Modern Vespa

Hello. I did a search for tire life on the BV 350, similar to the 400. I only found a couple comments ( many yrs old), that the rear tires don't last too long. I realize tire life ( milage) is subjective depending on how one drives. I'm old but I like to ride somewhat " spirited" at times. In general what kind of milage could I expect riding " normal". Bike came w/ City Grips. Anyone out there w/ a late model BV 350 or BV 400, please give me your feedback back or present milage and tire (s) condition.Thanks for any replies.

Just replaced my City Grip last summer at 6900 miles. Probably should have gotten to it sooner, so maybe 6500 or so at least. Beats the same tire on my GTS by a bit anyway.

Define "spirited." I'm not a super aggressive rider, but far from slow and easy. I suspect we're similar.

Maybe this could be found in older posts, but I'll post again about the tires on my BV350. It always had City Grips. As the BV350 was my "long-distance" scooter, most of the miles were highway miles. Front tires were changed at 17,093 and 33,259 miles. Rear tires were changed at 12,505, 22,247, and 32,607 miles. I sold the scooter at about 41,200 miles. So, on average, rear tires lasted about 10k miles, front about 16k. Not bad!

Those milage posts on tire replacements are encouraging. I rest knowing it's going to be awhile. I really love this Scoot. Really gobbles up the miles.

My BV200 goes about 12,000 on both front and back tires. They're both 16 inches by the way. I have them replaced at the same time even though the front could go a little longer. It needs tires right now desperately BUT I can't find a shop that can do it. The last time the local "motorcycle" shop broke one of the front forks. The fact that it's a scooter seems to confuse them... I've had two sets of Michelin Gold Standards - Awesome tires no longer made- and it currently has Metzeler Free forms or something like that. They are good too. Need to find a shop and set of tires soon.

Can you not take the wheels off and take those in separately - or buy a decent set of tyre irons and DIY? Just by saving the labour for two tyre changes you could buy a Marc Parnes balancer.

I've done that on two of my other scooters which are much smaller and lighter. Not too comfortable at this point doing the BV but it's not 100% off the table. I found a shop that I might be comfortable with but they moved about 25 miles away. Two wheelers are pretty rare around here unless it's a Harley and even those are getting fewer. Weird phenomenon.

I'd have thought the larger diameter tyres would be easier to deal with.

Unfortunately, a shoulder problem is limiting some activities and this might be one of them. Though I never say never! 😁

I'm over 70. Still change my own tires and do all my own maint and mechanical work. Changing tires are not too bad. After you take tire/wheel off, make yourself a 30 deg triangle frame out of 2x4s about 2-1/2 ft long. Now you have a work surface to keep the rotor off the floor. Force tire sidewall down w/ your knees while levering off other side. Use plastic wheel protectors . Or- Check out the u- tube video on how to remove/install a tire using big wire/cable ties ( Harbor freight $5/pkg).

Could have made the "Pissing me off" thread: Started with a new shop, quoted $30/tire for "scooter" but apparently my BV is a motorcycle and charged $50. 😡 Ready to do my own next time.

I'd checked my maintenance log for my numbers, but I'd swear I've had far better mileage than that in the past. Weird.

I got 11,500 and 14,000 on CGs. Probably could have gotten another 1k on each, but they were 10 yrs old.

Expecting more miles from CG 2 tires.

Good tire irons, tire lube and technique make it a doable dyi project. Important to work w tires warmed up ( heated by the sun is best).