Modern Vespa

Having an air cooled Vespa means whenever I go on a long multi-day adventure, I only need to check the oil and tyre pressures.

Oil tends to be fairly stable, and doesn't need to be checked daily - but tyre pressure can change rapidly from one day to the next.

I'm contemplating an internal tyre pressure monitoring system to save checking manually every morning before setting off.

A lot seem to be Chinese, which can be a bit of a lottery as to quality (some Chinese products can be extremely advanced, others haven't been great).

I'm cautious that issues with valves can affect safety, and so I'd rather have a name brand reviewed product to use.

Yamaha make a kit for their bikes, which I'm guessing should be universal and would fit a Vespa? The only thing I might have to do is fabricate a mount for the computer?

What's everyone's thoughts? Is it better just forgetting the whole idea? Or is there some value in this?

I'm very happy with the cheap Chinese ones that i have.

Have you got internal or external sensors? Have you got a pic of where you have the computer mounted? Thanks

Internal.

No computer. They are Bluetooth and my app monitors them and can play warning sounds and can display pressure and temp on my Supertech dashboard and record etc.

If i didn't have my app and a Supertech then I'd have one with a little 'computer'. Not sure where I'd mount it.

Would this also work on the Primavera / Sprint? They've got a digital dash, but don't have the sat nav option built in.

I know the Bluetooth is the same, not really sure about their display. Try it and tell me 😀

Can I install and un-install it? Or does it cause a permanent change to the Vespa?

I have Chinese Bluetooth internal TPMS doodads in all six of my scooter wheels.

My appreciation of them is a closer call than I thought it would be. Yes, the app-based pressure and temperature is useful.

However, the sensors make the tires much more difficult to mount because they occupy much more space in the tire, relatively speaking, than they would in a car. I don't even try to mount tires with TPMS sensors myself, although I'm not positive I'd bother doing it myself without the sensors. They also make the tire difficult to remove, if you want to do that, with the tires intact - which I don't generally do. I cut them off with an oscillating saw.

One of my six sensors never worked, and when my shop eventually replaced the tire due to wear I don't think they followed my instructions correctly for replacing the faulty sensor, so it still doesn't work.

None of the TPMS apps I've found deal well with multiple two wheel vehicle situations. They all seem like the same app, just skinned differently. You'd think it would be straightforward to be able to scroll left and right for each scooter, but what I've ended up doing is using one app set up with one four-wheeled vehicle, one scooter on the left tires and one scooter on the right tires, and another app with one four-wheeled vehicles left tires associated with the third scooter's tires. (Or tire, to be completely accurate, since that's the one with the non functioning sensor.)

Net net: slightly positive impression.

I will not use the external sensors that screw on to the valve stem. These have been discussed at length here and they are dangerous because they can make the stem flop around and break off, rapidly depressurizing the tire.

....and they won't even tell you that your tire's flat.

I use the FOBO Bike 2 from close to 1 year in my MP3 and I have not had any problems, the only thing is that it is annoying when you have to inflate or add air and you need to reach an exact pressure, putting it on and taking it off.

You don't install it on the bike you install it on your phone and then use it instead of piaggios crap app

I've been using screw on TPMS sensors for about 10 years. On 5 different bikes. About 100000 km without any issues. Now they are the first modification I do on any bike I own.

I rode across Italy 1.5x this summer on my GS and didn't check my tire pressure til the trip was over. It was still more or less within spec at the end of the month... and that was after shipping the bike across an ocean and riding through a country that was suffering cool floods in the north down into hot summer days at the beach in the south ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Daily checks - I get that it's best practice, but, are you guys particularly concerned that the smaller tires would be more susceptible to psi changes or just taking an 'abundance of caution' approach?

on a cool morning my rear tire can be 26psi but by mid afternoon it can reach 36psi.

it's also told me when I've had punctures before I'd even noticed.

Tire pressure varies approximately 1psi per 10 degrees of Freedom Units. It's worth checking every week or so.

in my above comment the tire started at around 15C in the morning and rose to 65C. Why so hot? because it's surrounded by a hot exhaust, a hot engine and a hot transmission while having minimal airflow on a hot black road on a hot 30C day doing 100-110kph.

very different to adri's motorcycle experiences.

Makes sense, thanks SteelBytes !