Re-joining the scooter world...

[LoupGarou]

...for the first time since oh, 1980-something.  :)
Brought this home today, 2006 Aprilia Scarabeo 500. Runs & rides well, 3,800 miles, clear title, price: Free.
That's the good stuff.
The not-so-good, a previous owner (the one before the guy I got it from) decided he wanted to re-paint it, and proceeded to CUT BODY PANELS OFF WITH A RECIPROCATING SAW.  ??? I haven't seen all the panels yet, but I assume I'll have to replace a bunch... or just ride it like it is.  :D
Besides that, it's just maintenance stuff, I'll replace the fluids and rubber bits, starting with those dry-rotted wooden tires.
I've gotta say, the hardest part about riding it was getting used to my feet having nothing to do until I stopped.

[2372ighost]

That's quite a find! Can't believe someone would cut it apart for painting 😳

[Nice Goat]

...the hardest part about riding it was getting used to my feet having nothing to do until I stopped...

That's funny.  I felt the same way when I rode Gringo's scooter to Pensacola for him in 2013.

[LoupGarou]

That's quite a find! Can't believe someone would cut it apart for painting 😳

I'd love to talk to the guy get some idea what he was thinking.
You can see it in this pic... the turn signal should have come off with that panel.

[LoupGarou]

Digging into it... lots of cleaning up to do.

No mice living (or otherwise) in the air box, so I've got that going for me.  :D



Suboptimal... 



Still haven't gotten whatever body panels there are from my buddy... in the meantime, I'm filling my shopping cart at AF1 Racing,
going to clean things up and make it roadworthy.
I sure hope he has most of the parts... body parts are available, (mostly from Europe) but they are EXPENSIVE. I'll do a naked
scooter if I have to, but these were such good-looking scooters, IMHO. Hoping to bring it back as close to original as possible
without breaking the bank.
Should be... fun.  ???

[TWJohn]

Seems like a fun project. Good luck with replacing panels. Really makes you wonder what some people are thinking.

[LoupGarou]

Looks pretty good in here. Under 4,000 miles, I guess it should.
I guess I can leave the drive belt alone for now.

[LoupGarou]

I call this part "going backwards to go forward."  ;)



New tires soon.

[LoupGarou]

Well, this project may be dead in the water.  :'(
It appears nobody has made tires for these in years... it may be the last running example on earth, based on how little info there is out there.

[LoupGarou]

Fingers crossed, I may have a rear tire. Halfway there...

[klaviator]

What size tires does it use?

[LoupGarou]

110/80-16 front, 140/70-16 rear.
Good news is, I've got a new Shinko SR568 rear on the way. Haven't had any luck finding a front... at this point I'm not too worried about matching the rear.  :D
I have seen fronts in 110/70-16... wonder if that would work.
Also, I've found a Heidenau in the UK in the correct size, but the price including shipping kinda makes that a last resort.

[klaviator]

How about a 100/90-16?  IRC makes a tire in that size.  (rs-310 durotour)

Michelin makes a 120/80-16. (pilot activ)

I'm sure a 110/70-16 would work but IMO scooters already have limited cornering clearance so I'd be more inclined to go bigger than smaller.

I used to have an Aprilia Sport City 250.  It was nearly impossible to find rear tires in the right size so I went with one size larger motorcycle tires.  I found I could go up one size in ratio or one size in width but not both.  You will have to check your scooter for clearance.

[LoupGarou]

Good point about clearance... I had to build a new ramp into my shed for this thing. The Spade never had a problem.  :D

The 100/90-16 does look a lot closer than the 110/70-16 on the size calculator,  maybe slightly smaller...



The 120/80-16 looks just a bit bigger...



I am finding those available, so I guess I'll just have to pick one and give it a shot.

Thanks for the help... today I'm learning everything I didn't know about tire sizing!
One more possibly dumb question... Motorcycle tires vs Scooter tires... does it matter? Going into this, I didn't realize there was a difference.

[klaviator]

Thanks for the help... today I'm learning everything I didn't know about tire sizing!
One more possibly dumb question... Motorcycle tires vs Scooter tires... does it matter? Going into this, I didn't realize there was a difference.

Motorcycle tires vs scooter tires?  Motorcycle tires come in sizes to fit motorcycles and scooter tires are sized for scooters.  Other than that I don't know that there is much of a difference.  Scooter tires do seem to have lower speed ratings.  Just make sure the tire fits and has a suitable speed and weight rating and it shouldn't make any difference.