If the rim isn't centered on the hub, wouldn't that cause the tire to be out of balance. How much weight should I use before I worry about the rim being off-center? I've already used 50 grams on the rear wheel in one  area of the rim on both right and left sides, which is over 1-3/4 ounces worth, and it still isn't right yet. And yes, I put the weights on the upper side of the rim (opposite of where it settles).

Is there something wrong? I remember that the old tire had quite a few 1/4 ounce stick-ons I don't remember how many.

Are you saying that the wheel will still settle no matter how much weight I use, or does it just mean that there will still be a problem? Of course weight won't fix it. I'm just wondering whether the need to use 2+ ounces of weight points to an untrue rim, or whether that's normal. I think the last tire needed over an ounce. I'm wondering whether I have some pain-in-the-butt rim imbalance I have to worry about.

I haven't tested the tune of the spokes on the rear.

I tend to worry more about a lopsided wheel interfering with my tire balance job than I worry about the rim being untrue from side to side.

And yes, I blame my first wreck on an adult bicycle on untrue rims. That wreck was why I started wearing gloves for bike riding, if you know what I mean. I do understand what trouble a laterally untrue rim can cause.

Which is harder, getting the rim true or getting it centered?

Wow! That came out huge!

I got the red dot on my shinko maybe an inch or two off from the valve core. It shouldn't cause that much trouble.

I took off quite a bit of weight from the last tire. Now I'm putting a lot of weight back on. I'm not sure it's in the same place, but this is making me a little concerned that it's more than simple tire balancing. Maybe the rim is imbalanced rather than the tire. Maybe the rim is heaviest at a point other than the valve core.

I'll take a look at it tomorrow and spin it to see if it's visibly off center. I'll also check the spokes. Maybe I can make some sense of this.

Some say that after they get so much weight on it, say 3 ounces or so, they spin the tire on the rim and try balancing again. I don't want to have to break down the tire again and risk pinching that tube.  

What happens when you get too much weight on a tire?

Nah, I need to do this myself. I need to get good at something. I'm not about to spend $75 an hour for someone to do what I would do better myself. You read that right... better... myself... Why? Because I'm willing to spend hours to carefully do what the pros will slap together in minutes. One of the drawbacks of being able to charge $75 an hour is that customers get pissed if they don't get their stuff ready QUICK. Yeah, they're a lot better and quicker at it, but they are also not as likely to be careful.  So, you see, there's a tradeoff. The pro job could be better.... or it could be worse.... No promises. The only thing that is promised most of the time is that money will be drawn from your pocket.

Now, if I were going to work on bikes, especially if I was just starting out, I would do it dirt cheap, maybe even free. As I got better, I would charge more, but I bet I could still give the customers a good deal no matter how good I got. I doubt anyone really needs to charge $75 an hour unless he can't deal with the flood of customers. Now, the one who quoted me that price has mechanics who work for him. That causes costs to go up. Right? A one man operation with low overhead shouldn't need to charge more than $50 per hour. In fact, there are quite a few people who are forced to live off minimum wage ($7.25). If a shop charged a mere $20 per hour, it would be piled mile high with customers. Of course, that figure doesn't really represent take home pay.

Besides, I basically have no job. The one I have has me scheduled to work 3 hours this week. Yeah, I said 3 hours in the whole cotton-pickin' week.

I've already run 2500 miles on an 8 year old tire on a beat up little Savage and wrecked twice. How could installing and balancing my own tire be any worse? How could truing my own wheels be any worse. It's not like I'm riding a precision Beemer or something. There's not much to screw up that wasn't off kilter from the factory. I'd say that, unless I screwed up something significantly, my bike should be significantly safer than it was previously.

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