Tyres: A simple thing that you trust your life with

All tyres have a finite life span. Like batteries, tyres do not like to sit idle for long periods of time and require attention on a regular basis. With everyday running around they will be worn down to the minimum wear level indicators the all tyres approved for Australian road use have on them. However the road is not the only contributing factor to wearing your tyres out in kilometres, or for higher spec tyres, the length of time they have been used.

The average small volume scooter tyre will loose approximately 2-5psi every month and therefore require inflation to their recommended pressure during this time. We recommend every second tank of fuel is a good rule of thumb or alternatively once a month. The pressure to run in them is generally 30psi front and 30-35psi rear depending on the load your scooter carries - like riding two up or hauling a big load of groceries etc.

If your tyre pressure is too low it causes the tyre to bulge out and flex at the road surface contact point. If the speed is elevated this happens approximately 1-2 times per second (every full rotation). Two things will then happen; the tyre temperature dramatically increases and the chords that make up the case construction weaken and can separate - causing a blow out or at the very least poor road holding and tyre wear. Or if you are tubeless (and that is just about all late model scooters) you also risk rolling the tyre bead off the rim causing loss of pressure very much like a blow out. Having experienced this in person it is not a lot of fun and can cause loss of control.

Front tyres do not “wear out” as frequently as rear tyres as the weight distribution on a scooter is biased towards the rear. Front tyres should be replaced around every two years due to deterioration of the rubber and casing materials. Rubber will perish and harden during this time causing fractures under use.

Tyres also have a cycling life. This is the amount of times the construction materials (primarily the rubber) can be heated and cooled. For example; a race slick used by the professional racers only have a cycle life of 5-10 times and are usually replaced every race, as opposed to a long range touring tyre which may have 500 - 1500 cycles - bearing in mind they should see 6,000 - 10,000kms on average. The obvious difference between the two is their intended application; the race tyre is very soft designed to give maximum grip even at extreme lean angles at the expense of rapid wear, while the touring tyre is much harder - giving longer miles and better wear but you will not get the traction the race tyre can give. In other words don’t go out and try to get your knees and elbows on the deck through corners on the road/tour type tyres.

I have a theory on budget tyres which runs along the old “you get what you pay for!” Recognised quality brand tyres may cost an extra $10-$50 at fitting but generally return better performance in both roadholding and long term wear. Join it with the fact they can be repaired should you suffer a puncture (which they tend to be more resistant to as well) the cheaper tyres do not stack as well over the life of the tyre.

The average stock we keep for scooter tyres - mostly Pirelli and Maxxis

Service and Repairs: The Difference

At ScootaCo we do our best to provide our clients with the most economical transport solutions possible; by this we mean the best quality scooters, the least possible down time, fuel economy with this form of transport is a given. This does not suggest our scooters or our hourly rate for labour are the “cheapest” they are however going to return the best possible dollar per mileage ratio by virtue of quality.

ScootaCo technicians regularly attend training courses on our product and are all enthusiasts in this type of product. What this means to our clients is they have people working on your scooter who are genuinely interested in what you ride and how you ride it and what this means to them when they are servicing or repairing your machine.

When you book your machine in with us all staff are trained to ask questions. These will usually start with “how many kilometres?” or “how long since the last service?” which will then lead us into more specific questions regarding what will be required on that particular service.

The ScootaCo Workshop; end of day - everyone has gone home.

A quick couple of tangents - all scooters have a recommended kilometre or time based service schedule. A big kilometre rider will require routine servicing on a regular basis due obviously to the high kilometre usage. We have one owner with a 125cc machine which is clocking 15000 kms or more every 6 months: this is “big kilometres”. The flip side of this is the city commuter/rider who lives 2-3 kms from home to work and clocks less than 2500kms per year. They will still require regular servicing due to the short stop start riding and general deterioration of fluids and rubber etc.

To define “Service”; this is routine attention to items that are either wear and tear or require regular adjustment. If your bike is making funny noises has poor performance or a myriad of other symptoms this is then regarded as “Repair”. This is not to say that a “serviceable” component is not contributing to this type of anomaly, however if the bike is receiving “regular scheduled service” this is generally not the case.

Services are usually able to be in and out within a morning or afternoon (worst case scenario in early AM-out PM). We also do offer our rental Zip50 at $25 for that period which is cheaper than a Taxi return and allows you freedom to get out at lunch if need be. Most routine services are also able to be estimated to within $20 dollars prior to commencement of work. Your owner’s manual will give the schedule for your particular scooter. General rule of thumb is however 50-200cc machines every 2,500kms or 8-12 months - whichever comes first.

This is a repair. Photo owned by PJ Chmiel.

Repair work is a different as due to the unpredictable nature of mechanical repairs and parts supply can be very hard to determine what is required until identification and/or diagnosis of the fault can be performed. Like most service type entities we charge by the hour to perform this with most diagnosis taking at least 30 mins at $90.00 per hour + sundries. This is usually a minimum of $50.00 then of course the hourly rate to repair that fault once identified. Again we pride ourselves on being accurate in this regard and can generally get to within $50 of the initial estimate on repair completion.

We do make every effort to contact our customers should we find hidden repairs once work has commenced and subsequently ask for confirmation to proceed beyond that point. We can also provide recommendations for further repairs based on a Priority versus Budget basis at any time a bike is in our workshop.

Like a Doctor’s surgery we work on getting machines in and out at the promised times so we do ask people to call and re-book if they are unable to make the agreed appointment time. We are generally able to shuffle smaller jobs around on any given day so running a little late does not necessarily mean we will not get the bike in and out on that same day.