
We see a lot of confusion about our tubeless rims for Lambretta and Vespa posted out there, much of it based on rare anecdotes involving older products or items not even sold by us. For example, someone asked on a forum if our tubeless rims were safe and was told this:
RS's tubeless rims aren't exactly unsafe, as long as you get the mild steel (NOT stainless--they crack under stress, making them for show use only.) The downside to them is that they lack a center channel to make tire mounting easier, so they require so much effort to mount tires that the rims are often bent in the process
Not that this is misinformation or anything terrible, but let's go through this one-by-one to clarify here for everyone:
1) “RS's tubeless rims aren't exactly unsafe”: in fact they are not only VERY safe, with not a single replacement ever on our beaded tubeless rims for sale, they have actively prevented MANY serious accidents and probably saved lives by eliminating all the regular tire blowouts people would have suffered on regular rims all these years. We'd go so far as to say people are foolish not to use them.
(Now, we must mention, in 5 years we have replaced a few only of the earlier non-beaded type, which we haven't made since our latest and greatest design came out a few years ago, but even the replacement rate on those, while not absolutely perfect like the current beaded type, is very low compared to other important parts on scooters - cranks, flywheels, rear hubs, etc. - and they have proven much safer than using regular rims. On top of that you can even exchange the earlier ones for the current beaded type if you like!)
As one customer wrote from frightening experience of the obvious safety benefit of running our tubeless rims:
One of my barrel fins went straight through my scootRS tubeless [tire] at high speed but still gave me time to get it under control and stop. If it was a tube I recon I would have lost it. No problems with fitting hub or tyre change.
2) “NOT stainless--they crack under stress, making them for show use only”: actually, we have never had even a single stainless rim crack or need replacement ever. This perhaps confuses us with a Vietnam seller that put out a bad batch of regular stainless rims as explained in Scootering magazine. Nothing to do with us. We do tell people that stainless rims are for show because stainless is more prone to cracking than mild steel, and want people to check them regularly if running them, but we have never actually experienced a single problem, just being cautious. On the other hand, stainless has some benefits. See the stainless rim product page for more info.
3) “The downside to them is that they lack a center channel to make tire mounting easier”: they do have a center channel but because of the large size of Lambretta and Vespa hubs it cannot be a typically deep one. Thus tire mounting is a bit more difficult as mentioned but usually not a problem.
4) “the rims are often bent in the process”: no, it is very rare that we hear of this. The tubeless rims we have been selling for years are thicker and stronger than the first type we invented 5 years ago, and we simply get no reports of problems with them, and had few earlier anyway. We mount them all the time ourselves, and you can even order them with quality tubeless tires already mounted.
As one customer wrote:
I have now done over 7000 miles on a set of scootRS tubeless rims and I'm on my second set of tyres. No problems at all and although I do check the tyre pressures regularly I have only had to top up the air on 2 or 3 occasions over the last 3 years which indicates the quality of the valves and the seal on the bead. The advertised problem with tyre fitting has not materialised although I have cut the old tyres off the rims myself before going to the tyre garage for the new rubber fitting.
In summary, why would anyone deliberately run a tube these days on a classic scooter and guarantee himself a dangerous blowout sooner or later?
We waited 40 years for someone to come up with a solution to eliminate dangerous blowouts, then went ahead and invented our tubeless rims and solved the problem. We hear nothing but positive feedback on them now, and all manner of reports about accidents prevented. Tubeless rims are truly one of the first items you should put on your Lambretta or Vespa if you care about safety. (And a disc brake kit too!)