I recently replaced the front tire (and tube) on the Honda CB750K project with a new period correct Dunlop K70 tire. The tire that was on the bike was worn out and the owner wanted the replacement to be as close to original equipment as possible. Fortunately Dunlop still produces the K70, which is about as close to original as we can get, virtually perfect in fact. As a side note, the rear tire on this project is 17 inches in diameter and though I haven’t put much effort into locating one, I don’t believe we will be as in fortunate finding an original-type rear tire. Therefore, I suspect we’ll have to compromise on the as-original desire.
Back to the front tire, now that the new tire is mounted, it requires balancing. I don’t have a practical method to balance motorcycle tires in my shop but about ten years or so ago I discovered “balancing beads”. As I understand it, though I can’t verify the story, balancing beads were originally created for the heavy trucking industry. They’ve been available for almost any type of vehicle for some time now.
Balancing beads have proven to be a great product, readily available (on line), easy to use and most importantly, effective. I highly recommend them, and though my experience is limited to motorcycles, I have no reason to believe they wouldn’t work equally well for any other vehicle. In fact, I have a friend who had a problematic tire on a vintage Jeep and he decided to try balancing beads and the tire issue was finally resolved.
The YouTube video below describes how to add the balancing beads to a mounted tire.