Modern Vespa

The weather turned cool last week and will be up close to 100 today so I figured I should check my air pressure. Problem is I can never seem to access the value in my rear tire on my Vespa LX150. So I went to my friendly neighborhood service station and he couldn't get to it either.

Any tips? Is the a special gauge I should use get that makes it easier to access. And what is the correct air pressuse? The guy who helped me said that the tire indicated one thing, while the chart in the glove compartment read something else. I don't carry a passenger

While the rear tire valve is a little bit hard to get to, I'm not sure why you are having a major problem.

It's easiest if you turn the rear wheel so that the valve is at the bottom or slightly aft of that. An angled or right-angle fitting on the gauge makes things easier, but I've been able to use a straight fitting by simply bending the valve stem. When the exhaust is hot, it's easy to burn your hands on the exhaust if you're not careful, but you really should be checking the tire pressure cold anyway.

Use the pressures marked on the scooter- same thing for a car. The one marked on the tires is max pressure the tire can take without destroying itself.

Silver Streak has it 100% right.

I find there's no way to check the rear tire pressure without getting down and dirty - gotta get down low to get to it.

I have a shorty gauge without an angle. I have to bend the valve gently to get to it...one of these days I'll get one with an angle fitting, but this seems to work fine.

I recently found that my front has a slow leak - and boy, the handling really suffers with the lower pressures.

-Raj

A gauge like this one works pretty well for me.
I have this one from Slime:



I don't have any trouble seating it on my valve stems. You can get it from Amazon.com for about $12US.

http://www.amazon.com/Slime-2071--Digital-Gauge-0-99/dp/B000ET8D06/

I have a flexible extension that screws on to the valve stem. It's rubber, so it bends easily. and I think they come in a couple of lengths...mine is 9". I believe. They are available at truck stops or possibly at an RV store.. This should help you quite a bit in checking pressures.

karlu

las cruces, nm

Her's the one i have. It connects with my air compressor and all i need to do is turn it on if i'm a little low on air. Great compact lightweight system. 8)