Modern Buddy

Anyone use these tires before?

http://www.chaparral-racing.com/product ... 35010.aspx

The 100/90 is rated up to 81 mph. The 3.5 x 10 is rated up to 94 mph.

Considering that I have a Taida GY6-B 190 cc engine on the way to upgrade my Buddy 150, I thought higher speed rated tires were in order. So far these are the only tires I found with a better rating than stock - J at 62 mph.

I have an Heidenau rear tire on my Buddy. I like it. The handling is really good, even on wet roads. The only time it felt unstable is on wet, painted pedestrian crosswalks and painted road signs. The Michelin S1 tire on the front slides around too, but then, I suspect any tire would feel slippery under those conditions. Not the cheapest tire, but probably worth it.

We run the Continental ContiTwist on our Buddy. Good traction and a quality tire. The speed rating is M (not that we are ever likely to take our Buddy to that speed )

Where did you buy those. When I search for Continental ContiTwist I get a LOT of UK/EU stores but so far nothing in the US.

I'm running Heidenau K61s on my 170i and have been happy with them. I recently picked up a K80 SR but haven't installed it yet. It does seem to have a little stiffer sidewall and less channeling for water than the K61.

I ordered a pair of Continental ContiTwist in 3.50 x 10 from American Scooter Center in Pflugerville, Texas about 5 years ago. Their website still lists them as available, although they don't have sizes available listed, so they might be worth checking out. http://www.americanscootercenter.com/in ... cts_id=557

I have also had good luck ordering tires from SIP Scootershop in German. Shipping was about $40, but I was looking for a M+S rated scooter tire for winter riding and I couldn't find anyone in the US selling such a tire. (The Michelin City Grip Winter is what I ordered.) https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/prod ... +_80025000

350kmi wrote:I'm running Heidenau K61s on my 170i and have been happy with them. I recently picked up a K80 SR but haven't installed it yet. It does seem to have a little stiffer sidewall and less channeling for water than the K61.

Where did you get the K80s? They seem to not be available anywhere that I've looked.

I need a new rear tire badly, and I was looking forward to the new K80s as an upgrade to the current K61s.

I can't even find K61s, for that matter. Everyone is out of stock and it looks like Heidenau may have discontinued them???

BMW_Art wrote:Where did you buy those. When I search for Continental ContiTwist I get a LOT of UK/EU stores but so far nothing in the US.

The Continental Zippy 1 is also a good tire and easier to find in the US.

Dooglas wrote:The Continental Zippy 1 is also a good tire and easier to find in the US.

Quick update - I may have found both K61s and K80s at partsforscooters. I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding actual availability.

Interestingly, they list the technical specifications of the K80 3.50-10's as M rated (versus P, as BMW-Art and Hedenau themselves indicate/d).
I asked them to clarify by telling me the rating printed on the side of the tires.

If these tires are actually available I'm debating between the K80 100/90-10's and the K80 3.50-10's. I like the slightly larger size of the 100/90-10's (c.f. http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30277 - Thanks DeeDee), which were actually the tire size that came on the Psycho, and the K80 3.50-10's which might be slightly higher speed-rated tires. I run my Psycho fast and hard... and that's an understatement. I do a lot of carving with this little scoot, and I want the grippiest and best performing tires available - but I'm also concerned about top-end speed. So it's a debate. (Remember that the Psycho has lower final drive gearing than even a Buddy 125.)

I have looked at the 130/70 rear option mentioned here, but within the threads discussing this option are reports that indicate that the 130/70 rear doesn't corner as nicely as the stock 3.50-10s. And that makes sense since 130/70's should ideally go on a wider rim. Anyway - both the reports and the logic seem to indicate that it is not an optimal tire for hard cornering, and that's a lot of what I do with my scooter.

BTW - What size of K80s did you buy, 350kmi?
(And what is the actual speed rating on those?)

Well that was easy... 100/90-10's ordered.

(Turns out the 3.50-10's are M rated.)

I have K80s in 3.50-10. I ordered them spring of 2017 from Revzilla. I believe I got the last ones they had in stock at the time and it doesn't look like they got any more.

I would be interested to see how you like the K80 once you get it installed. I ran K61s this past summer and was happy with them in all but rain. Rather than installing my K80, I just installed a pair of K58s for winter riding. In the 2 weeks/350 miles since they went on, I have been very happy with them. For as blocky a tread pattern as they have, once broken in, they hold corners much better than I expected. Also, they are less bothered by loose gravel on the road than other tires I have used.

350kmi wrote:I just installed a pair of K58s for winter riding. In the 2 weeks/350 miles since they went on, I have been very happy with them. For as blocky a tread pattern as they have, once broken in, they hold corners much better than I expected. Also, they are less bothered by loose gravel on the road than other tires I have used.

Good info!
Thanks

I will note that while the K58s grips well in corners, it doesn't seem to give quite as precise of feedback from the road as a more sport oriented tire like the K61 or Zippy 1. Its not a big difference and given the type of tire the K58 is I would expect this.

The K58 also has a bit of tread hum/drone. Again, not unexpected for the tire type and when its 40 degrees F and raining I am happy to trade a little for better poor weather grip.

Christophers wrote:

Dooglas wrote:The Continental Zippy 1 is also a good tire and easier to find in the US.

Quick update - I may have found both K61s and K80s at partsforscooters. I'm waiting to hear back from them regarding actual availability.

Interestingly, they list the technical specifications of the K80 3.50-10's as M rated (versus P, as BMW-Art and Hedenau themselves indicate/d).
I asked them to clarify by telling me the rating printed on the side of the tires.

If these tires are actually available I'm debating between the K80 100/90-10's and the K80 3.50-10's. I like the slightly larger size of the 100/90-10's (c.f. http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30277 - Thanks DeeDee), which were actually the tire size that came on the Psycho, and the K80 3.50-10's which might be slightly higher speed-rated tires. I run my Psycho fast and hard... and that's an understatement. I do a lot of carving with this little scoot, and I want the grippiest and best performing tires available - but I'm also concerned about top-end speed. So it's a debate. (Remember that the Psycho has lower final drive gearing than even a Buddy 125.)

I have looked at the 130/70 rear option mentioned here, but within the threads discussing this option are reports that indicate that the 130/70 rear doesn't corner as nicely as the stock 3.50-10s. And that makes sense since 130/70's should ideally go on a wider rim. Anyway - both the reports and the logic seem to indicate that it is not an optimal tire for hard cornering, and that's a lot of what I do with my scooter.

BTW - What size of K80s did you buy, 350kmi?
(And what is the actual speed rating on those?)

I read all those threads and got the 130/70 anyway. If anything it lets you have a more lean angle. I took the bike to smokey mountain crawl in 2016 and road the tail of the dragon. I'm not exactly a fast rider but I passed lots of groms and annoyed some harleys.

350kmi wrote:I would be interested to see how you like the K80 once you get it installed.

I love them! A spectacular tire. 100/90-10's front and rear.

I just did my break-in run with these tires after installing them - a few twisty local roads (Linda Vista Rd. and Chevy Chase Dr.) - and then 125 miles of mountain carving (La Cañada to Wrightwood via Angeles Crest Highway).

I had complete confidence in the grip and cornering ability of the tires the entire time. Even when I knowingly pushed them too far - gentle feed-back-driven loosening - never even a hint of loss of control.

Plus, they just look good on the bike!

Where did you end up getting them from parts for scooters?

bgwss wrote:Where did you end up getting them from parts for scooters?

Yes. I got them from partsforscooters.com

Update:

These tires grip like crazy - all the way to the edge.

A definite 'recommend'.

Christophers wrote:

350kmi wrote:I would be interested to see how you like the K80 once you get it installed.

I love them! A spectacular tire. 100/90-10's front and rear.

I just did my break-in run with these tires after installing them - a few twisty local roads (Linda Vista Rd. and Chevy Chase Dr.) - and then 125 miles of mountain carving (La Cañada to Wrightwood via Angeles Crest Highway).

I had complete confidence in the grip and cornering ability of the tires the entire time. Even when I knowingly pushed them too far - gentle feed-back-driven loosening - never even a hint of loss of control.

Plus, they just look good on the bike!

That looks like a nice rear shock. Who makes it and where can I get one?

babblefish wrote:That looks like a nice rear shock. Who makes it and where can I get one?

It's the NCY Adjustable Shock for Genuine Scooters that came stock as part of the Blackjack and Psycho packages:
https://www.scooterworks.com/NCY-Adjust ... -P588.aspx
http://www.scooterloungeonline.com/product/1000-1044

This Forsa shock is similar quality to NCY for much less money. I've used Forsa on a couple of different scooters. Great shocks:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GY6-FORSA-Perf ... kf&vxp=mtr

DeeDee wrote:This Forsa shock is similar quality to NCY for much less money. I've used Forsa on a couple of different scooters. Great shocks:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GY6-FORSA-Perf ... kf&vxp=mtr

Is there a real benefit to the Forsa over the stock Buddy 125 rear shock?

DeeDee wrote:This Forsa shock is similar quality to NCY for much less money. I've used Forsa on a couple of different scooters. Great shocks:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GY6-FORSA-Perf ... kf&vxp=mtr

Does the Forsa shock have adjustable dampening and pre-load?

Forsa is made in taiwan. The buddy 170i comes stock with a low end Forsa shock. It is a smoother ride with more dampening than the stock 125/150 shock. They sell a whole line of shocks with and with out adjustments. I'm using a Forsa 225mm shock on my 50cc Yamaha. It has 4 adjustments and is a huge improvement over stock.

DeeDee wrote:Forsa is made in taiwan. The buddy 170i comes stock with a low end Forsa shock. It is a smoother ride with more dampening than the stock 125/150 shock. They sell a whole line of shocks with and with out adjustments. I'm using a Forsa 225mm shock on my 50cc Yamaha. It has 4 adjustments and is a huge improvement over stock.

So what adjustments are we talking about?