Wheel balance 87 WR430

I dual sport my '87 WR430 and noticed the vibrations at 65-70 mph would put the hands and feet numb in just minutes. Slower speeds were not so bad. I figured it was related to the engine. On a whim I checked out the wheel balance and found both front and rear out by 3oz. I used bullet fishing weights from the Bass Pro to correct the out of balance conditions. These lead weights have a hole in them so drilling to spoke size is easy. I then drilled for nipple clearance and drilled deep enough so that I got exactly 3oz out of 4 weights. I let the air out of the tires and unscrewed one spoke at a time. The weights slide on the spoke and take just a little tapping down to secure on the nipple. Took the bike out and SO much better! Rock steady at 75 and no more numbing! We're talking an hour job for both wheels.

I did mine too, sure helps.
400 XC motor

I been thinking about wheel balance. How do you check the balance? Bubble?

That's one more good looking bike!

I just set the wheel loose on the axle and cobble weights on the rim until I can get random stops from a slow spin. Weigh the cobbled items and there you have it. I figure this method gets you in the high 90s percentage for balance. Cheap and easy.

there used t ob tape on heights
not sure if those are still available

We still have them here in Australia, but they can be too wide so I cut them in half length-ways, sinkers work great too but instead of loosening spokes, I have cut them along their length, open them up and clamp them onto the spokes, I never lost a weight using this method.
I realised the importance of balancing wheels for anything over 100 kph (60MPH) when a friend was complaining about his XR600 being unable to exceed 130KPH, so I followed him until he was tapped out, watching his rear wheel bouncing up and down and losing drive, we balanced it and the difference was like night and day.
Tony.

Darrel, now that you have them balanced... you need to test for top speed! ;-)
Curious minds want to know what a 430 WR will do!

We really do!

This sounds suspiciously like another one of those "here, hold my beer and watch this " moments... At 75 I'm just coming on the pipe so I should be close to being tapped out?

I'm happy to test what a 400WR will tap out at if I can find a long enough straight, tested with GPS phone app of course!

I think ive got a 15 tooth front somewhere??? that should mean fast in top? I have brand new chain and spxts so good time to test outright speed....

I'm running a 15 tooth front on mine, but I do recall my '86 400 with standard gearing "indicating" over 165 kph but have no idea how inaccurate the factory speedo was!
This was about 1993 from memory.
Tony.

most of the 400+bikes from husky were 100mph out of the box

Turns out my 430 tops out at 92 mph in the flying mile. It comes on the pipe at 75 or so and sings clean to 92 mph. I tried this "bonneville" style; two runs about a mile long. I checked out the stretch of road to make sure no constabulary presence was about then made two runs. I'm using a trail tech endurance speedometer calibrated to my wheel/tire combo.
So we've one datapoint at 92. We need more....

what sprocket combo are you running?

14/52 is the sprocket sizes.

i ran a 15/52 or a 17/52 depending on where i was going, mountains or desert
17/52 should get you well over 100, i was told i was but never confirmed

My bike doesn't seem to be straining when it tops out so there may be some speed left to harvest with a sprocket change. The Lectron seems well sorted. This bike doesn't "load up " like the two strokes of my youth. I'm interested in what the other 430's report. As a side note the bike felt rock steady and displayed no bad manners.

did you get the one you got from me up n runnin ?