Modern Vespa

Split rim for the Vintage Vespa has been around as long as the scooter its self. With it, comes the hazards of any tube type tire and more so being a split rim.
Pinching the tube during assembly certainly ranks right up there.
I put 2 new Michelin tire and tubes on my original split rims last summer. I rode the whole riding season then parked the bike in the garage for the winter.
Pulling it out to take a quick ride during a mild day I found the rear tire nearly flat.
I simply aired it up and went on my way. Shortly afterwards I noticed it again low on air. This time it wouldn't even take air.
I figured I either picked up a road hazard or the dreaded pinched tube. As you can see from the photos it was the latter and it was pinched in several places including the complete slice shown here. To think I rode an entire season on this makes me shutter.
Not wanting to deal with this any longer I decided to move into the 21st century and install tubeless rims and tires.
There must be a reason that the majority of automobiles on the road today all run tubeless.
Yes, I realize that tubeless tires can also go flat. The spare on my Stella was one of them. But I feel it still offers many advantages over the tube type, split rim system. The technology is there and I took advantage of it.

those look great. probably handle slightly better too.

I don't have a lot of experience with the split rims. I had them on my P200E when I bought it but swapped them out for some SIP rims and Michelin S1s.

Yours look great on that bike. I'd never look back.

Up dating to the tubeless rims and tires was an adventure for me and a learning experience as well, but all worth it in my humble opinion.
These rims are available from SIP which is where I bought them through Scootermercato.
They are available as rims only or you can get them with a new tubeless tire, (several to chose from), already mounted. My brother choose to buy them with tires mounted where I opted to buy just the rims thinking I would install my nearly new Michelin tires on those new rims. Bad choice.
First of all, from what I now understand you can not mount a tube type tire on a tubeless rim. So using my next to new tires were out of the question. Secondly, it seems trying to buy a 3.50 X 8" tubeless tire in the states is like trying to buy unicorn horn polish and thirdly, its almost impossible to find anyone willing to mount a 8" tubeless tire.
Knowing all this I had to once again go back to SIP (through Scootermecato),
and buy 2 new tubeless tires. The exact same tire, (Heidenau K75, 3.50x8"), that came mounted on my brothers rims.
Then I went searching to find a shop that would mount them. I got lucky and found a Good Year Tire Center 7 miles from home that said they would mount them, no problem.
All said and done I ended up paying the same as what my brother paid for his 2 mounted tubeless tires with the same polished aluminum rims which was $250.
I believe my two rims were $130, the tires were $90 and mounting was $30. That all adds $250 not counting shipping in either case.
So my advise to anyone who wants to go this route is to buy them with the tires already mounted and be done with it.

You can get that Heidenau here no problem. Cycle Gear now carries - https://www.cyclegear.com/tires/heidenau-k75-scooter-tires.

Ive been riding these things 30 plus years. The key to not pinching the tube between the rim halves is to slightly inflate the tube when you assemble.

Not all Heidenau K75 3.50-8 tires are the same. Two were ordered from Amazon and the tires were clearly meant for tube type installation. Below is a photo of one of these tires and "tube type" is shown printed on the sidewall (red arrow). These two tires were sent back and two were ordered from SIP. These Heidenau K75 3.5-8 tires were "tube less" and this was shown on the sidewall (see photo blue arrow). It is best to use a tubeless tire on a tubeless rim. In the case of Heidenau, be careful you get the tire with "tube less" printed on the sidewall.

In a perfect world, yes slightly inflating the tube helps prevent pinching the tube in a split rim situation. But pinching can and does occur in these cases as well. There is no question in my mind the tubeless tire/rim setup for 8 inch wheels on a classic Vespa is the better approach. They are much safer and should you get a puncture you can get it plugged with the tire on the rim just as you can with automobile tires.

Not sure how many miles you get from a set of tyres, what do suggest when they wear out?
Did you find any actual difference between the 2 tyre types? They certainly look exactly the same apart from the writing on them.

To answer your question on what to do when these tires wear out I'll say that I will simply order another pair from SIP and have them mounted at my Local Good Year Tire specialist as I did before.
They did a wonderful job. I closely inspected the rims after mounting for any scraps, gauges or marks of any kind. I found nothing. And I believe they were mounted by hand.
In respect to what was the difference between the "tube type" and "tube less" tires? First of all I did not have the two different tires here at the same time to compare, so I really can't say.
I had ask this question on several forums. Many said the difference would be in the bead. I can't attest to this personally.
What I can attest to is that I wasn't going to mount a tire that was specifically marked "tube type" on a tubeless rim.
These tires are listed on the SIP site as TT/TL which I take can be used either way. Perhaps they dropped the Tube Type line and consolidated them into one type, who knows. But the tires they sent me were clearly marked "tube Less" as the photos above show.
The same tires I bought state side were marked "Tube Type".

I use "tube less" K75's on both my Supers, with tubes. Never had any mounting or pinching issues.

call me old fashion but i never ever saw a 8" tubeless tyre before but for sure all my 8" tyre is worn out so fast compare to my 10" tyre

on another note, I bought a tire and I am trying to replace it on a vbb . 8 inches like yours. How the hell can you split the rim? I Unbolted and the thing does not want to come apart.

Did you try inflating it after the bolts were off? That's always worked for me.

Now getting the tire off the rim, that can be anywhere from a shrug and it pops right off to an hour of cursing.

I'll pick up a set of mounting irons before I take that task on again, for sure.

Inflating it will not work. The tube is ripped. I m at the cursing part couple hours in. Because I can't take the tire apart, but also because the rear shock is touching the tire and causing the tire to heat up and tear,,,,major damage.

use soapy water work the tyre off the rim it can take a while and wear gloves so you don't bash your knuckles

I've used PB Blaster. Worst case, cut the tire off.

If you have a big vise, put the tire in the jaws right up to the rim & squeeze the tire loose from the rim. If it's rusted on bad, you may only get one side loose, but the rim is now apart & easier to cut the tire off the other side if need be.

guess i am the only one that push the center of the rims with my feet while my mits holding the lips of the rims after i push the tire with a screewdriver

I have some sip tibless rims that I have been storing for about 6 years now! I had no idea you couldn't use the same tires (I have zippys on my PX). I tried to get them mounted years ago but couldn't find anyone that would do it and everyone told me it was impossible to do without scratching the rims.

I'd love to get them on - still not sure what type of shop to bring them too. But I guess I have to get new tires!