Dynabeads

[Cburt]

I have a friend who has ordered a product called Dynabeads. They are ceramic beads you pour into a tire that the claims are will balance the tire.
Anyone have any experience w/ this product.
I am skeptical but........suppose it can work.
Personally have trouble using anything where you put something foreign in a bike,
like the liquid goo for radiators or oil additives.

[30942]

I use them front and rear in my Bonnie. They work. No weights on my rims and the ride is as smooth as can be. You can use 'em tubeless or tubed (but it is a major PITA getting them thru the valve stem - takes a good 15 minutes each).

The BMW guys seem to swear by 'em (on one of those other boards).

You'll find people here that will laugh you right out the door, but then ask them if they have ever tried 'em.

Got a brother that uses 'em on his Tiger with cheap Shenko (sp?) tires - he swears that his tires last longer with the beads in there.

They work, no need to balance, they are reuseable (specially in a tube, if you reuse the tube). They are cheap enough to try, once you try 'em, you can decide for yourself. I'm considering them for my Xterra when I get new tires later this month.... now that will cost a few bucks. You need something like 12 ounces, each, for an SUV tire

[minus148]

I've not used them but I think it's interesting why some people are skeptical about them or downright hostile. It's the same physics that goes into balancing a tire with lead weights.

[Martin_R]

So the tyre will have a wobble every time you take off from a standstill/very low speed? As I imagine the beads will gather at the bottom of the tyre.

And the beads will fly forward on the tyre every time on a hard braking situation.

Wear on the inside of the tyre / aluminium rim? The beads look like overpriced bead blasting media.

You can't dynamically balance the rim left vs right.

Sounds like a very much inferior solution to balancing, when compared to normal weights.

It would also be nice to see a dynabead wheel on a proper balancing machine. Only thing found on their site is snakeoil PDFs and video material of empty water bottles mounted on drills.

[30942]

Originally Posted by Martin_R

So the tyre will have a wobble every time you take off from a standstill/very low speed? As I imagine the beads will gather at the bottom of the tyre.

And the beads will fly forward on the tyre every time on a hard braking situation.

Wear on the inside of the tyre / aluminium rim? The beads look like overpriced bead blasting media.

You can't dynamically balance the rim left vs right.

Sounds like a very much inferior solution to balancing, when compared to normal weights.

It would also be nice to see a dynabead wheel on a proper balancing machine. Only thing found on their site is snakeoil PDFs and video material of empty water bottles mounted on drills.

So, you've used 'em then, right? Oooh... thought so....

[Martin_R]

If you are happy with them, then good for you. "It worked for my granma and some guys on an Ural board" is not really enough evidence for me to switch from the, 100% guaranteed to work, free machine balance I get with new tyres.

I mean a tyre balance is something that can be easily measured. Why doesn't a company selling a balancing product since 2005 have the simplest measured proof of concept data available?

They could easily put a dynabead balanced tyre on a balancing machine and post a video on the youtube, instead of the childish electric drill + water bottle they have there now. Or put a camera on a bike going down the road with an imbalanced tyre -> easy to see wobble -> insert beans -> film tyre again.

Only thing resembling an independent review I found seems to be an old MCN article, where they found the product useless. Sadly only references to this article to be found - I'd be very interested in reading it.

[Bohdan]

Few interesting excerpts from the Dynabeads website Q&A section:
"Can I use Dyna Beads in my motorcycle?

You bet, and you'll get a glass smooth ride! Whether you have a Harley, Honda or a Tank scooter move up to the super-smooth, weightless ride of Dyna Beads! See the Motorcycle Page here.

Can I use Dyna Beads for motorcycle road racing?

No. The inner liner compound of motorcycle road racing tires is too soft to allow Dyna Beads to perform properly. (this does not apply to off-road motorcycle racing)"

Hmmm... I don't think S3 is in the same class as Harley, Goldwing or scooter...

Few more:
"Is there any situations where Dyna Beads are not recommended?
(...)
...to correct wobble, shimmy or shake, all a function of lateral imbalance or defective suspension components."

"Can I put the tire on a balancer to see if it's working?

No. Dyna Beads operates on physics principles, and requires the tire assembly to be in motion against a road surface to detect the exact counterbalance position. An electronic balancer has a solid, fixed mount, and does not allow the tire to react to imbalance."

In general, they state that product was developed for truck trailers, motor homes or SUVs, and explanation clearly indicates that beads best work in constant velocity conditions.
I think I'll stick with weights.

[gspivey]

owned...

[Catzass]

I use Dynabeads in the tires on my 955i daytona. Do they work? I think so. I have rode the last 14,000 miles without lead wheel weights. Since using Dynabeads I'm on same front tire (with lots of wear left) and 2nd back tire
(8000 on first one).

-someone said why don't you just take the free balance when the tire is mounted. HAha you are paying for that balance as part of the cost of mounting. If you mount your own tires as I do . spin balanceing isn't a free option.

"You can't dynamically balance the rim left vs right"
-a spin balancer doesn't balace a the tire/rim left to right either only up and down

-when I changed my back tire I saw no noticeable wear from the beads. wheel looked fine too.

-I'm not an engineer so I can't give you hard data, but as for me. I'll keep using them.

Wanna try them come ride my bike.

Wanna learn to change your own tires come see me.

[Black Phantom]

I've used them once and didn't like them. They will vibrate the **** out of you at speeds over 90mph and the faster you go the scarier it will get. The Rocket will vibrate at 40mph, took them off and now is fine.