Centramatic Wheel Balancers

[tourman]

Anyone use the Centramatic wheel balancers on the rear wheels of your trike?

 

[tfdeputydawg]

https://www.ride-on.com/us/support/tire-types/motorcycle-formula

 

[pwhoever]

I had Centramtics on my bike before it was converted and wanted to have them on the rear wheels of the trike. I reached out to both California Sidecar as well as Centramatic about how this could be done. I was told by both that it wasnt going to work with the rear setup. There just isnt enough room to get them on. I imagine that many other trike models are in the same boat. I still have them on my front wheel but had to settle for wheel weights for the rear. You could try reaching out to Centramatic and ask about your trike. Maybe thay have come up with a solution since I talked to them...

 

[tourman]

I tried, emailed them- no answer. Man I hate that!

 

[cScjhb]

I had them on all 3 wheels of my Can Am Spyder. As thin as they are I can't believe they won't go on almost anything. Just take the wheels off, slip them over the lugs, put the wheels back on and tighten the lug nuts..... Jim

 

[hogcowboy]

I had Centramtics on my bike before it was converted and wanted to have them on the rear wheels of the trike. I reached out to both California Sidecar as well as Centramatic about how this could be done. I was told by both that it wasnt going to work with the rear setup. There just isnt enough room to get them on. I imagine that many other trike models are in the same boat. I still have them on my front wheel but had to settle for wheel weights for the rear. You could try reaching out to Centramatic and ask about your trike. Maybe thay have come up with a solution since I talked to them...

And the more that ask the more likely they'll start making them for trikes. It's all about demand.

 

[CrystalPistol]

I know everyone has their reasons, but why centramatics on a trike that will seldomly need rear tires? Much cheaper to just balance with weights, stick on weights out of view, or balance beads or hard plastic Red Jacket BBs. In fact, the BBs work perfectly in the trike's narrow front tire, and hugely cheaper than centramatics. Centramatics make sense on hard to balance tractor trailer tires that will wear fast and which are so important to a driver's comfort and reduced fatigue.

 

[tourman]

Beads are not recommended in trike rear tires.

 

[CrystalPistol]

Beads are not recommended in trike rear tires.

They generally aren't recommended for any 60 series or lower profile tires as the inside of the tread is a wide, flat floor. My trike ran 215/70R15s tires, but a few ounces of BBs worked great but then 70 series tires have a rounded inner surface from bead to bead. I wasn't so happy with them in some 60 series tires on a car, but 6 ounces in 31/10.50x15s on my '77 did OK.

I know some truck operators used 4 or 5 golf balls in steer tires, they claim they worked fine. I know some 4x4 drivers like to use a quart of antifreeze in their tires, even swear by it? Not calcium chloride, but green antifreeze. Ride-On balances well, I just did not like the mess.

 

[hogcowboy]

They generally aren't recommended for any 60 series or lower profile tires as the inside of the tread is a wide, flat floor. My trike ran 215/70R15s tires, but a few ounces of BBs worked great but then 70 series tires have a rounded inner surface from bead to bead. I wasn't so happy with them in some 60 series tires on a car, but 6 ounces in 31/10.50x15s on my '77 did OK.

I know some truck operators used 4 or 5 golf balls in steer tires, they claim they worked fine. I know some 4x4 drivers like to use a quart of antifreeze in their tires, even swear by it? Not calcium chloride, but green antifreeze. Ride-On balances well, I just did not like the mess.

I use antifreeze in my tractor(farm) tires but never thought about using it in trike tires. But a quart??? That just sounds like trouble to me. Maybe those are monster 4x4's?

Ride-On is what I used in my bike. I don't see the mess as it cleans up with plain water.

 

[CrystalPistol]

I use antifreeze in my tractor(farm) tires but never thought about using it in trike tires. But a quart??? That just sounds like trouble to me. Maybe those are monster 4x4's?

Ride-On is what I used in my bike. I don't see the mess as it cleans up with plain water.

Tires on them 4x4s weigh 50 pounds or so. The quart or so will evenly distribute. A quart of green antifreeze like that which runs through radiator hoses will not clump either. It will "distribute", will not rust a wheel either.

In the '60s, my Grandpa always had fluid in his tractor tires, near full even, for weight. My favorite was his MT. That John Deere MT would fly in 4th after you knocked that throttle straight up to wide open pulling a trailer down the highway from farm road to the house, throwing dirt & mud out ahead of it as those tall tires reved up, but it was never "not balanced", always amazingly smooth even as it throwed them dirt & mud glops off. On the right side tire on the inside was a steel plate with bolts coming out on the sidewall towards the mini fender, was a plate inside too, where the tire was once was ripped by a stump, bet it was several pounds metal on that sidewall. Was a secondary highway stretch from the farm road and the house, had a hill crest near the farm road so if we went that way (like pulling the trailer with 2 x 55 gallon barrels of spring water and cousins, aunts, etc), not the more rugged back way, you hit the black top in "GO MODE", it was Franklin County, Va. after all.

My Ride On experience was not good, enough bad that I pitched a new three bottle kit.