Balanced with a home-brew setup. Had some low-friction rollerskating bearings from long ago that I attached to a couple of chunks of 2x4. Set 'em up on cinder blocks and rested the wheel on its axle across them. Seemed plenty sensitive. Took 1oz to balance the rear and .75oz for the front.

For weights, I went by a local MC dealer and they "didn't have any to sell". Went next door to Discount Tire and they gave me a couple 1/4oz x 3oz self-stick strips for free. Good guys. They get all my cage tire business.

For lube, I did the 'traditional' 1 pt dish dtgt, 3 pts water mix. Worked great and was easy to clean up.

Harbor Freight regularly puts their tire changer on sale for about $35. The MC attachment is less frequently on sale but its regular price is only $40.

Rim protecters were 100% useless to me. I tried to use them. By the time you get down to wrestling the last bit of bead over, there's very little room to work the iron in - adding the addtl thickness of a protecter (that wants to slide around anyway) made it impossible. Also tried the cut-up milk jug trick and the iron simply crushed through them like butter. Ultimately it's all in the technique - I got the front on w/o a single scratch.

JKarp.