Introduction
It’s quite imperative to keep the tires in good health. But it’s unfortunate to say that many riders out there aren’t aware of this.
No matter if you’re riding a scooter, a moped or even any other form of personal commuter, you need to be serious about this. In this guide, we’ll take you through 5 crucial maintenance chores for the inflatable tires of your scooter and moped.
Let’s get along-
Why Tire Maintenance Is Important for Your Scooter?
First things first, let’s get the basics clear. The tire is the part of your scooter which keeps you from the ground. Therefore, its health is directly related to your safety. Also, it’s equally important for the longevity of the scooter itself.
5 Shades of Maintaining Your Tire Condition
Now, we are about to enter the gist of today’s concern- the maintenance of your scooter’s tires. For you to consume it better, we have split the discussion into 5 parts. On each of them, we will talk about separate things that you should watch out for or keep an eye on.
Let’s get started-
1 of 5: Check for the air pressure regularly
First things first, inflatable scooter tires are filled up with pressurized air. And that pressure of the air has lower and upper limits in terms of being compatible with the scooter. And any exceptions to that might lead your scooter tire to house a puncture. And we bet, that’s not something you would like to see when you’re riding it on your way to someplace.
Now, how would you check the tire pressure condition? Well, the simplest way is to check the air pressure on the sidewall of the tire. Because ideally, the air pressure on a scooter tire sidewall should be identical for every part of it.
So, check the sidewall tire pressure weekly, and make sure it’s within the range of the ideal tire pressure of your tire. To know those values, you can take help from the manual of your scooter.
2 of 5: Refilling the tire on a regular basis
The very next topic to the tire pressure is to refill the inflatable tires of your scooter. As a regular scooter tire maintenance chore, you have to do that once in a while, and we understand this.
But what if you’re doing it too frequently? We mean, if you ride your scooter 3-5 hours a day, the tire pressure is supposed to go below the mark once a week or once in a couple of weeks.
Based on that calculation, you should keep an eye on the frequency of inflating it. In case you have noticed the schedule to be too often, you should get back to the previous step we’ve talked about and check for a leak.
Once a leak is suspected, there are some specific things to do, which we’ll talk about later in this article.
3 of 5: Change the Tire Tubes In a Proper Manner
Once you have got a puncture in your tire tube, that might have been caused by excessive tire pressure or the intrusion of some sharp object from the road.
In this regard, we have a couple of pieces of advice for you-
Don’t leave sharp objects in it!
Carefully remove the sharp objects from the tire. And that should be done before you replace the older tube with a new one. If you don’t do so, the sharp object inside the tire can cause a leak over again.
Use lubricants if you have difficulties inserting the new tire
When you are inserting a tire tube in an inflated state, you might have some difficulties with placing it properly. In that case, the part which is troublesome to insert can be applied with a little lubrication. I find soap and water does just fine and drys up afterwards.
4 of 5: Keep an eye on the tire’s lifespan
Scooter tires are not supposed to last for an eternity, as you know. But each of them comes up with a certain lifespan, and that’s usually measured by the units of miles travelled.
Now, the usual scooter tires are supposed to run for 1000 miles, and that can fluctuate depending on your riding style. But don’t expect a lifespan of around 10,000-20,000 miles as you can expect from the car tires. As a matter of fact, car tires are way stronger than scooter tires.
5 of 5: Change the tire or tube properly
The last part of this list is going to address the most hectic tire maintenance chore for your scooter. And that is- changing the tire on yourself.
You know, you can always take it to a mechanic or a garage. But for DIY riders out there, that’s not the first option on the list. They often prefer to do it themselves.
So, if you are going to do that, don’t forget to keep these things by your hand-
- Allen keys.
- Levers made of plastic or metal.
- Wrenches of regular sizes.
- Small plate.
- A bucket full of water.
- A pump to inflate the new tube.
- A small plate(optional).
Read Also Inflatable vs Non-Inflatable Scooter Tires
Bottom Line
So, this has been our guide on how to maintain the tire health of a kick scooter or moped. No matter if you’re riding a kick scooter, a moped or any other form of personal commuter, you need to be serious about this. In this guide, we’ll take you through 5 crucial maintenance chores for the inflatable tires of your scooter and moped.
Making sure that you are checking each box on a regular basis, we are certain that your scooter is going to amaze you with super longevity and performance.
Happy riding!
