Big wheels vs small wheels

[Kansas kymco]

Just curious why so many scooter manufacturers use small wheels vs big wheels. Does it improve low speed handling in town? Notice some small scooters like Piaggio use large wheels. I noticed the Grandvista 250 uses 12" tires 140/70-12 rear and 120/70-12 front. The Xicting 250 uses 150/70-14 rear and 120/70-15 front as does the 500 Xicting.

[TBR125]

The small wheels do make for an incredibly nimble city machine.

[klaviator]

Smaller wheels allow for bigger underseat storage.

Small wheels are more traditional for scooters.  Older Vespas had 10 inch wheels and I think some scooters even used 8" wheels.

[john grinsel]

Does it matter?   I think I had Vespa (sears 125-$125 used) with 8 inch wheels.   Never a big wheel scooter, but plenty of motorcycles with big wheels

I think with scooter one should look at #1 how easy are the wheels to get off  #2 what happened to spare tires on scooter?

Scooters are never going to handle like a fine motorcycle----but they are fine, ridden as scooters and enjoyable.

[Kansas kymco]

Smaller wheels allow for bigger underseat storage.

Small wheels are more traditional for scooters.  Older Vespas had 10 inch wheels and I think some scooters even used 8" wheels.

The underseat storage is about the same on my Grandvista and Xicting and is foward of the wheel well.

Just trying to understand the rationale for manufacturer's choosing wheel size.  I could see lower seat height and overall smaller machine with smaller wheels. The only thing I had to compare was my two 150's, one large wheel the other small.  They were effectively the same size scooter.

The Grandvista was Kymco's first maxi-scooter I beleive. 

[Stig / Major Tom]

When I look at photos of scooters parked on the streets of Rome, Barcelona and Paris.....I see that big wheel scooters are the choice of the vast majority of these urban scooter riders.
I'll see a Metropolitan or Vespa tucked in the line every so often - but these European streets are dominated by big wheel scooters.

  Euro scooter riders are pretty serious about living with a scooter.  I figured they must have this wheel thing sorted by now, since big wheel scooters have been the #1 sellers in Europe for quite some time,

Going into my 3rd summer of riding my big wheel Piaggio (16" / 14")
Even though the ride quality of the 2 is "no contest" - if it proves to be as reliable as my trusty LIKE200i - I hope to continue giving them shared duty for years to come.
Stig

[Kansas kymco]

Stig I noticed selling my People 150 the big wheels made it highly desirable.  I can't understand why Kymco went from large wheels to mainly smaller wheel scooters.

[CROSSBOLT]

The People GTi300 with 16" wheels and the Downtown 300i have about identical tire outside diameter inspite the rims on the People are 16" and 14/13" on the DT! The People has pretty skinny tires while fatter one reside on the Downtown.

Looks like Kymco makes and has made both large and small wheel scoots. Small wheels on 50 cc bikes no problem. Small wheels on traditional or "cute" machines not a problem since they are generally used on short, local shopping or sight-seeing trips. This does NOT apply to die-hard Vespa riders like on the front range Rockies around Denver! Those people ride EVERYWHERE on 12" skinny tires and are gleeful! Some of theirs are actual restored antiques!

I, personally, prefer the Burgman-like Downtown for any ride regardless of distance. I like the motorcycle similarity and the lack of "cuteness" inherent of serious two-wheel adventure. The People, on the other hand, denotes a more casual approach to personal transport while including some serious torque capability for a freeway dash if the rider desires.

Boils to Kymco attempts to make something for every taste and largely delivers.

[Iahawk]

I had always assumed it was done originally for cost. Smaller wheels and tires were cheaper to produce and sell. (thinking Vespa and other scooters way back when..)

I still have no idea why the mix of 14" and 13" on the maxi scooters (or 15 and 14?)...or why not make all but the basic 50cc scoots big wheeled?

Might be like the auto industry...if you can save $1 per vehicle it may not seem like much, but when you produce 1M vehicles it adds up.

Even Stig's Piaggio...why a 16" front and a 14" rear? Why not all 16"?  questions, questions.....

[CROSSBOLT]

I had always assumed it was done originally for cost. Smaller wheels and tires were cheaper to produce and sell. (thinking Vespa and other scooters way back when..)

I still have no idea why the mix of 14" and 13" on the maxi scooters (or 15 and 14?)...or why not make all but the basic 50cc scoots big wheeled?

Might be like the auto industry...if you can save $1 per vehicle it may not seem like much, but when you produce 1M vehicles it adds up.

Even Stig's Piaggio...why a 16" front and a 14" rear? Why not all 16"?  questions, questions.....

I think it may be more of what the top people in each company guessing what will sell the best. Which may be the reasoning behind the noodoe feature appealing to the "today" generation of youngun's with their nose in a phone. I have no idea what a noodoe can do but, again in my opinion, there are other way more important real shortcomings they should address first. Like coherent instructions on how to operate stuff! I can only imagine the instructions for the noodoe! Har, har!

Wheel size the same thing. Look how car wheels have changed from the late fifties, or better, from the teens! Very large diameters to start the early autos. Then steady reduction in size to the forties which seemed to standardize around 15" rims with slightly larger tire cross sections than the teens and twenties. Then the 60's with ridiculous push to 10, 12 and 14 inch wheels to maximize interior space! The British Morris Mini had 10 inch wheels to begin and the later versions went to 12. The German Opel had small wheels as did American GM bottoming at 14 and Ford played with 14's also. Now we are at 17" wheels with steel belt radials on practically everything!