Heidenau k60 Scouts

528Hz

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This is prolly one of those questions, but this is my first set of knobie style tires evar. I did the rear today, will do front tomorrow. What a bitch it was to get it on manually. Sealed the bead, put some air in 36 psi. Then I used Marc P static balancer, found the heavy spot on the rim, just about by the air valve. After an hour of dicking around with the weights and watching the wheel turn I got it to a point where sometimes the wheel stays still and then some times it moves barely, I just settled on that since my fuses were about to blow.
Anyone with heidenaus, are they harder to balance spot on then the regular street tires? And is the ride supposed to feel not as smooth as the stock tenere tires? ::003::
 

digitalmoto

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Knobbies buzz. I'm running TKC80s now. They are louder and buzzier than the Metzlers. I road mountain bikes for years. Same difference between a knobbie and a road tire. I knew what to expect and was still surprised at the amount of vibrarion through the saddle when I switched.
Did you clean off the rim before you mounted the new tire? Packed in mud can flake off and throw off you balancing efforts. That or maybe you're being a touch anal. I write software for a living so OCD is part of my job description. I can be very anal about getting my wheels balanced. It never ends up perfect. Just close. And once you get a rock wedged in there all you efforts are moot. A slow rotation was "good enough" for track days on my SuperDuke at 130+ mph down the front straight.
::021::
 

Don in Lodi

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My static balancer works in a similar fashion. You give the wheel assembly a very light spin and find the heavy spot by where the wheel settles out. Add a measured amount of weight to the light spot (the spot ending "up") and give it a light spin again. After a very few times of adding weight to the light spot the wheel will start coming to a stop in a random pattern, no one spot heavier than another. That is in balance. Using tape weights, hopefully you've added about the same amount of weight to both sides of the rim, same with the twin ribbed front rim if using spoke weights. It shouldn't take but a few minutes to get to the random settling point.
The K60s are bias ply so the side walls tend to be heavier making it tougher to spoon onto the rim than a radial. If you thought the rear was a bugger to spoon on, wait till you try the front. The 'dish', my technical term, the shallow part of the rim the the beads tuck into when spooning the tire on, is very shallow on the front. It was tough for me and I was using a powered machine.
These are at least a 60/40 tire, maybe a true 50/50, thus they have a very
open, aggressive, self cleaning pattern. The first number being street percentage of use, the second being dirt percentage.The larger the gap between tread blocks, the greater the hum and rumble you'll feel as the road surface bridges that air gap between the blocks. These tires will sing to you on the open road. If you were hoping for a silent smooth tire, you made an error. If you were looking for great road manners (down to the pegs cornering) and a much more secure handling bike off road, then these were the right choice, extra noise be damned.

 

HoebSTer

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There is another thread on the noise level of the K60's. Coming to a stop, they are very shaky, i mean from 15mph to a Stop. For the wet, caution is needed for corner entry, acceleration as well as painted marks on the road and like minded tar snakes of any kind. You will feel the bike move on these types of surfaces. Under hard acceleration on dry pavement with the Traction Control setting on TC1, the light lights up all the time. This tells me the rear doesn't have as great of dry traction as a normal tire that came on the bike. I can't imagine craking the throttle hard in a corner with the TC set to OFF!!! The bike would probably be on it's side. As for gravel or off road riding, they bite nicely, make the bike feel planted pretty well and make for a bigger fun factor if you asked me. Tabasco (Jaxon) has pics on his site of a k60 with 11k miles or something. I personally don't know how my rear tire will be able to do that with me carrying an extra 100 lbs in the mid section over the average guy riding!!! Overall, I have 2200 miles on mine, and they aren't even looking the slight bit squared off.
Overall, be smart, somewhat cautious and enjoy the shit out of the tires and the bike!!! It's an amazing combo, run it good!!!
 

dcstrom

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I've used Dynabeads in my tires for a long time now. Yes there are arguments over how they work, but they DO work. Once you get the knack of getting them in the tire, it's easy. I never have an out-of-balance wheel. I'm running them in my K60 rear at the moment, coming up to 10,000 miles on it with 3mm tread left, even wear all round. If it was out of balance you'd see more wear on one side than the other. Expecting 12k out of it!

Trevor
 

528Hz

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Great replies fellas. I really appreciate this. Dyna beads are definitely on my to try list.

So I cleaned the wheel prior to mounting the tire, I balanced the wheel without the brake disc.
I only ended up using 2 - 7oz weights just about opposite of the air valve. Will do the front tonight.

Ride is pretty much as you guys described it, shaky when slowing down, a noisier then stock and vibrations are felt through the seat somewhat. I just have to get used to it.
 

Joe-JOE

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Apparently Yamaha relies on just using the yellow dot on battlewings aligned with the stem then calls it a day.
No wheel weights, show room floor, any Tenere.

Not all tire brands have a magic dot where to set the tire.
I'm never pulled brake rotors while balancing on jack stands using the bikes axle. Spoke wheels I've used the spoke bell weights instead of stick ons.
Usually use a heavy bell on the opposite side of where the wheel drops heavy. Then to fine tune, place a lighter bell before or aft the heavy bell & it usually yields damn close or spot on.
 

~TABASCO~

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I put the Heidenau red dots at the valve stem. Balance them with the disc on the wheel. I run 38F 40R. The rear typically needs one weight.. The front vary but 1-3 weights.. I have found that the initial vib smooths out when the tire gets worked in a bit and the sharp edges get slightly worn.. Over 6500 on my set, still looking gooooood ::008::
 

Z06

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I admit that they do wear well. That's why I tried them. But, I sure will be happy when they are worn out so I can put some decent tires back on the bike. Looking forward to losing the vibrations and lack of grip on road. :)
 

dcstrom

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Z06 said:
I admit that they do wear well. That's why I tried them. But, I sure will be happy when they are worn out so I can put some decent tires back on the bike. Looking forward to losing the vibrations and lack of grip on road. :)
At 10k miles on my rear, I know what you're saying but I think they have more grip than expected given the style of tire and longevity. I think what they really lack on the road is good feel - I've pushed them pretty hard and never had them let go on me, but I just can't tell what they are doing. Due in part to the squidginess of the tread pattern, I think.

If they only lasted 5k miles, I think I'd try something else - but I'm heading for 12k on the rear, it would be hard to go back to changing tires twice as often...

Trevor
 

Dirt_Dad

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dcstrom said:
I've pushed them pretty hard and never had them let go on me, but I just can't tell what they are doing. Due in part to the squidginess of the tread pattern, I think.
::026:: I've been stunned at how hard you can push these on the pavement and never have them let go. Except for the rumbly feeling at low speeds, and noise at high speeds I see no down sides to these tires. And I don't mind either of those two downsides. I am very impressed with these tires. After looking at dcstrom's 10K mile tire I have no hesitation leaving on a 5K mile trip in a few weeks with 4K already on the tires. Never thought that would be possible with any tire. I'm usually done with a tire by 7K.

As for balancing, rear was easy with 1 weight. Front was very difficult. In fact I re-broke the bead twice to spin the rim 1/2, then another 1/4 turn to try to find a better spot. Finally gave up and put 2oz on it. Never had to put that much on before.
 

528Hz

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~TABASCO~ said:
I put the Heidenau red dots at the valve stem. Balance them with the disc on the wheel. I run 38F 40R. The rear typically needs one weight.. The front vary but 1-3 weights.. I have found that the initial vib smooths out when the tire gets worked in a bit and the sharp edges get slightly worn.. Over 6500 on my set, still looking gooooood ::008::
That's exactly what I am doing right now, balancing with the discs.
thanks for the tips bro! ::003::
 

sallydog

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528Hz said:
Great replies fellas. I really appreciate this. Dyna beads are definitely on my to try list.
couple things with dynabeads. never put air in the tire with the valvestem in 6oclock position or anywhere but the 12oclock position. twice i have had beads get stuck in the valve stem causing slow leak. once on the front tire. i found out when i was doing 60 on the highway that my tire seeped down to 3lbs squishy and all over. managed to stop before wiping out. once in a back wheel. felt it on a turn. better to keep metal valve caps that have rubber seal in them. i found after 2 fuckups that i am too stupid to keep dynabeads in my tires
 

dcstrom

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sallydog said:
couple things with dynabeads. never put air in the tire with the valvestem in 6oclock position or anywhere but the 12oclock position. twice i have had beads get stuck in the valve stem causing slow leak. once on the front tire. i found out when i was doing 60 on the highway that my tire seeped down to 3lbs squishy and all over. managed to stop before wiping out. once in a back wheel. felt it on a turn. better to keep metal valve caps that have rubber seal in them. i found after 2 fuckups that i am too stupid to keep dynabeads in my tires
I had similar problems when installing Dynabeads with the recommended "through the valve stem" method. Tedious at best. I found it MUCH easier to fit the tire, inflate just enough to seat the bead, then break the bead again, just enough to insert a small funnel into the tire between the bead and the rim. Then it takes just seconds to pour in the Dynabeads. Leave the tire laying flat so that the beads don't get a chance to get between the tire and rim in the section where you've broken the bead. Inflate the tire again, and you're done.

Trevor
 

troll

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these tires hang-on, like the picture above, I was dragging hard parts riding two up... ::012:: k60's rock on this bike. They are the right tire for Yukon roads. :-*

as far as mounting... I must not be too fussy. I through them on - red dot to stem - pressured them up and haven't found any bad vibes up to 180kph. for sure they make the noise and vibration of an open tread tire... but hey - that is the sound and feel of off-road traction ::017::
 

toompine

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Just went past 10,000 miles on mine and I swear they have 2,000 miles left on the rear. The front, it may never wear out. ::021::
 

Twisties

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I have 2 oz on the fronts and less than one on the rears. Red dots aligned with valve stems. Tires have plenty of grip, and I only notice the knobbies at low speed. I don't usually ride aggressively in the rain, but had no issues with them in "fun" riding speeds on the Oregon Coast... read in a prolonged downpour.

The carcass is a bit a stiffer than a typical sport-touring tire. I had trouble with the first one I mounted on my wife's bike with a huge TPM sensor in there. Until I figured out how to deal with the #$##$#%^!!. Mounting on the SupaT went fine with a No-Mar unit.
 

Mikef5000

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Have any of you wheel balancing folks (or dyna bead folks) actually tried a tire prior to balancing and found it unacceptable?

I stopped balancing my motorcycle wheels over a dozen tires ago, and never once have I had one that felt 'out of balance'.

I didn't notice it till Joe-joe said something, but apparently Yamaha feels it's an unnecessary step as well.

::021::
 
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