Hello, my name is Dan Sotelo and I'm pretty much a professional/Doctor when it comes to bicycle wheel balance. Here are some very important rules to follow; 1. When balancing a wheel "never assume" where the heavy spot is going to be. It can be anywhere not necessarily at the air valve or rim joint location like he is confirming in this video that it is always at the air valve. Not Correct..! Often the heavy spot is located in an area between the air-valve and the rim joint.. 2. Before you start the balancing procedure you need to assemble the wheel completely the way you are going to ride it complete with the tire and any kind of computer magnets etc. 3. If you have tubeless system balance it the wheel "without sealant", and add the sealant after you balance the wheel. Also the wheel does not have to be inflated, it will balance with or with out air. Good Luck, Dan
@flo_cycling10 ай бұрын
Thanks for your comments. Yes, the imbalance can be any where and the balance method will find this spot. The location is normally at the valve on deep wheels.
@johndavid34745 ай бұрын
What difference does it matter where you place the weights if you’ve balanced the wheel? 🤔
@danielsotelo39425 ай бұрын
@@johndavid3474 Hello John, Just because bike wheel balancing is "not yet" an industry standard like aerodynamics is, does not mean it's of no importance to handling and high performance. In fact bike wheel balancing offers far more performance than bike aerodynamics. The only reason wheel balance has not been introduced is because no one has figured out a way to make a user friendly system that can be applied to standard OEM manufacturing. But I'm about to change all that and it's called DSB-Dynamic Speed Balance. 35 years ago when I was inside the industry as a bicycle component designer I used to ask rim makers to design aerodynamic rims, and they all thought it was a stupid idea. Now you can not sell a high end wheel unless it has the latest in aero tech... Today I'm trying to work with wheel manufacturers to incorporate a wheel balance system and I'm met with the same resistance... Here is a proven fact, if your wheel is off balance by as little as 8 grams at 40+mph the spinning centrifugal forces converts the 8 grams X6 = 48 grams! These 48 grams then starts to invite the entire weight of the wheel to start oscillating and swing around your axle like a 1.5 lb sledgehammer... Same as a car wheel, if you remove those tiny balance weights that are there to prevent the start of an oscillation, at high speed it will start to oscillate and now the car will have the entire weight of the car wheel swing around the axle like a 60lb sledge hammer. The value of balance on bike wheels has been around for over 30 years and some of the top brands in the world have tried and failed. And there is a huge grave yard of abandoned patents to prove my point.
@johndavid34745 ай бұрын
@@danielsotelo3942 Obviously there are no studies to show any correlation between a balanced and unbalanced bicycle wheel.🤔 Reading most forums cyclists agree that wheel balancing isn’t something they care about. And many cyclists profess to riding over 40 mph without any issues, myself included. Only once have I ever experienced a wobbling bike over 40mph which turned out to be the steel frame not the wheels.
@danielsotelo39425 ай бұрын
@@johndavid3474 Dear John, I was the first in the industry to do a full science study on bicycle wheel balance back in 2016. To see this visit Google Dan Sotelo onZa and you can see the Bicycle Retailer story, they did make an error saying 58 lb sledgehammers when it should have been 1.5 lb sledgehammers. I was about to publish my report when I decided not to because it was too ahead of its time and it was yet not an issue or a topic with the riding public, so I decided to wait until it becomes a major topic on the internet. Sure enough, Seven years later (today), it has become a major bicycle talking point on the internet. You see in 2016 I assembled a small scientific team of vibration experts from NASA, WSU and UW, along with powerful vibration computer apps, accelerometeres and high speed cameras to record and see what happens to a fully assembled, out of balance carbon wheel at high speeds ranging from 30 ~ 50 mph +... What we discovered was very alarming and extremely dangerous. We also concluded how a bike and rider goes into a high speed wobble, and we named this phenomenon "Synchronized Oscillation". Like I tell balance deniers who are all in on aerodynamics, "do you feel aerodynamics working when you ride your aero bikes?". Well the same goes for wheel balance. A wheel that is out of balance causes what is called "interrupted inertia". While a balanced wheel has "free flowing inertia" which in turn greatly improves rolling efficiency. If you do a 20 mile distance point A to point B timed test with an unbalanced and balanced wheel bike, the difference is mind blowing. Just like they do today with aero bikes & wheels. But I guess you won't belive it until it becomes a thing with top brands, and that day is quickly coming. Enjoy Dan ( :
@mrgq2000 Жыл бұрын
I had never heard of bike wheels having to be balanced...i guess this will be an offseason project. Thanks!
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
Definitely a fun project for the offseason!
@elaeroplano7 ай бұрын
Since the discussion about the sense or nonsense of balancing a wheel set is very controversial, I would like to invite you to the following thought experiment: Certainly an eccentrically attached weight plays no role on an absolutely rigid system. (Even if there are no absolutely rigid systems) If you align the axis vertically, i.e. perpendicularly, it becomes clear. The wheel with the eccentric weight distribution has no disadvantage compared to the perfectly balanced wheel. Once started, both wheels rotate for the same amount of time. But in reality, masses that are highly elastic are decelerated and accelerated by the imbalance. On the one hand, the person sitting on the bike is constantly moving back and forth and the elastic tissue of the person is being kneaded, which requires energy. Now the tire comes into play, which is also elastic. The eccentric weight unloads the tire when the weight is at the top apex and loads it when the weight is at the bottom apex. This leads to continuous flexing of the tire because rubber cannot release 100% of the elastically stored energy. Walk losses occur. You could say that that's not much. As a simple quantity it is certainly hardly measurable. But the longer you drive, all the vibrations add up throughout the entire journey. Now you might think that you have added weight. But this weight is a mass once set in motion. As long as it doesn't need to be slowed down or sped up, it doesn't matter. (I'm ignoring the increase in rolling friction caused by the extra weight). Yes, that's right, I have to bring 10 grams more up the mountain on my bike. And yes, it is also true that the mass moment of inertia, which is calculated with a quadratic function for rotating masses, increases as a percentage of the mass of the impeller. In my case about 0.4%. What is crucial, however, is the dynamic effect of the elastic dimensions that cause vibration, which also have strong inherent damping and therefore convert the vibration energy into heat. Whenever a medium such as water, oil, gel, rubber or meat is deformed, part of the energy used to deform the medium is lost as frictional heat. Ultimately the energy is converted into heat. So a constant loss of energy. And we have to compensate for that with our muscles. It's also safe. These energy losses will not be measurable with the power meter on the pedal crank. But they are there. And if you want to avoid this loss of energy, you can't avoid balancing the wheels.
@flo_cycling7 ай бұрын
Yes, well said. Balancing is important.
@daphenry9 ай бұрын
Weight a minute. 😅 Won't tubeless tyres be out of balance anyway when you put the sealant in? Especially a few weeks after putting new sealant when some of it will have dried and add weight to an area?
@flo_cycling9 ай бұрын
The sealant should move with the wheel so not as drastic as it may seem. If you have dried sealant in a clump it's time to replace your sealant and clean out the tire.
@tedjohnson64Ай бұрын
Nice tutorial!
@APlagueOfButterflies4 ай бұрын
Do those lead weights have a plastic coating? Thank you for this, my latest e-bike build started to wobble around 40 mph so I think I need to do this (c:
@flo_cycling4 ай бұрын
I believe they did. It's been a while since I shot this so not 100% sure.
@kbushmeyer Жыл бұрын
If I have a FLO clincher wheel, can I just pull back the current rim tape and then put it back on top or do I need new rim tape to do this?
@flo_cycling7 ай бұрын
Depends on its condition. New tape is usually advised.
@joseanton816410 ай бұрын
The balancing of the wheels is especially important in carbon wheels, in Nazca Ingenieria we have developed an electronic balancer that tells us the weight and the angle in which we have to put the counterweight. if you are interested in the product, we are looking for distributors.
@valiantabello Жыл бұрын
This is cool, i always wondered how rbis was done. Thank you!
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
You/'re welcome. This was a fun video to wait.
@jonathangriego7334 Жыл бұрын
Does this work on tubeless wheels with no spoke holes that don’t require the use of tubeless tape?
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
Yes it can. Ideally you would have something cover the weights to hold them in place so they don't come off while riding.
@MaxRudolfBona11 ай бұрын
What weights installed in the rim what name is the product thanks
@flo_cycling11 ай бұрын
Sorry. The link to the product is here. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0865FB7PG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@nemipaziram60496 ай бұрын
Hello. I have a bike that has not worked for several years. Now I decided to throw it again, but I ran into a problem, and that is that the wheels are equally out of balance The way that the rear wheel gets stuck to the body, I talked to several repairmen, but I realized from their words that they did not bring the front wheel and may damage the bike. You seem to be very skilled in your work. Do you understand my problem?
@davidsteel4139 Жыл бұрын
What about a tubular wheel
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
If you are using a tubular glue on wheel this becomes much more of a challenge. What bike are you using tubular tires on?
@davidsteel4139 Жыл бұрын
@@flo_cycling i have a F8 and two Kuota bikes
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
@@davidsteel4139 It's not perfect but for tubulars I would install the tire without glue and inflate it to the tire is compressed on the rim. Then I would balance the wheel and remove the tire to place the weights. If your glue is evenly distributed this should be really close to perfect.
@johndavid34745 ай бұрын
I read that unless you’re able to ride over 55mph or almost 90kmh wheel balancing is not important. 🤔
@flo_cycling5 ай бұрын
That’s not true actually. Wheel depth and weight play into imbalance so speed is only one variable. Speed wobbles can and will happen at much slower speeds.
@johndavid34745 ай бұрын
@@flo_cycling Well it seems like a hot topic of contention, apparently as long as the wheels are trued, balancing has no noticeable effect 🤔
@flo_cycling5 ай бұрын
Wheel true has nothing to do with its mass. Mass impacts wheel balance. A true wheel with a long valve stem becomes out of balance when it rotates.
@johndavid34745 ай бұрын
@@flo_cycling Yeah you’re right that’s what I’ve been learning the valve stem affects it, even tyres affect the balance. Years ago I had a steel frame bike that would wobble over 40 miles per hour. But never noticed wobbles with the aluminium or carbon frame Truth be told I been riding bikes for over 40 years only ever experienced wobbles on steel framed bikes
@Graps194 ай бұрын
So you check the balance before you replace the tube or sealant and the tyre. This assumes that the tube and tyre are perfectly balanced. Not so. Check when fully assembled, in the same position as when the imbalance was sorted. Otherwise you are wasting your time.
@danaponik5276 Жыл бұрын
What? Add weight to my weight weenie wheels? Blasphemy!
@flo_cycling Жыл бұрын
Lol, the watts wasted to wobble are far worse than the loss in added weight.