Modern Vespa

starting to hear 140's are being put on the rear of the 250? Who's had any results and comments pro or con?

i am going to be soon. my zippy is almost dead.

suit scoot... are there others on your side of the pond that have had any success? any cons?

Generally when you go larger like that, your handling is less and less 'crisp'. Not as flickable. Why would you want to do that?

More top speed, decreased rpm at higher speeds. I would like to try a 140 on the rear and a 130 on the front, not as flickable yup, but perhaps a little more stable at terminal velocity

Dave

i think smirnoff tried it once. ask him.

ill find out what its like soon though.

my friend GlassEye is running a 140 rear

i want one now

My top speed decreased (or my speedometer corrected itself) when I swapped out to a 130 front. How is top speed affected with a 140 rear?

yes I put 130's on the front and w/gps the difference closed from 8mph difference........bike speedo read 78....gps read 70........with 130 it dropped to 4-5 mph gap...now speedo reads 75 gps is running 70-71..........I too would be interested in what happens w/140- rear! good or bad

I have two brand new tires mounted and going on the scoot this weekend. A 130 front and a 140 rear. I did some repetitive top speed testing before and will post the results on Monday. I don't have a gps unit though so I will only be able to go by speedo numbers....

The 140 is the aspect ratio. This should affect the width more than the overall diameter. Maybe a bit more diameter I s'pose. If you really want to make a difference, get a 13" wheel to fit

I would like to go to 130 front and rear just for uniformity and possible rotations but I would want to test ride the setup before spending the money or time to do it. This may also help the speedo margin also.

The 140 section back tyre gears up the scoot by approx 7%. I've got one on mine, but mine is tuned, so it can pull it. Phil (smirnoff) had on on his, but has swapped it back to the standard 130 section.

Russ from Rev and Go in the UK has sourced some 13" wheels, and they will fit. As soon as they're in stock, we'll try them on mine. Unfortunately, they don't make much difference from the 140, as they are 13/130/60. Lower profile of tyre, so overall the complete wheel is around the same diameter.

If I've made any sense...

Here they are fitted to an MP3



http://www.scooter-scene.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7210&highlight=

The 140 / 70 /12 rear equates to a 7% upgear (70% of 140 as oposed to 70% of 130.)

I've heard it's ok buy you lose a bit acceleration. If your heavily built it may cause a problem but other than that just try one and see what you think

Thanks for the replies mates.....This will no doubt be an even bigger issue in the future as more tinkering gets done on the 250's........for now I plan to keep the 130/130 set up since I too am a bigger man (all muscles of course) .......however I look forward to Imwithhappy's report on monday....be careful!

good job im a skinny git then!

The rims on that MP3 are cool, wish someone made aftermarket scooter wheels.

Zoomin'

You're running a 130 on the front? Just how big a difference did it make in the handling department?

Thanks,

Dave

I've got a 130 on the front, and the handling is less responsive.

To be more clear, the handlebars require noticibly more input than before. The steering was near telepathic with the 120 on. Still tossable, you just have to be trying, and not just thinking about it

However, it's exactly what I wanted, more stability in the straightline. I'm on the highway a lot and this has helped a lot. Also, I get to rotate my tires to extend tread life.

Thanks PG, those were the words I wanted to hear.

Dave

According to my math the 140 gives you a 2.66% upgear over the 130.

Not much really, but enough to seperate you from the other bikes...

I have had no loss of acceleration issues.

The steering does seem to be a bit less nimble....but still great really.

IMHO

R

8)

Chet, after putting the 130 on the front, I couldnt seem to get it balanced at 65+ mph .......shaking started...very irratating........I spent all day yesterday running from one place to another trying to get it balanced and the conclusion is that I have a "high " spot on the zippy......Cant find anyone who can true it........so its going back to san diego and a new one is on the way........I hope thats the issue.......I know its not the rim because my savas (120) on the front rode perfectly still at wide open speed......will let you know

I have had one customer use 130's on front and rear. Commented better handling with the larger tire on the front. We are interested in trying the 140's on the rear.

Can anyone verify that cornering is more difficult w/ the 130s on the front over the 120 stock?I dont mean real difficult, but perhaps bouncy? Is this what platinum ghost is saying?

I got the Michelin Pilot City tires mounted today (130 front/140 rear).
I did notice that the rear tire clearance from the ground when the bike was on the center stand was greatly reduced. I will have to be careful when parking on uneven pavement, it was literally less than half an inch. The 140 is noticable taller than the 130...

I also got my air horn installed! All I can say is wow...that horn is incredible and I can't wait to blow someone's ear drums with that thing. I had to let the sealant set up on my PM pipe joint so I won't ride till the morning commute. Will let you know my results then.

Let me try to describe it.

With the stock 120's on the bike, handling was very sharp and responsive with veeeerrry little input from the rider. If you wanted to countersteer, it was almost as easy as pushing the handlebars with your index finger. Drifted around a bit on the highway though, because it seemed like wind effected where my arms were positioned, causing unwanted input to the handlebars, resulting in unwanted movement of the bike.

With the 130 on handling is still sharp, but less responsive. Instead of countersteer resulting from a push of the fingers, you have to use more arm strength to acheive the results you'd get from a 120 tire. Handling is still awesome, and the 130 has a larger contact area, so I imagine grip is better. Much more stable on the highway.

The ride is just more stable, not the razors-edge responsiveness of the stock tire. Still a sporty ride, just means you gotta push a little harder on the bars, and you're carving up roads again.

That sounds perfect, Im doing it

it was raining this morning, I wanted to stay dry and so did my scoot, took the truck to work. Will try again tomorrow.

Got the scoot out today...

Pros: MUCH better handling at highway speeds or anything 55+. Much softer ride and less "walking" on uneven pavement.

Cons: none, IMO. acceleration was slightly slower from a dead stop. 80% of people probably wouldn't even notice it, but it was slightly slower. If you are a stop light-to-stop light racer then you would probably notice it more, but I spend most of my time at speed on back roads and interstates.
Didn't have an issue with the counter steer that someone else mentioned, yes the steering requires a minimal amount of extra effort, but the ride comfort more than compensates for this. If you are the type to "hit the edges" of your tires you already know how to handle your bike and this tire change doesn't negatively affect the sport handling, it only changes it slightly.

I was only able to hit 81-83 on the speedo. I was able to hit 85-87 regularly on the 120/130 stock tire combo. I am not an engineer so I will not even try to calculate the difference in the combined tire circumference of the 130/140 combo in relation to the 10mph speedo error that Jess and others have validated with GPS. I only know that my speedo was reading a bit less and I only changed my tires. Anyone know if the tire change corrected the discrepancy in the speedo?

I will measure the outside diameter of my new tires and send this to someone with the 120/130 combo who can calculate the difference in circumference and determine once and for all how the changes effect the speedo...

My rear Avon Stryke 140 has 6,575 miles on it and I guess maybe 500 to 1000 miles before the wear bars show. The front Avon Stryke has 10,410 miles on it and looks about 50% worn. The Avons feel good in the corners and don't track on grooved pavement.

imwith happy.........your calculation of less top speed is in the speedo.....it is now simply more accurate.......go back and read my 2nd post above....that will explain your speedo difference.........you never were doing 85 really........you still are not REALLYdoing 82....but you are getting closer to reality.....probably more like 76-78......if you had a GPS

Thanks for the review! That says about everything I was hoping it would.
I won't be putting new tires on until next year, but now I have a better idea of what I'll be getting.

Dave

I know I wasn't really going 87, I have known the speedo was off by at least 10mph. But with the PM pipe and windscreen, I am doing better than 76. If I wanted fast I would have keep my ZX6R, I was just relaying my experience.

Thank you very much for your replies and the 130's will correct the speedo to within 4-5 mph.......thats my experience.....I am sure it will vary.....The 140's in the rear has been a great review..Now if only I could fiqure out WHICH tyre brand to go with.....Lots of options!

im sure someone does???

GRIMECA?