VESPA & PIAGGIO Riders

Yes they do.

You can raise or lower your gearing easily by fitting a different profile tyre.

Yes, use a smaller profile tyre on the rear.

Yes you can, increase your size on the rear.

The classic example of over gearing is your scooter drives perfectly well in 1st, 2nd and 3rd then when you put it into 4th the engines dies and doesn't pull. This is made worse when riding two up or climbing a hill! (Not to be confused with a gearbox that has a bad jump between gear ratios)

This is the opposite of over gearing. Your scooter pulls 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th really easy, it makes little or no difference driving two up, up a hill or into the wind, your front wheel may lift every time you change gear. Then flat out your speed may be down but your motor may be over revving (not to be confused with clutch slip)

Every engine is different. Various factors effect gearing:
1. Engines pulling power, expressed as torque. (i.e. a torquey engine)
2. The weight the Scooter needs to carry.
3. Tyre diameter and rolling radius.
4. Gear ratio.

Tyres are basically the same except for some rolling radius (see tyre charts) There is only so much rubber that will fit between the engine, hub and mudguard. Usually a large capacity engine with a lot of torque can pull higher gearing. An engine made to rev and produce power high up in the rev range may not have the low down torque, so a higher revving gearbox may be required and the same could apply to a gutless standard engine.

Extra weight will always put a strain on a Vespa engine.

In the grand scheme of things a Vespa is not a very powerful engine so by adding another body the engine will naturally find it harder to pull, especially up hill, into the wind and if you are out of the engines power band.

For these reasons, gearing is very important and a tyre effects gearing so much.

If you find you are happy with the gearing driving on your own, but the engine doesn't like two up riding why not keep a spare tyre with a lower profile!

It is much easier to change a tyre than it is to change a gearbox or sprocket sets.