Buddy 50 Tire Options

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:09 pm

Hi all; finally the reCAPTCHA has been removed so I could register!

In any case, I'm trying to figure out the best set of tires to get for my Buddy 50:

I bought the scooter two months ago used -- it's a 2014 that had very low miles (100 when I bought it). Basically the owner won it in a charity auction, intended for his teenage daughter, who wanted nothing to do with it because she didn't want to wear a helmet. Prior to purchasing it had a full maintenance checkup from a well respected shop in CT and runs great.

That said, my biggest concern was the longevity of the tires since they were original (4-5 years old). I believe my front tire is leaking air, likely the valve stem, but as a piece of mind (and if I'm going to have one tire changed, might as well have both) I want to just replace both of them so that there are new tires.

Right now there's 90/90-10 on the front, 3.5/10 on the back. It sounds like the Michelin S1 are popular and the prices seem good on those, so I'll likely pick up them. I won't be putting lots of continuous miles on the scooter (short commute -- 3 miles round trip to just about anywhere in town that I'd want to go) but it's largely residential roads of various degrees of quality.

What sizes should I get as replacements? The same which are mounted now? 100/90-10 front and back? Same sizes? Different? This is my first scooter and I'm a bit outside of my comfort zone but trying to learn. Thanks!

dasscooter · Post by **dasscooter** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:05 pm

Stock size is 90/90-10 or 3.00 - 10 (same size) front and rear.

3.50 - 10 fits on the rear but it's close to the fender.

I would do the Michelin S1 90/90-10 on the front and 3.50/10 on the rear. For some reason, the metric 100/90-10 is a little wider than 3.50/10 in my experience.

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:46 pm

Awesome; so exactly what's on there now. For what it's worth, they seem fine to me (not that I know any different)

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 7:17 pm

I run these on all my small scooters: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kenda-K413-90- ... 2749.l2649

Great tire for $20.00

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:26 pm

Is it common that no general mechanic shop will touch scooters? I've exhausted every place that's ridable for me at this point.

Removing the front tire looks easy enough. I'm just a bit unsure of the rear...

Stanza · Post by **Stanza** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:32 pm

I've found that a lot of shops will look down their nose at the plastic paneled scooters, regardless of the brand. The "poo poo, that's some cheap made in china junk, I'm not touching it" mentality. Pity, really, since these are a joy to work on.

As for the rear, you're going to need to remove the muffler to get the wheel off. You'll need a socket wrench, with 10 and 12mm sockets. Remove the exhaust nuts up at the cylinder, and the two mounting bolts that hold the muffler to the bike. It should drop right off. From there, you can either take the rim off via those nuts that go around the edge of the rim, or you can remove it via that single large nut in the middle. If you don't have an impact wrench handy, I'd suggest taking the first option. Once you have your new tire installed, just reverse the process for reassembly.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:41 pm

Something is fishy with the back story. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Buddy 50's ever came new with Michelin S1's. Or is that what you're planning on putting on it? If so, what is the brand of tire on it now?

I also don't think they ever came with 3.5-10's. I doubt the owner would've changed out the tires when there were less than 100 miles on the scooter. Which makes me think the scooter has far more than 100 miles on it.

Something about the story isn't right.

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:50 pm

No; the S1s are what I was planning to put on.

Iâ€™d believe the mileage â€” the bike was very clean and really didnâ€™t show any wear. Guy definitely had the vibe of having the disposable income for something like this and then it just sitting. At the end of the day I paid a grand for it; Iâ€™ve put about 75 miles just tooling around and it runs great. I knew the tires were old and likely would be an issue at some point.

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:29 pm

Well, I took the front wheel off and brought it to the only local scooter dealership here in CT to have the new tire mounted. Apparently that's $111 dollars to do because that's what I got charged.

From the looks of things I just got fleeced pretty hard. Can't imagine what the cost for new tires would be had I brought the whole scooter in for them to take care of both wheels.

Stanza · Post by **Stanza** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:55 pm

was that including the cost of the tire? 111 seems like highway robbery for just a mounting.....especially if you brought them the rim yourself.

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:07 pm

That was just for the mounting, valve stem, and disposal.

I brought the wheel off the scooter with the old tire on it still. I brought a new tire to put on.

scootERIK · Post by **scootERIK** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:38 pm

$111!? That isn't right. Anything over $50 is overpriced. Do you have an itemized receipt? At that price I wonder if they charged you for the tire that you brought in, maybe they "forgot." If I were you I would go have a talk with the owner or manager to explain the cost.

The only other option is they just charged you the standard hourly shop rate to do it, which seems like a rip off too.

If you don't plan to find out why they charged you that much at least share the dealer's name so members here know that they overcharge.

kevinbal · Post by **kevinbal** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:18 am

Receipt says 1.5 hours of labor. $70/hr. Guy that I dealt with was the service manager.

Connecticut Scooter Pros in Vernon :-/

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:24 am

I usually pay a motorcycle dealer near me $20 per tire for mounting. You definitely got fleeced. Time to find a more honest shop.

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:29 am

I charge $15 to mount off the bike, $40 for the front if it's on the bike. You paid proctologist rates.

scootERIK · Post by **scootERIK** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:15 am

kevinbal wrote:Receipt says 1.5 hours of labor. $70/hr. Guy that I dealt with was the service manager.

Connecticut Scooter Pros in Vernon :-/

They must be terrible mechanics if it takes them 1.5 hours to change a tire on the rim. 1.5 hours is about how long it would take to change both tires on the scooter. I'm not a mechanic and I work slow and I can put two new tires on my Buddy 125 in under 2 hours using only hand tools. That 2 hours is the total time start to finish including the time it takes to get the wheels off the scooter and reinstall them.

You could always just call up and ask how much they charge to mount a tire and if it is different you could ask for your money back. I don't think I have ever seen a shop that didn't just have a standard charge for tire changes, by me the local dealer charges $20 for scooter tires that don't need to be balanced.

JJScoot · Post by **JJScoot** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:38 am

Ouch. My scooter shop charged 1.5 hrs labor, both tires, still on the bike. I didnt think they needed 1.5, but they do good work, are the cheapest around, so I didnâ€™t complain.