Marc Parnes wheel balancer

Fed up with paying someone else to balance your tires?
Wish you could put your new tires on yourself and have it done your way, when YOU want it?

If this is you, then read this: (btw this is not an ad, I'm just trying to be funny)

Ok, so I saw some talk about marc parnes portable wheel balncer in the mailing list forum so I decided to check it out. It was a minimum of $30 per tire to get it done locally so I started doing the math, and after my 4th tire, I have made up the cost... That is, assuming my labor is free. There's always a catch.

Here's my take on it. This is a nice little gadget. I'll include attachments and I'll post another how-to on changing the front tire from start to finish so you can read more about it, too. The actual wheel balancing procedure is pretty straight-forward. Wheel weights are $2 a strip at my dealer, or $2 from marc when you order your balancer.

Marc, answered any e-mail he got from me in less than 24 hours and even offerred to walk me through my first balance on the phone. Now that's customer service. I didn't take him up on it, but I appreciated the offer.

You can see in the attachment that the device is pretty small so you can tuck it into a small toolbox and forget about it until the next time you get ready to balance a tire.

You can see in the pics, I just placed the balancer on 2 jack stands, but you can use something else. Just make it level.

Anyway, the purchase price is around $135 and I can do front and rear. He also makes special adapters for different bikes. For instance the rear of a vfr so my balancer came with an additional part.

If you are into doing it yourself, and don't count your labor, go for it. However, getting the old tires off and new tires on can be bothersome. See my how-to to see the mistakes I made. It works well, the price is not too bad, and the customer service is great.

 

I went up to 135 or so for a few secs, I didn't notice anything, but I wasn't there long. I'm about to go for a ride so maybe I'll hold it a little and see. I usually don't ride there, but for the sake of science... Anything in particular you want me to look/feel for?

 

That does sound a bit overkill, but to each his own. I just did a little riding, but I still haven't hit any high speeds yet. Bike feels much more stable. Seems to take a little more effort to turn then before, but holds a line well. I should add that I stiffened up my rear shock and turned the preload up front 1/2 turn also when I replaced the tires...

Later that same day...Ok, so I went out again and got up to indicated 145 for a few secs. No noticeable vibrations from the tires. I was tucked in and it was about as smooth as I have done that speed on any bike.

Always try to.