What did you do to your bike today?

[wyly]

Pry the beads apart and put some wood scraps between them to hold the tire in an "inflated" position. Put in a warm place overnight. It will inflate easily the next morning.

Worst I've had was a 18.4 x 42 rear tractor tire, left outside on it's side on a cold day. Cut some 2x4 pieces and left it in the shop, under the heater, overnight.

if I don't succeed tonight I'll try that next...

[wyly]

When i had my tires installed last year at the shop, the guy had hell of a time making rear tire get close to the rim.
He used ratcheting tie downs and still had the trouble. According to him, it was either because tire was strapped for the shipping that it narrowed a bit or because it was narrower than stock at /80.
Quiet frankly, for $50 i wouldn't even think of doing it myself

I bought the tire from a internet motorcycle superstore, most shops here will refuse to install if you don't buy from them, I could end up spending $50 on fuel trying to find a shop to help me out...when I got burned by a shop that charged me $750 for two tires plus install(and I removed and installed the wheels) I vowed no one would do that to me again...

[Syscrush]

Had to laugh myself.
What is the definition of "horsepower"? Torque(in pounds/feet) x rpm / 5252. So, no torque = no power.

That is not the definition of horsepower. One horsepower is 746 watts, or the work equivalent to a force of 550 lbs exerted over a distance of 1 foot, performed in 1 second. My toaster has zero torque and no RPMs, but I can give it an accurate hp rating.

Torque on its own is meaningless, just as RPM on its own is meaningless.

[EMS]

We discussed this at length before, so I am not getting into this again. You are wrong on so many levels, Phil.
From an engineering point of view, torque is the value to describe any motor vehicle performance. Horsepower is a calculated number from torque and rpm.
You confuse "energy" with horsepower when you talk about your toaster.
We used to say "torque is acceleration" and "horsepower is the ability to sustain top speed"
An ideal transmission will put the shift points at the peak points of torque and horsepower in the rpm band. Thus the term "power band".
I have a Corvette with 440hp and it will not tow my trailer as well as my Ram truck Eco-Diesel with 204hp

[wyly]

brought my wheel/tire to a weekly gathering of vintage bike owners all six there went over all the solutions (nothing helped) and all of them reached same conclusion, take it off and spread it in warm location for a couple days, I've got four months of winter so no urgency..inside bead is now spread to 4"...we even discussed the explosive method no one wanted to try it

[wyly]

reshaping the double seat is progressing, I experimented with various methods to cut and contour...I have an electric knife but no power cord no matter it still cut, I found a fine tooth hacksaw blade works just as well...contouring is tougher with many tools such as a rasp or file large chunks tend to come of instead of small crumbs, so far I found a painters/drywall sanding sponge to work the best, slow but easy to control...

work in progress if this doesn't work out I'll do it again, I'm only trying to get the fit/ergonomics right at this point, I've no idea how many miles were logged on the old seat so it may need to firmed up or discarded.

[EMS]

You could also put a tube in the tire. Mount it and inflate it and let it sit for a while. then take the tube out. See if it adapted to the shape.

[wyly]

You could also put a tube in the tire. Mount it and inflate it and let it sit for a while. then take the tube out. See if it adapted to the shape.

good idea as well but I have no tube, I'd have to drive somewhere(fuel $$ ) and then buy a tube...I do have lots of free wood

[wyly]

but Vespa was there with an electric scooter, with a claimed 200 Mn/147 ft lb of torque hard to believe ...a 1290 KTM Superduke has a claimed 140 Mn/104 ft lb...Is a Vespa the bike to have when challenging a Tesla S ...how do you avoid looping a scooter with 147 ft lbs of torque???...ultimate wheelie machine!

It just shows the meaninglessness of torque. That 147 ft-lbs number would be at 0 RPM. All that matters is power.

info is scant whether it was at 1rpm or 100,000 I'm sure they measured it at some point, Vespa has qualified engineers and I doubt they're just pulling random numbers out of their butts for publicity ...

[Syscrush]

info is scant whether it was at 1rpm or 100,000 I'm sure they measured it at some point, Vespa has qualified engineers and I doubt they're just pulling random numbers out of their butts for publicity ...

Many (not all) electric motors make their peak torque at 0 RPM. The net torque on the shaft at 0 RPM is highest because as soon as the rotor is spinning, there will be some back-EMF that decreases the total efficiency.

Was it the Elletrica, or something new? That scooter makes 5.4 hp - 147 lbs-ft is mathematically possible, but seems like a stretch. Maybe they were showing a newer, higher-powered scooter? If not, that thing would have a max operating speed below 200 RPM. Or maybe it makes that 147 lbs-ft at the wheel after going through a 3:1 final drive ratio? That would mean ~50 lbs-ft at 600 RPM to make ~5.5 hp which I think is not far off the Elletrica's top seed.

The usual arguments about hp and torque, valid and invalid have been shared here again and I agree with Mike that repeating the same broken convo doesn't help anything. I'll just say that I'll bet any amount of money that the 147 lb-ft Vespa Elletrica will absolutely not beat a ~50 lb-ft CBR600RR to the Vespa's 45 kph top speed.

I do think it's a beautiful and cool machine, though!



I think that this is great - a lot of people love the styling but have a hard time with the awful emissions of the gas-powered scoots.

[LTCUSA(ret)1995]

Still ordering parts from Louis and getting them to the local shop (Alabama) for work while I am immured in Houston on travel.
Hey
It still counts even if your are three states away from the bike

[Syscrush]

Still ordering parts from Louis and getting them to the local shop (Alabama) for work while I am immured in Houston on travel.

I learned a new word today, thanks!

[wyly]

tire beads spread, 3hrs cursing still no success nearly ready to toss it in a dumpster...

[wyly]

I'm a stubborn SOB and don't like giving up but I know when I'm beat, that tire had me stumped as well as vintage my buddies...took it to a shop that has helped me out before, even they had issues mounting it took them a half hour but they finally got it on ...not even going to try do the front myself don't need that much frustration again...

while I was there I browsed their barn find inventory they just brought in an early Gixxer hoard 750's and 1100's if anyone is interested let me know.

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Taking the engine out of a "project" to put in the '79.
It has developed an oil leak out of the lower rear case. Upon further inspection i see the former owner has a couple of gobs of grey gasket sealer strategically placed.
Couldn't figure out why the removal of the project engine was so difficult getting the weight load and tilt angles correct and finally sorted out the rear stand was throwing things off.