replacing both tires

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Sat Feb 18, 2017 9:34 pm

Since I bought my 2008 used Buddy 125 (3 yrs. ago) I've done all the basic maintenance, like oil changes, valve adjustment, carb. cleaning, etc. But not anything more involved than that. I just took it out of winter storage, and got it started up and checked it over and discovered that the front tire now has some checking/cracking on one side. These are the original tires.
I'd like to get new tires at Scooterville in Minneapolis as they specialize in scooters, (esp. Genuine) but I'm 80 miles away. Please rate the difficulty in removing both wheels to take them in for new tires. My other option is to find a close motorcycle shop, but I'd rather have mechanics who work on scooters. Any suggestions? .

Wertles · Post by **Wertles** » Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:27 pm

Any motorcycle store will be more than capable of changing tires. There is nothing specific or difficult about taking them off or on. The buddy is quite easy. You can do it yourself with a few basic tools and bring your wheels and new tires to any scooter or motorcycle shop. I think it cost me $20 to have them swap the tires. It took probably 15 minutes or so. If you bring the scoot to have them do the whole job for you, I'd call around and get the best price.

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Sat Feb 18, 2017 11:52 pm

It's pretty easy to do. If you can change your oil and filter, you should have no problem taking the wheels off. I would do the rear first, then do the front at another time. I think the fellow in the other thread ran into two problems. 1) took both wheels off at once 2) scooter already had a sheared exhaust bolt.
There are loads of knowledgeable members on this forum willing to help. I'm pretty sure if you spend 10 minutes searching Modern Buddy, you will find plenty of posts with pictures and detailed instruction. It really is not that hard. Go slow, follow the shop manual, check and re-check your work.

I would be real careful if you have a place do it that does not work on Genuine scooters on a regular basis. The shop near me charges $100 a shop hour. The kid changing tires makes $10.00 an hour. I'm pretty sure if you do the work yourself you will be more concerned with how it turns out than the kid making ten bucks an hour.

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:10 pm

DeeDee. I have the same feeling about shops that do not work on scooters on a regular basis.
I'll begin searching Modern Buddy for some tutorials and also Youtube. I will need to get a good torque wrench, too. I'm thinking of buying the Continental Zippy tires, but have no particularly reason for choosing them other than the reviews.
While I have the wheels off, is there any other components I should check on? Such as the rear drum brakes, or front brakes. I don't have to mess with shocks at all do I? Thank you.

sc00ter · Post by **sc00ter** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:55 pm

I may have gotten lucky but I found a BIG rim/tire dealer for cars that mounts scooter tires for $20 each-with new valve stems, off the bike of course. They have a tire machine that goes down to 6 inch rims. They have never left a mark on the rims or damaged a tire-oh, and that $20 includes removing the old tires and disposal. I do write a small rotation arrow by the valve hole with a Sharpie so they dont mount a tire backwards, because I usually remove the old tires myself before I go there. Makes it easier to carry and I can inspect the rims for damage myself.

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:04 pm

I like to remove the rear wheel with the big 15/16" axle nut. Once removed, sand the glaze off your brake shoes and clean the debri off with a chip brush. Clean the inside drum on your wheel with carb or brake cleaner and dry it.

When you remove your front caliper, use a composite or cedar shim to keep your brake pads apart for easier re-install. This would be a good time to inspect your front pads. If they need replaced, I would flush, fill and bleed the front brake system at this time.

I use a torque wrench from Harbor Freight. They go on sale all the time for $10.00. I don't think i would trust it for tightening down head bolts, but it's fine for everything else.

Plut a dab of blue loc-tite on your axle threads (both front and rear) and torque to specification.

All of this sounds a bit daunting, but it is not. Buddys are some of the best designed and engineered scooters you can buy. It's almost as if they thought of the poor slob trying to keep his scooter on the road when they designed it. (very easy to work on)

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:15 pm

sc00ter wrote:I may have gotten lucky but I found a BIG rim/tire dealer for cars that mounts scooter tires for $20 each-with new valve stems, off the bike of course. They have a tire machine that goes down to 6 inch rims. They have never left a mark on the rims or damaged a tire-oh, and that $20 includes removing the old tires and disposal. I do write a small rotation arrow by the valve hole with a Sharpie so they dont mount a tire backwards, because I usually remove the old tires myself before I go there. Makes it easier to carry and I can inspect the rims for damage myself.

You spend $40.00 a set after you have already broken the bead and removed the old tires? I'm not sure I'd call that lucky.

Breaking the bead and removing the old tire is the hard part. Installing the new tire is 5 minutes more. In addition to proper rotation, you should match up the small red dot on the side wall with the valve stem. This is the lightest part of the tire.
A bead breaker can be made out of a couple of scrap 2X4's. You can buy a quality set of tire spoons off Ebay for under $15.00. Youtube videos are free.
I used to take my tires into have mounted on the rim. I found I can do it myself in less time it takes me to get to the tire shop and back.
Do it one time, and you have more than paid for the tire spoons.

sc00ter · Post by **sc00ter** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:37 pm

Breaking the bead is easy, and once the bead is broken I just cut the bead with bolt cutters. Tire comes right off. Takes a whopping minute a wheel. Its a system we learned at the motorcycle shop I worked at. Come spring time and the middle of summer the tire machine is BUSY, and in and out saves time and money. Note that Michelin tires for scooters dont have the dot. They come pre-balanced and the small diameter does not require it anyways. And the tire guys know what lines up as they do it for a living and if they are not sure they look it up. I do run other brands once in awhile that have the dots. INSTALLING tires SUCKS as we have discussed before! After wrestling the last set of tires on a Vino 50cc 2 stroke the $20 a tire is worth every penny!

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Sun Feb 19, 2017 11:23 pm

Thank you for all the details. That helps a lot. I will for sure sand the glaze off the drum brake pads and clean it up. Do I need a new gasket when I reinstall the exhaust into the engine with the two bolts?

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:42 am

No need to replace the gasket. Just be sure there is one there. As mentioned before, a dab of anti-seize on the exhaust studs would be a good idea. You can buy those little packets at the auto parts store usually near the counter for a dollar or so.

Moyesdriver · Post by **Moyesdriver** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:50 am

Have your tires mounted at a shop that can balance your wheels once the new tires are on. It will run much smoother at higher speeds, guaranteed. You can't balance your own wheels. Saving money is a great idea, but riding a scooter at 55mph that's trying to shake itself apart is not.

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 2:18 am

If you line up the orange dot with the valve stem, that is all the balancing you need on a 10" scooter tire. They don't come balanced from Genuine. There is no need.

Moyesdriver · Post by **Moyesdriver** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:37 am

Wrong, wrong,wrong. Took a bad shake out of my Kymco SuperEight 150 by balancing the front, did the same with my Blackjack, foolish to not balance the wheels that are your connection to the road. Maybe the 30mph rental mopeds can get away with it, but at 55-60 it's foolish.

MYSCTR · Post by **MYSCTR** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:46 am

Just a quick simple solution for removing the rear wheel on your Buddy (model won't matter) as an option to buying the 15/16" axle wrench.

Removal Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHsmJQ8EGnc

Installation Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsctmVtYV5E

Included removal/installation of the Prima pipe.

75,000 miles on 10 Genuine Buddy scoots and we have never had a tire 'balanced'.

Moyesdriver · Post by **Moyesdriver** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:52 pm

Sounds like you need to try it sometime

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:11 pm

That's the great thing about living in a free country. An individual is free to piss their money away as they see fit. You don't think PGO would balance these out the door if it was needed?

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 5:26 pm

Thank you for all the suggestions and info. and discussion. I watched the two videos showing removal of the rear wheel and reinstall without removing that big center nut. Good videos. I need to decide if I want to remove that nut to examine the hub and brakes? The scooter has 6000 miles on it. What would you suggest?

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:07 pm

Your rear brake pads have a very long life span. They do need to be cleaned on occasion to stop them from squealing. As a rule I always remove the axle nut and clean the rear pads when doing a tire change. What happens if you put on a new tire by removing the 5 small bolts, and your rear brakes start squealing like a pig 1,000 miles from now. Plus I prefer to remove 1 instead of 5. Same applies to variator work. When the CVT case is open I always clean and de-glaze the clutch pads unless I know it has been done recently.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:56 am

ucandoit wrote: I need to decide if I want to remove that nut to examine the hub and brakes? The scooter has 6000 miles on it. What would you suggest?

My original rear brake pads were still decent at 9k of hard riding. I'm coming up on 18k, so I might do the front ones again when they need it. The pads aren't bad for both, and you can save them if they look OK.

Really they're cheap enough that if you bought them every set of tires it wouldn't be terrible, but drums last a good long time, and the fronts are good for 8-10k. Considering so few people even put that on these little bikes, pretty awesome.

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:47 pm

Thank you. It does sounds as though the brakes last a long time. DeeDee. Is there any reason that you suggested, earlier, that I do the rear tire first? Thank you.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:54 pm

ucandoit wrote:Thank you. It does sounds as though the brakes last a long time. DeeDee. Is there any reason that you suggested, earlier, that I do the rear tire first? Thank you.

If nothing else, as the drive wheel they wear a lot faster. Because of the muffler, it's just a few more steps.

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:27 pm

What he said.

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:27 am

Regarding the discussion about balancing a scooter tire or not. I just watched a Youtube video of a motorcycle tire change. He lined the orange dot up with the valve, but also, after seating the bead, he squirted some ceramic dust into the tire. Supposedly it helps balance the tire as it rotates. I'd never heard of that before.

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:00 pm

Are you sure it was ceramic "dust"? I'd think you are referring to dynabeads or some other brand of ceramic or glass beads used as a dynamic method of balancing. Some people like them, and some don't.

ucandoit · Post by **ucandoit** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:23 pm

Yes, it is a "dust ". It's a good video of removing and mounting a motorcycle tire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q8CNv6QZJ0

replacing both tires

replacing both tires

REAR BUDDY WHEEL VIDEOS