Gorilla Wheel Balancer by KapscoMoto
- Thread starter str8
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That looks like a nice stand. Mine is a bit more, erm... rustic. But still gets the job done. The key component to successful balancing is that the bearings are very free moving and the shaft is absolutely straight and centered in the wheels (bearings). So long as you have that you should be good to go. And that is a rockin' good price.
Now, why are those wheel weights useless? If it's because they won't stick, just peel off the double sided sticky stuff they used and substitute 3M acrylic foam trim tape, available at your nearest auto parts purveyor.
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Considering the price, I was concerned about the quality of the bearings allowing the wheel to rotate freely, however, they seem ok.
The weights are stick on and would work in a pinch, I guess, but they seemed like they were too large in surface area (flat and not cube shaped) to be able to fit the narrow flat surface on the rim adjacent to the center ridge.
RPrice
Fish Cop (retired)
If the weights are wide and flat, just bend them to conform to the shape of the wheel and use the aforementioned 3M sticky stuff.
Actually, I was thinking that if a guy carefully cut the 1 ounce weights in half, so as not to distort them, they would fit better and you could get the weight equally distributed on the center line of the rim. That 3M tape should hold them even if they weren't perfectly flat, no?
Dang, that's a great price! I just upgraded to a No-Mar this winter and thought I got a deal at $99 new. Weights are pretty cheap and plentiful ($6 a pound). Glue em in -place, once they take a set, they shouldn't move.
Well, I use 7 gram weights which are only 1/4 oz. 1 ounce is pretty rough. If I can get it to within 1/4 oz I call it good.
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Dunk43
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johnny80s
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What would be the difference between this and the Marc Parnes balancer? Besides the price.
PhilJet09
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I built my own using some wood, aluminum angle, bearings from a copy machine and the axle from the bike. Like has been said above, the bearings are the most important part. Mine were sealed, but I popped the retaining clip off, pulled the covers off and washed the grease out of the bearings to get them to spin free. A little light machine oil keeps them that way. I'd challenge anyone to balance my wheels more accurately.
The Marc Parnes kit doesn't come with the nifty stand. It's just two large bearings the shaft and the two self-centering cones. These other systems seem to all use 4 smaller (roller blade) bearings that the shaft rides on top of, so I suppose that smoothness of the shaft ends that ride on these bearings is required. I have a balancer setup I bought off eBay (forget how much) that is more like the latter, and I can balance a wheel to less than 1/4 oz (7 grams), which is plenty good enough.
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