- Reprinted From 11/84 Motorcyclist
Have you ever struggled to get your bike on its centerstand and then discovered it had to be moved? You know, you're taking the wheel off, you have the axle out and everything is loose; then you discover that unless you can slide the whole mess over to the other side of the driveway, the wheel is never coming out. Or you need to work on both sides of the bike and would like to get both sides to face the workbench.

The Weigl Co. offers a solution : the Moto-Boy centerstand caddy. This clever gadget belongs in the "Aha" category : now that it's here, it seems obvious. It puts your bike's centerstand on wheels.

The Moto-Boy is a heavy, strong aluminum casting. Each corner of the casting is raised to make room for a ball-bearing caster wheel. The central portion is as low as possible to accommodate the centerstand, and a notch at the rear makes room for the rear wheel. A lever on one side rotates an eccentric rubber foot to lock the whole thing in place on the floor.

To use Moto-Boy, you run its notch against the rear wheel, put the centerstand in the central depression, and lift the bike onto the stand. It does take more effort than it would if the caddy were not there, and it would be difficult for oneperson to do the job with a Gold Wing : however most smaller bikes go up easily. We lifted motorcycles onto the Moto-Boy that varied in weight from 350 to 600 lbs. Like using a centerstand on flat ground, getting a bike up onto the Moto-Boy is largely technique. If you can use your centerstand, you wi ll have little trouble with this tool.

We have been working around fixed motorcycles so long we'd forgotten how inconvenient it is at times. Joe Minton's GS1000 project bike gets turned around so many times in front of the bench that he seems to be conducting ballet practice rather than wrenching. Mounted on the Moto-Boy, an SR500 was rolled back into the garage with its wheel off while the mechanic went looking for a tube.

The Moto-Boy is not something you'd run out and try as you would a new soft drink, but it is a well-constructed, professional class tool. Look at t this way : not only will this thing make bike work easier, it might, also, save you a trip to your physician for about the cost of the Moto-Boy. (Back to Top.)

- Reprinted From 3/85 & 87 Motorcyclist
There are a number of ways to balance a motorcycle wheel. The most desirable ( and expensive) is to use a dynamic balancer. Doing nothing at all is the least desirable option. Your bike's stability at high speed is affected by wheel balance, and tires running in balance will last much longer.

Motorcycle wheels do not present the balancing difficulties automobile wheels do. A motorcycle wheel's mass is located close to the cener plane of the wheel; there is not much tire or rim hanging far from the bearings. Because of their narrow construction, motorcycle wheels can be balanced with a static balancer.

If it were not for the friction of grease seals on the axle, bike wheels could be satisfactorily balanced by letting them swing on their bearings. But there are grease seals, which is the reason for the Weigl Wheel Balancer.

The Weigl Wheel Balancer consists of a stand with a set of four free-turning rollers that carry a wheel's axle or one of the rods supplied with the balancer. You simply leave the wheel on the axle and place the axle on the balancer's rollers, which allow it to turn with no friction to speak of. The rest, of course, is easy; add weight opposite the heavy (down) side of the wheel until it comes to rest in random positions. The balancer's rollers turn so freely we worked up quite a frustration level trying to get a wheel just so.

As with other Weigl products, the quality of the balancer is superior. A professional mechanic could do worse than having one of these under his bench. It is very much like the balancer the Harley race team uses, and those guys go fast enough to know.

If you do your own maintenance and wish to keep your bike in the best condition, you are a potential owner of the wheel balancer. A tire should be balanced when it is first installed and checked again about halfway through its wear. By doing this yourself with the Weigl Wheel balancer, you will save the price of the balancer in a couple of years. More importantly, if you balance your own wheels, you will be certain it is done correctly. (Back to Top.)