Modern Buddy

I want tubeless rims + tires to be my first upgrade for my '14 Stella Auto... Michelin S1 tires (3.5inch x 10inch is what's needed, no?)

Rims... What are the options for single piece rims? Who makes quality without killing the bank?

I didn't see any newish threads, so I made this one.

The Prima tubeless rims from Scooterworks or the S.I.P. ones from Germany. I think the Prima ones are cheaper...

The prima rims have welds holding the inner ring to the outter, right? Thoughts on that?

Is there a source in the USA for S.I.P or LML parts?

Rune wrote:The prima rims have welds holding the inner ring to the outter, right? Thoughts on that?

Is there a source in the USA for S.I.P or LML parts?

Don't know cos I don't run them but I think scooter works can zoom on the pic. You will have to buy the vale stems as well. As for parts, there are a lot of web sites and Scooter West has stuff not even on their web site for sale. Just phone them....

I work in Engineering and materials for my day to day job. IMO, you could have fatal flaws in both types of construction types be it steel or cast one piece wheels. I would suspect all flaws would be associated to manufacturing type defects. For example, in a cast wheel you could have a bad casting or some other contaminant that ends up in the wheel and causes a bad spot that could weaken the structure. In welded wheels bad welds as a result of contaminants could also be a concern.

Now, if you think about it, the forces imposed on a wheel over time are typically perpendicular to the wheels centerline (think hitting bumps). When hitting a bump, the highest forces would be put on the outer race putting the weld at top of the rim in tension and the weld at the bottom of the rim in compression. This assumes the welds are exactly in line with the force vector. Otherwise that force would be distributed over the multiple welds and would therefore be even less. I've never tried to build a finite element model for a cast wheel, but I'd also suspect forces would be pretty evenly distributed based on the fact a wheel is circular.

That's a lot of mumbo jumbo for the average joe, but what I think this boils down to is this: Both designs likely have ample margin to assure catastrophic failure is not a concern.

If you go with the welded or cast wheels, regularly inspect your wheels for any signs of damage and never ride on broken equipment. We should all be doing this and its pretty common sense.

The only thing I can say that SIP wheels have over the Prima at this point would be the fact that every wheel comes with the paperwork for the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA)- Federal Motor Transport Authority of Germany. This means SIP had to prove to a modern transportation authority their product were manufactured to a certain quality and met some form of test requirements. I'm not saying the Prima wheels didn't get tested, I just don't know. But in either circumstance I don't think you would be taking a safety risk installing either wheel.

I e-mailed Scooterworks to find out what kind of testing they did for their wheels. I'll update this post when I get a reply.

Johnny O wrote:The only thing I can say that SIP wheels have over the Prima at this point would be the fact that every wheel comes with the paperwork for the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA)- Federal Motor Transport Authority of Germany. This means SIP had to prove to a modern transportation authority their product were manufactured to a certain quality and met some form of test requirements. I'm not saying the Prima wheels didn't get tested, I just don't know. But in either circumstance I don't think you would be taking a safety risk installing either wheel.

I e-mailed Scooterworks to find out what kind of testing they did for their wheels. I'll update this post when I get a reply.

I knew about the safety testing and the certificate... That is comforting for sure. The SIP's design would be easier to keep clean vs SW's TIG welds, too.

I would love to see what SW says. Thanks, Johnny. After that, I get to figure if 207$ shipped for the SIP rims is worth it.

Plenty of discussion on tubeless rims here. (I don't want to be THAT GUY, but search function )

viewtopic.php?t=27034&highlight=tubeless

I have the SIP tubeless rims with vee rubber tires. Worth every penny.

Yalzin wrote:Plenty of discussion on tubeless rims here. (I don't want to be THAT GUY, but search function )

viewtopic.php?t=27034&highlight=tubeless

I have the SIP tubeless rims with vee rubber tires. Worth every penny.

That's part of the newish threads bit in my OP. I didn't want to resurrect a year and a half old thread and perhaps mix old / outdated information with new info.

That said, I'm leaning towards the SIP, but that's a decent chunk of change

Yalzin wrote:Plenty of discussion on tubeless rims here. (I don't want to be THAT GUY, but search function )

viewtopic.php?t=27034&highlight=tubeless

I have the SIP tubeless rims with vee rubber tires. Worth every penny.

No, you're not being "that guy", I've just seen several discussions break out on the strength of the Prima wheels vs SIP and wanted to throw in my 2 cents. This felt like a good place. Plus, once Scooterworks gets back to me, it will serve us all well to have that info.

I ran the SIPs on CBR 2012 and they were great. I did get a rear flat. Not a blow out like I would have with tubed but a slow leaking flat tire.

I like the SIPs but I also have a set of FA Italia split tubeless rims that I haven't tried yet. The split will be easier to mount and if you get a flat you can throw a tube in there until you can patch the tire.

I think that going tubeless is the best safety mod that can be made. I don't know which manufacturer makes the "best" product.

I was very disappointed that Scooterfile wrote an article literally...and I do mean literally, using an article to advertise and promote the Primas while ignoring all other tubeless rims which have been on the market for some time. The article should have been a comparison of products available, not a promotion of their main advertiser's product as if it is the newest thing that no one has thought of before.

Scooterfile's "article" starts out.

"We don’t typically advertise new products outside of reviewing them, but today we’re making an exception because ScooterWorks USA’s in-house brand, Prima, have unveiled a product so noteworthy that it’s news unto itself: a tubeless replacement rim for the classic 10″ Vespa “split rim” that twist-shift scooter fans know all too well."

http://www.scooterfile.com/best-of-the- ... pa-stella/[/i]

Come on scooterfile...maintain your credibility. The scooterfile crew knows that tubeless have been available for years. How can we now trust that any review is unbiased and not an "advertisement" for a sponsor's product?

I've got a set of 3.5 x 10 inch Michelin S1 tires on the way...

Question is, rims for the Stella Auto... What rims are compatible?

I saw a few companies have tubeless split rims now. Anyone have these?

BigDaddy SnakeOiler wrote:I saw a few companies have tubeless split rims now. Anyone have these?

FA Italia makes an aluminum one. I've run the tube type before and been happy with it. Scooter Mercato carries them.

Black

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I forgot about responding to my earlier post......Scooterworks never responded to me. I'm not going to try contacting them again. I'm not that worried about it since I don't have the product. My guess would be they don't have to get testing on a replacement part like that.