tires

[cabuco2006]

what kind of tires u guys like

[Dandy Dan]

The boppers are pretty good...I like them performance wise because they roll faster, grip better or regular pavement and the are rounder so your bike kinda 'flops' into the corners better. The suck in the snow though and a 120/90 front looks a bit wussy.

I'm gonna try some Pirelli SL26's on my 2006 Ruckus.

[Kami no Chiizu]

I like the idea of boppers since they'd be better on the street, which is where Ryoko primarily is... but I still occasionally drive her around the yard and my street is gravel... so I think the stock tires are alright... really don't have anything to compare them with.

[skelly]

I just put on Boppers today. They look great and feel soft soft=grippy hehe

I got my Boppers for $40 and $41 CDN each. I've seen these tires up to 89 bux a piece! OUCH!

I hope it gets warm soon, I wanna ride!

[jrcanoe]

I got some Pirelli SL26's but am keeping the stock ones on till winter is over.

[Dandy Dan]

jrcanoe said:

I got some Pirelli SL26's but am keeping the stock ones on till winter is over.

Cool stuff...I'll be rawkin those this summer too ;D

[Dandy Dan]

I'm surprised how long my boppers are lasting considering how soft they felt. The rear tire wears out way faster than the front on a Ruckus due to the weight distribution so I after 16,000kms (10,000miles) my stock rear was pretty much done and my front was about 1/2 gone. Now I'm almost at 28,000 kms (17,000miles) which means I have about 12,000kms or 7000 miles on my Boppers and I'd say the front is atleast 1/2 there and the rear still has about 1/3 to go. They seem at least as good as the stockers for tread life.

[timberwolfmadcat]

i tend to pop mine before i wear em out

[wonderdog]

My used Ruckus came with new Cheng Sing tires. Probably won't last long and I want to change them out myself. I've got tire irons, anyone have helpful hints? This is something else I've never done. My dealer wants 10 bucks for each valve stem. Seems a bit high. Where to get? What are Boppers???
Thanks,
Wonderdog

[chanito]

Bopper is a scooter tire by Michelin that looks and act as a sport bike tire, if you are careful you will not need new valves, and yes they are expensive because of the 90 degree bent, the tires are kind of easy to work in and out of the rim if you have a way to hold the rim, if not it can get interesting

[Dandy Dan]

I changed my tires once using pry bars and hammers as tire irons. To change 2 tires over took me about 4 hours. Using the right tools would help a lot because the one pry bar was pretty good and everything else was pretty much useless. As well the right technique is super key because if you go about it the wrong way you're not going to get anywhere.

The first step is 'breaking the bead' which is basically just pushing the sidewalls away from the edge of the rim. To do this you need to let ALL the air out then kinda stand on the tire while you pry it towards the center of the rim. When you get it the tire will become a lot looser. Then just use 2 tire irons to work one section of tire over the rims and then work your way around until it's all over and repeat.

The hardest part comes when you want to reinflate the tires. You can't just use any old air compresser to do it because you need a huge blast of air to reset the beat and blow the sidewalls out the edge. I couldn't get mine even after using tricks like using a tie strap to compress the tire tight. Eventually I took it to a shop and they have an air compresser with a foot pedal that lets out a huge blast of air at once and that did it. However it still took him several tries and he still needed to remove the valve core to let more air through plus he used slime to help the tire slide out plus he used the strap. The point is that reinflating them can be the hardest part depending on the tires so watch out for that.