KymcoForum.com
General => Technical | How To => Topic started by: Togger on June 11, 2018, 02:57:57 PM
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I found a website about this scooter that said the wheels are for tubeless tires. Just in case it's wrong, I wanted to verify that with anyone that has experience with that scooter. My rear tire keeps losing pressure and I don't know if it's the tire or wheel that's a problem. I want to order a tire online but I want to make sure, first.
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It's almost definitely tubeless. Tire tubes are typically for spoked wheels.
Check the tread for anything obvious like a screw.
You can spray around with soapy water to find a leak. Leaking valves are very common, either the valve stem or the valve core. It could just be stuck open from dirt.
It could also be the rim that's leaking, usually from damage (and the resulting corrosion) from a tire change. This would be the case if you find a leak somewhere along where the bead seats.
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What Hypo said plus a tube in small wheels heat up too much at road speed. Found out with a Genuine Buddy 150.
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If you find the valve is the leaker you can replace it without removing the wheel...or the tire.
Use a beefy C clamp on both sides of the tire next to the edge of the rim by the leaky valve: squeeze the tire beads until one side pops off the shoulder of the rim, push the loose tire wall to the side so you can reach in and remove the valve remnants (you already snipped off the top of the valve flush with the rim), insert a new valve lubed with soapy water, and pop it in, gently pulling with a vice grip fastened on a metal thread cap (to protect the valve threads). Then you move the tire wall as you have your air pump going so it touches the shoulder and seals enough to start inflating and pop the tire bead back on the shoulder.
Total time to do the job: 30 minutes, max. Warning: Do not push more of the tire bead off the shoulder then the small amount needed to reach in to the valve. Why? Because you might have a problem reinflating the tire due to so much of the bead not touching the shoulder and sealing for inflation.