The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: montmil on January 03, 2010, 05:47:36 PM
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There's been a recent thread on the Airheads List regarding the Harbor Freight motorcycle wheel balancer. After several days of discussing it's merits, quality and origin of manufacture, the general consensus seems to be that's it's the real deal. What started the topic was the sale price of $39.99 vs list at $59.99.
The HF wheel balancer has been on my personal radar for some tire. I see it each time I drive the 40+ miles to visit my closest store. What put me off was the pricey BMW Adapter Kit I thought I needed for my airheads. The Airhead wheel balancer thread commentary cleared up my misconception so I decided to buy the balancer and treat the bikes to another Christmas present.
Hit the HF store Saturday morning, 02 January and, UhOh... $39.99 sale price go bye-bye. Back up to $59.99 and that's a deal breaker for me. Undaunted, I asked the store manager if he would honor the sale price since I had, "driven such a long distance to shop at my favorite store... blah, blah, blah ". The response was affirmative so into the basket goes the wheel balancer. At check-out, I was to have the cashier call the manager for price confirmation. This I did but the cashier said he had an even better deal for me. He then scanned a bar code page next to the register. My price came up as $31.99. Oy vey... Such a deal!
My friends here in the R65 asylum occasionally, and good-naturedly, tease me about being cheap. I prefer the word frugal. They're all good peeps and fellow airhead riders. Just wanted to share my ABC research and price find. And it is a fact that, if asked, store managers can and will occasionally reduce the asking prices of everything from clothing to, well, wheel balancers! Costs nothing to ask.
Monte
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Hmmm. Why wasn't the BMW wheel adapter needed - is that just for the new fangled paralever wheels, or ??
I've been keeping my eyes open for a decent balance/truing stand
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Hmmm. Why wasn't the BMW wheel adapter needed - is that just for the new fangled paralever wheels, or ??
I've been keeping my eyes open for a decent balance/truing stand
ABC fella said it's for Ducati and later model BMW. The axle adapter package did say Ducati/BMW but no models mentioned. I have not even opened the box yet so don't know fer sur.
Monte
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And it is a fact that, if asked, store managers can and will occasionally reduce the asking prices of everything from clothing to, well, wheel balancers! Costs nothing to ask.
And free coffee and donuts at the funeral home. You forgot to mention your occasional visits to the mortuary for sustenance.
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I didn't mention it on the air list, but I have one of those balancers. I think it works fine. I do want to get a thumb screw to replace one of the set screws on the cones, so that I won't need to hunt down that allen screw. I've used it on 3 tires now and it seems to work fine. I got it for about 39 dollars last summer.
I got it because my local shop raised their price for balancing my tires to $20, even if I bought the tire there. Now I don't buy my tires there either.