Modern Vespa

I decided to stop screwing around with my Vespa tires and just ordered a pair of Michelin City Grip 2's from Revzilla for my GTS 300.

Gone soon will be my precious and visually stunning Shinko Whitewalls, and I'll miss them....visually, but I now want a known and proven, quality tire on my GTS, and so it shall be.

The Shinko tires were highly NOT recommended to me, and I rode the Vespa with those warnings in mind, and didn't ride the bike on wet roads, and avoided the dry but rain-grooved freeway as much as possible, where the Shinkos had the Vespa wallowing in it's lane like I was drunk, and it had two flat tires. Disconcerting, to say the least.

But they sure were sharp to look at when the bike was parked.

So there went a tick short of $200, but the two tire set was $50 less than the 240/55 16 Bridgestone Exedra that I ordered for my Triumph yesterday, and $300 less than I would have spent on just the OEM Avon 240mm rear tire alone that originally came on the Triumph (That bastard alone retails at something like $530).

So that's $500 spent yesterday for two Bridgestone tires for my Rocket 3, and $190 today for two, well-deserved new weenies on the GTS.

This autumn, both machines are going to feel great out there on those Black Hills backroads.

Today was tire buying day for me too. I put on new tires in July, but my long road trip pretty much used those up. So $450 later, I've got 2 new tires headed my way. I could have bought Shinkos for half the price, but as you learned, it's just not worth the savings. 10 years ago I could get new tires for under $200. Times have changed.

I suspect someone, somewhere sells white plastic discs you could use to simulate whitewalls with regular tires. Not sure how they'd affect handling.

Yah....I'm going to have to start looking around for a set of shoes for my 2013 VROD Special. Mostly based on age vs mileage.

Going to cost around $1000CDN (for the pair) for something decent....
eg. Michelin Scorcher II's 120/70ZR19(front) & 240/40R18(rear)

Wait, are we calling tires "weenies" now? Since when, and has this been approved by the Academie?

Existing subjects of the word already squabble with each other. I've got to imagine this extension will provoke further discussion that may not be constructive.

There used to be something like stick-on whitewalls for car tires, maybe through places like the old JC Whitney catalogs, along with the lighted chrome jester hood ornaments and 'universal fit' everything else.

My older brother back in St. Paul was calling motorcycle tires 'weenies' way back in the 70's, and he probably heard the term from some of his motorcycle bum friends, so although it may be a regional term, like 'cheesehead' in Wisconsin, it does seem to go back a ways.

Probably came from a scotsman saying wee tyres for small ones then it go changed to weenies as the USA has a good mixture of people from the other side of the pond.

Possibly, but it may have been because the motorcycle tires looked like a skinny frankfurter bent in a circle, which is pretty stupid, but doesn't mean it's not true, especially after they've smoothed out a bit with miles.

Good decision, I think.

Good tyres are essential on a scooter, and a motorcycle in general.

On my BV I have a recent City Grip 2 at the front and a Dunlop Scootsmart at the rear.
I would have preferred a City Grip, but my rear tyre really needed urgent replacement, and City Grips were difficult to get at that time in 2022.

Both tyres do a very good job. I was a bit worried the Dunlop would wear out fast, but so far after 6000km it is still in very good shape.

My conclusion: next to City Grips there are other A-brands that offer great tyres.