Modern Vespa

The rain finally broke so I got busy and mounted the Yourban wheel up front.... Tire is a Michelin 130/60/13

It fills the fender up better and flows with the whole body shape of the bike much better than the stock 12 incher.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

The matching rear ( with the correct finish) should be here soon
And once I get that mounted ill detail it with pics and a description of what it actually takes to do it... Front wheel was a direct bolt on affair.

Wow!

Really? Huh?!

And it doesn't bump, rub or otherwise interfere with the fender, brakes, shocks or other 'stuff' (I use the technical term because I know the readers here will understand)?

Looks great. Let us know how it effects the speedometer and steering.
How much does a wheel like that cost?

Looks great and I agree that it fills out the fender much better. Nice job.

No issues at all with clearance, and fitment. Does not rub or hit anything.

My first impression after a 50+ mile ride last night was that the steering now has a more "locked on center" feel of a bigger motorcycle... no more handlebar wiggle at all.

Speedometer seems to run a mile or two slower than before (which is a good thing as it's closer to your real speed)

Im still scuffing the tire in before i really lay it through any turns but the combo of the Michelin tire on the 13" wheel is a night and day improvement over the 12" wheel and Sava tire...

The wheels are $239.00 each through Scooterwest. The front is a direct bolt on setup, the rear is supposed to need a washer modified slightly so once I get that wheel in I will detail what needs to be done.

These are the wheels that should now come on every Vespa GTS. The Mp3 wheels looks great and these take it to the next level.

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Surely with a front wheel that is larger than the rear you are always going uphill?

That looks really good. Nice work. Can you tell us more about that?

what's on the rear?

+1

Right now the stock 12 inch wheel with a 130/70/12

I ordered a pair of the Yourban wheels but they came in mismatched... So the correct replacement will be here in a week or so... As soon as it comes in ill do a complete tech article on the fitment.

First mod I've seen for GTS that a) makes sense; b) seems worth the investment.

Please let us know how the rear wheel works.

I believe I now have something I need to save up for.

Lets see...$500 for the wheels, $200 for tires. Need a new belt and rollers too..Oh man!!!

P.

Once we get past the fact that they look great, we have to think about weight. Adding Weight will make them feel more stable and dialed in --did you weigh the wheels? Of course, not having a Sava Tire will also help the feel of it, Won't it? When I put Heidenau tires on stock wheels, and it was like I had switched to a larger motorcycle, it was mostly about weight.

I put on MP3 wheels because they looked better and they were lighter than stock wheels. I run the stock Pirellis on these wheels.

I love the look of these wheels, and I would consider getting a pair.

I do wonder though about the offset. What with needing a washer or grinding 1mm off of something according to the sip web site.

The last thing I would want was the wheels sitting off centre of the body.
Is this likely?

Sans tire the Yourban wheels weighed 7 lbs. each

What I was feeling was a bike that had a higher gyro effect with these wheels...

The only way I know how to describe it is comparing two motorcycles I use to own..
I had a Honda CBR600F4i that would literally "fall" into turns conversely my BMW R1200GS would need more attitude adjustment from me to get it leaning, and that in my mind is more confidence inspiring as it needs your input deliberately to turn...


I love the feel of the new front wheel, and tire... whatever ends up being the key component it has all been positive.

The front wheel is perfectly centered.

when I get the rear wheel all will be revealed.

just a quick update... It turns out that the speedometer is just about dead on now actual speed.

So further evidence that the GTS / GTV should come standard with 13" wheels and 130/60/13 tires (at least on the front end)

I'm dying to see/hear about the rear wheel mounted.

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So now the odometer is off...

I would think that since the speedo isn't running 5mph + fast the odo is clocking miles at a slower rate (more accurate) and I am fine with that

Do you know if Scooterwest adjusted (milled the inside) of the wheel?

My dealer did this because the wheel did not not center properly at the front.
The rear was no problem.

He did not tell me how much material he removed.


Also the bike stands higher now and it seems I also lost top speed and acceleration

Compared to GPS ?

I have found the odometer to be quite accurate with OEM size front tires and with the speedo being inaccurate.

Yes

That makes no mechanical sense to me since the odo, and the speedo are tied driven from the same signal, and are "married" to function together.

I use my bikes regularly as a substitute for my car and I can tell you that trips I know to be 25-30 miles away via car are 30-35 miles by Vespa

I would bet you that you are now indicating the correct top speed because your Speedo is closer to "accurate speed" due to the tire being fractionally taller.

I noticed no loss of acceleration, what I did notice is the scooter now handles more like a "bigger" bike and the 13" front wheel seems to have made it feel more stable. I will hopefully have the rear wheel in later this week, first of next week, and I can get started on the rear wheel.

Scooterwest did not modify the wheels in any way but I will double check how off center is is if any. I didn't notice it so if it is off it must be a very small amount.

Its just the printing of the speedo face. It's not correct. They deliberately print the speedo faces to look like you are going faster than you are. It's so you are not unintentionally speeding.

From the factory, the speedo is *intentionally* optimistic, but the odo is (also intentionally) pretty accurate.

They are different mechanisms, albeit getting their inputs from a single drive.

Often discussed on MV, the regulatory reasons have been repeated many times.

So for $350 you get less speed and power?

hmmm.

They are $500.00 and for the time being I am disagreeing with that statement

See the Wiki article...
FAQ: Speedometer Accuracy and Related Topics

Front wheel, no. Surely a larger rear wheel will raise the gearing. Won't this mean less power? It should increase the top speed but with les power one might not be able to reach the higher speed.

Or am I just whistling Dixie?

I already have lighter sliders (Dr. Pulley) and the air box, and air filter upgrade, and I have a Malossi exhaust sitting here ready to go on... so we shall see.

I can get a set of used piaggio mp3 front wheels without the tires for 150 euro's ...dunno what to do.
I have the money saved for extra's for my GTS but I was trying to reach enough for a sport exhaust of some sort.
But now these wheels came on my path..

They are grey (original mp3) and are supposed to be in good shape.. and they are close to where I live so no need to buy them unseen or driving half across the country to pick them up.

What should I do...
Save some more money for an exhaust or spend it now and get my rims upgraded.

black rima really look cool and on red it wil look more good

Those are gorgeous wheels.

Look great on the bike. Kudos.

About the diameters...

With those tires your front tire is larger than stock.

Circumference/height of the the 130/60/13 is 60.136/19.42.

The stock 120/70/12 is 58.474/18.614.

So the speedo should be more accurate. One could hope.

For the rear:

140/60/13 = 61.169/19.614.

140/70/12 = 61.943/19.717.

The back 13 inch wheels with the propoer tires(60 series) are smaller than stock Vespa 12" wheels with 70 series tires.

Seems counter intuitive about the rim size. But its there.

Calculator is here:

http://www.csgnetwork.com/tiresizescalc.html

The optic is awesome, those wheels fill up the space nicely.

Enjoy.

R

Yeah, but the rear tire on a GTS stock is 130/70/12

When I had the two sitting side by side I would say the the 140/60/13 was about 3/4" taller than the 130/70/12

The whole project is done now, and I am very happy with the results.