Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.

[Stig / Major Tom]

The 500 is a big scooter. I hope you won't be disappointed, but doubt you will safely get much more than 5000/7000 out of any brand of rear scooter tire on that big bike. Big scooters famously eat rear tires at a prodigious rate. Nature of the beast. Have heard some owners mention going through 2 or 3 rears a year.
I'm running City Grips on my small scooter, and love them. Got 12k on the rear and at 14k the front is still going....but all this on a scooter approx 1/2 the weight of your's. Big scoot = big everything...incl. running $ for tires.
My VW Beetle's radial tires rotted long before they ever wore out the tread. Tall tire, low weight, low HP = long life.
Stig

[ClayMation]

The 500 is a big scooter. I hope you won't be disappointed, but doubt you will safely get much more than 5000/7000 out of any brand of rear scooter tire on that big bike. Big scooters famously eat rear tires at a prodigious rate. Nature of the beast. Have heard some owners mention going through 2 or 3 rears a year.
I'm running City Grips on my small scooter, and love them. Got 12k on the rear and at 14k the front is still going....but all this on a scooter approx 1/2 the weight of your's. Big scoot = big everything...incl. running $ for tires.
My VW Beetle's radial tires rotted long before they ever wore out the tread. Tall tire, low weight, low HP = long life.
Stig

How is it possible that guys get 12,000 miles on 800 lb motorcycles but I can't get that on a 500 lb maxi-scooter?

[Mr. Paul]

I'm guessing because many of the large motorcycles are used as touring vehicles with predominantly highway miles. More rolling miles versus stop and go. Generally a 500cc scooter isn't used as a touring vehicle as frequently. Also motorcycle tires have a larger circumference so they have more rubber on them to wear before they fail. A 16 inch rear motorcycle tire inherently has more rubber on it than the 10 inch tires on the rear of my Helix. And they have more surface area to dissipate heat.  Hope that helps.

[Doc Wheezer]

Normal rear tire wear on a maxi scooter will be 3500-7000 miles depending on how you ride. 
If you dark side you can get over 20,000 miles.

[Stig / Major Tom]

My thinking is that-
Your 500, and any most every scooter, has a lot of its weight unsprung......thete is much, much less unsprung weight on any motorcycle.
Also this is the reason scooters have such lousy ride qualities!
But I'm no expert on these things....
Stig

[MJR]

How is it possible that guys get 12,000 miles on 800 lb motorcycles but I can't get that on a 500 lb maxi-scooter?

Also motorcycle tires have a larger circumference so they have more rubber on them to wear before they fail. A 16 inch rear motorcycle tire inherently has more rubber on it than the 10 inch tires on the rear of my Helix. And they have more surface area to dissipate heat.  Hope that helps.

There's a lot to it and yes a smaller diameter tire spins faster which increases wear. Another factor in my case is the road surface one rides on. I'm convinced that the guys getting higher mileage life on say the Suzuki Burgman 650's are running mostly on asphalt roads vs the grooved concrete freeway I run on. The grooved concrete is like say taking a belt sander to the tire, it wears faster and tends to make it wear a little uneven mostly on the front tire. Another factor is manufacturer and tread compound. Example my B650 the OE Bridgestone Battlax tires I can get in the neighborhood of 8,000-9,000 miles on a rear tire and about twice that on the front. With Pirelli Diablo tires both front/rear are completely bald in 5,000 miles.

[ClayMation]

I'm guessing because many of the large motorcycles are used as touring vehicles with predominantly highway miles. More rolling miles versus stop and go. Generally a 500cc scooter isn't used as a touring vehicle as frequently. Also motorcycle tires have a larger circumference so they have more rubber on them to wear before they fail. A 16 inch rear motorcycle tire inherently has more rubber on it than the 10 inch tires on the rear of my Helix. And they have more surface area to dissipate heat.  Hope that helps.

Most of my miles have been freeway miles to be honest. I would estimate at least 60% of the 5000 miles were put on there on the freeway.

Secondly, these tires aren't that small, they're a lot closer to motorcycle tires than a small scooters tires are. Rear rim is 14inch and the front is 15inch. Plus the rear tires are actually larger in diameter than the front, which makes them look larger even though the rim is smaller.

I'm still surprised how little the life is stated to be.

hypothetical question, could the xciting handle larger rims/tires than stock?

[ClayMation]

Normal rear tire wear on a maxi scooter will be 3500-7000 miles depending on how you ride. 
If you dark side you can get over 20,000 miles.

What is dark side? Ya mean, pushing the limits of the unknown?

[ClayMation]

My thinking is that-
Your 500, and any most every scooter, has a lot of its weight unsprung......thete is much, much less unsprung weight on any motorcycle.
Also this is the reason scooters have such lousy ride qualities!
But I'm no expert on these things....
Stig

What do you mean by lousy ride quality? For the most part the bike has performed admirably other than my settings mess ups.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Many scooter riders, from a 650 Burgman down to a 50cc China complain about their scooter's rough ride. First question from many is " what aftermarket shocks should I  buy?" That rarely has much impact over the stock shocks. Scoots have small shock travel after the rider takes a seat, and have much unsprung weight.
Big heavy scoots generally feel better .....but many new to scootering riders still complain.
Stig

[ClayMation]

Many scooter riders, from a 650 Burgman down to a 50cc China complain about their scooter's rough ride. First question from many is " what aftermarket shocks should I  buy?" That rarely has much impact over the stock shocks. Scoots have small shock travel after the rider takes a seat, and have much unsprung weight.
Big heavy scoots generally feel better .....but many new to scootering riders still complain.
Stig

I would assume any bike would not feel great on squiggly concrete or extremely bumpy roads. In decently paved roads the xciting500 feels extremely smoothe.

On uneven roads it feels not too bad, on the worst roads it feels, i imagine, how any other bike its size would. I had a vespa style scooter prior to this, with very small tires and that felt pretty bad on the worst streets.

Comparatively the xciting is like driving  car.

[Mr. Paul]

What is dark side? Ya mean, pushing the limits of the unknown?

Darkside refers to putting an automobile tire on the rear of a scooter/motorcycle. They will last many, many more miles than a dedicated two-wheel tire but I personally have some serious safety concerns about them. Since you commute like I do, I recommend getting the tools and training to learn how to mount and balance the tire yourself. The initial investment in the tools pays for itself very quickly.

[MJR]

Since you commute like I do, I recommend getting the tools and training to learn how to mount and balance the tire yourself. The initial investment in the tools pays for itself very quickly.

If his tires are anything like the radials on my B650 or MyRoad, Hell no they are way to stiff for doing them by hand.