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Tire Notes
Motorino Scooter Tires
Your Motorino scooter comes with good quality tires which will provide years of service if cared for properly. Motorino suggests that you inflate the tires to 50 psi, despite the labelling on the tire itself. To date, this has proven to be good advice. As part of the pre-delivery service and inspection, your dealer will have tightened the valve stem with a special tool to seat it properly. If you loosen the valve stem for any reason, be sure to re-tighten it properly. A special tool is available at stores like Princess Auto or Canadian Tire to help you obtain the proper torque of 4 foot-pounds on the valve stem.
Repairing Flat Tires
We have typically had to repair rear tires only - rarely does anyone have a flat tire on the front. This is probably due to the greater load carried by the rear tires.
Using water and detergent, or just water, determine where the leakage is occurring. Leakage around the rim and around (or through) the valve should be checked. There are several small repair kits available that allow a soft cord to be inserted into a puncture as a temporary repair. Some Motorino models come with this kind of tire repair kit. Our experience with these kits is that they can only be a very short-term solution to get you home or to a repair shop. Local tire experts tell us that the scooter tires are too thin for these cord repairs to work well. On occasion we have seen the cord slowly come back out of the puncture while we are putting the wheel back onto the scooter. It is difficult to twist or 'bunch up' the cord inside the tire to keep it from backing out of the hole, even if you follow the instructions given with the repair kit.
A permanent repair involves placing a mushroom-shaped plug from the inside of the tire. This is not overly difficult and can be done with common tools, but one has to be careful not to damage the heavy electrical cable that enters the rear wheel - this is the power and control wires for the hub motor and they are very difficult to fix if damaged. It is helpful to have a second pair of hands to secure the wheel and help remove the tire. The tire can be taken to a repair shop for a proper patch invovling heat and adhesive, or one can obtain the plugs and cement from tire repair supply shops. When replacing the tire, a lubricant or special grease is typically applied to the rim to assist mounting the tire and to prevent corrossion on the rim. If you take the tire to a tire repair specialist, ask for a small quantity of the rim grease for use when re-mounting the tire.
No-Flat Fluids
There are several brands of fluids that can be injected into a tire in anticipation of a puncuture. Names like FlatStop and Slime can be found locally. We have found these fluids to be helpful in sealing slow leakage around the rim or leakage from tiny holes left from the tire manufacturing process. However, we have had more than one case in which a cord repair worked loose and the fluid in the tire failed to stop the rapid deflation of the tire, although the hole was only about 1/8" in diameter. Some of the fluids claim to seal holes up to 1/2" diameter. The lesson seems to be that the fluid may help slow down or seal a puncture, but it may not. It is useful to the extent that it seals around the rim.
Spare tires?
Rarely does one have the option of making an on-the-spot repair. The tools and supplies needed to do this work are bulky and heavy, so most riders leave them at home. The most portable repair would involve putting a cord into the puncture and then using a compressor to add air. If the tire has come away from the rim, you will also need extra hands or a strap around the tire to force it into contact with the rim before it will hold air.
The lightest repair kit to have along on a ride would include a hand pump and a tube. You still need the wrenches to remove the wheel from the scooter and pry bars to remove one side of tire from the rim, but at least you don`t need a power compressor. (A hand pump doesn`t supply air quickly enough to inflate a tubeless tire that has come away from the rim.) Before installing a tube as a temporary repair in a tubeless tire, check to be sure that whatever caused the puncture is not still embedded in the tire and likely to puncture the tube as well.
Most often, a puncture means that the scooter is pushed off the roadway and stored somewhere safe until you can return with the right tools to make a temporary repair.
Some owners keep a new tire on hand so that they can install one tire and get back onto the road quickly and have the second tire repaired later. A spare tire of similar quality to the original should cost less than $35. If you are finding that you are getting flat tires often due to a heavy load on the scooter or rough road conditions, you might want to invest in a premium quality tire. Michelin, among others, offer a very good tire in the $55 range.