent shop. They said it needed 15oz to balance. If I remember my math correctly 16oz is a pound. Is 15 oz excessive?

 

extremely. maybe like 30grams, give or take