rim/wheel replacement GB125

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Wed May 01, 2013 5:50 pm

Ello' all. Think I want to replace my rear wheel/rim on my 06' Buddy 125. We have a lot of potholes here in the spring and six years worth of hitting them by accident has given a slight wobble to the rear wheel. Enough to be visible if not felt very much. I checked scooter works and they are out of stock at the moment, at least on complete replacements. From looking around on their site as well as others I get the impression I could replace just the rim and not the entire wheel (ie with the hub)

Question 1: Anyone have any pros or cons to go with this method?

Question 2: I see rims for sale that don't seem to specify what make/model they are for but they do say ET2-4 or VSB,VSC etc. Does anyone know what the Buddy 125 takes?

Thanks!

PeteH · Post by **PeteH** » Wed May 01, 2013 8:12 pm

I don't think that approach is gonna work.

The rims you're seeing are probably meant for scooters (like Stella/Vespa PX, lotsa other Vespae) that are designed with bolt-on rims & hubs. To change a flat, you unbolt the rim from the hub and bolt on the spare rim/tire combination. Hub stays on the scoot, and both the front and rear suspensions are one-side-only so that the rim can be removed without unbolting/removing an axle. For tubed tires, there's another set of bolts that separate the two halves of the rim.

On the Buddy, on the other hand, the rims and hubs are well-integrated and need to be removed as a unit - the front by dropping the axle, and the rear by unbolting from the brake drum.

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:26 pm

You are correct in that you can perform a road-side swap with a spare on older scoots and that the rims on a buddy prevent that. However, if you look at the attached image you'll see that "old school" scoot rims and the buddy's rims are put together in a similar manner. At least on the back wheel.

Now, whether or not just unbolting the rim from the hub is as simple as it sounds or if there is some tuning involved to get the replacement rim to spin true on the hub I don't know (And I'm trying to find out)

Its not what is about what is easiest or cheapest here. Its about availability of parts. Scooter works is out of stock and the last time I ordered an out-of stock item from them they just shipped me a part for another scoot and called it good, which really didn't help me a bit.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience with this I'd appreciate if you could share it. Or equally valuable, a link to another parts place that carries Genuine or Genuine Compatible parts that you have been happy doing business with.

Thanks!

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Wed May 01, 2013 9:41 pm

They really ought to hire me as their draftsman too

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Thu May 02, 2013 12:37 pm

xtetra wrote: However, if you look at the attached image you'll see that "old school" scoot rims and the buddy's rims are put together in a similar manner. At least on the back wheel.

As PeteH said they are nothing alike. Vintage or "classic" scooters use a split rim with an inner tube where the Buddy rim is a single piece designed for a tubeless tire.

Don't just look at what the vendors have on theri web pages...call them...all of them until you find what you need.

Your best source is probably a local dealer or repair shop but NE USA is pretty vague to point you in the right direction.

Try Moto Sport Scooters
the scooter lounge
scooter mercato etc.

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Thu May 02, 2013 4:22 pm

The local dealer is not much help unfortunately. He is primarily a lawn mower/landscaping equipment shop, and a very good one at that, but when it comes to scooters he is not yet at the top of his game.

The tubes/tubeless issue has nothing to do with how the rim is assembled. If I recall correctly the 06' Buddy 50's had tubes and the 125's had tubeless. I have run tubes and tubeless in both front and rear wheels at different times with no trouble. It all depended on what the local shop (as opposed to dealer) had on the shelf tire wise and tube/valve stem wise at the time.

It does impact whether or not you can do a road side repair, that is absolutely correct. But that is not what I am concerned with here. I'm concerned only with replacing a rim with a slight wobble with one that is true.

So far from what I have researched you can in fact buy just the rim sans hub from Genuine. Well, that is to say you could buy it from their sister company Scooterworks if they had it in stock, but since they are the parts arm of Genuine they have decided it would be a good idea to focus more on parts for the Honda Rukus.