One of the key components of every mobility scooter are tyres, solid or air ones. Today in our blog we will discern differences between those two options. This should provide a handy guide for all customers, who wonder which kind of tyres are the best ones.
Making a decision to buy a mobility scooter, the choice between air and solid tyres should mostly depend on your intended use and you as the user. Most brands support only one type of tyres, but at Velobike we do sell both: air and solid tyres.
Air tyres that come as a standard with our mobility scooters or solid tyres upgrade both can fit Veleco mobility scooter models (and other similar vehicles) without trouble. The question is, which set would suit your needs?
Which type of tyres are best for mobility scooters?
Unfortunately the choice isn’t easy to make, as there are numerous aspects which you should first take into account:
The quality of the ride – In case of pneumatic tyres, which offer much better shock absorption, air tyres ensure smoother ride. On bumpy roads, solid tyres can make your ride less comfortable.
Durability – There is no doubt that solid tyres seem to be more durable than air ones, because lesser external variables can affect them. They cannot be under or over inflated and the risk of puncture is minimalized.
Combined weight of scooter and its user – In case of heavy scooter combined with the weight of the user, solid tyres longevity might be vastly shortened due to weight impact. Were you to drive on uneven roads, there would be no amortization for the impact unlike in case of air tyres.
Terrain which the user travels on – As can be deduced from earlier points, terrain is often the major factor which influences the longevity of tyres. A gravel surface where there might be glass would definitely make solid tyres better suited for the job. In case of other terrain types though, air tyres would be a much better choice for you.
Price – Air tyres are definitely cheaper and in case of their malfunction, it is much easier to fix them. On the other hand, sometimes a single visit to a voulcanizer may cost you more than a set of solid tyres for mobility scooter. So it is definitely something worth considering.
What are the consequences of picking the wrong type of tyre?
Imagine a situation, in which you pick solid tyres, deciding they will serve you longer. If the road was bumpy and uneven, the ride would not be smooth for you. At first tremors like that might be something acceptable for you, however, it could cause more problems later on!
While it might not be visible to naked eye, all the electronic cables, lightbulbs, battery and other mechanical parts would be forced to withstand continuous shock. This might cause cables to shift, sometimes unplug from important places or even damage electronics. The end result would be the vehicle shutting down in the middle of travel. Not only that, your own body might also be enduring similar strain on the way, and as mobility scooter providers who want our users to stay safe, we would never accept that.
4 questions worth asking yourself before choosing the type of tyres
If you are thinking about which type of tyres will be the best for you, ask yourself: How are you going to use your mobility scooter? How often? What kind of surfaces will you predominantly encounter? And is the long lifespan of the tyres a priority for you, or not? Answering these questions will help you make the right choice.
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Got any questions? Ask them in our comment section and our experts will reply!
another prob with solid and infilled tyres is they might not be round.
ive got the eden roadmaster plus with directional tread tyres and i cant get a grip on wet surfaces the wheels just slip and slide plus someone has been using a flat head screw driver to puncture my tyres. eden charge £70 call out fee plus the cost of the tubes and fitting to repair them. got fed up of keep paying out for puncture repairs every few weeks so bought some solid tyres from ebay and fitted them myself as eden refused to fit solid tryes and my normal enginer i use from a diff company couldnt get the tyres i wanted. and when i needed the puncture repairs done his suppliers didnt have any tubes in stock to fit it so had to bite the bullet and get eden to come out and do the repairs.
the tryes r 14×3.50 and i cant find any solid tryes with block tread in that size. so bought some 300×8 infilled good care tyres which fit perfect. but lower ride height. but it feels like i have square tryes on it now. my last scooter i switched from numatic to solid and had a far better smoother ride but the ones i have now its a very bumby ride. but it only seems to be the left rear that square the right rear seems fine. havnt replaced the front tyres yet as the rear is the driving wheels so need the grip on those more than the front.
think the infilled tryes get flat spots when they sit around for a while. cause when i set off it feels their square but after a few miles them seem to go round again, so might be temprature related. when their warmed up and centrafugal force comes in they go round, but when they cool down and not moved for a few hrs they get flat spots.
with solid tyres their molded from rubber from the start. infilled tyres r numatic tryes but with silcon put in instead of tubes. so more flexible to give the same ride as tubed tryes but think thats why they tend to get flat spots.
Hi can you tell me what size bulb( mainbeem)
do I need for a velobike ZT63 thank you
A set of solid tyres
Size 300/8
How much please
What is the psi for the front and back tyres?
I mean on the FASTER model, sorry
Hi Elaine, the PSI on rear is 49.3 PSI and front is 43.5 PSI
Hi where can I get tyres for my faster velobike
Hi Tom, tyres can be purchased directly from manufacturer website, here is a link to front ones: https://shop.veleco.eu/product/front-tyre-faster/
my front wheel keeps loosing pressure, its been this way since the delivery sept/oct 2019, i used to think it was because its the first tire to take impact going up kerbs whilst the back 2 wheels always keep their pressure, do you think ive a puncture in the tire? i cant hear air come out when fully pressurized , nothing coming out of the valve either, today when i checked it showed no pressure at all on the reading
Hello, Keith, it might be indeed due to the tyre being used for quite time now annd taking the impact. Tyres tend to be used with time, so it might be high time to change this one 🙂
Do you do the mobility scoter called blue racer.
Unfortunately not, only what is available in our online store, though all of our products are high British quality vehicles if you look for a reliable one 🙂
Do you. Have a catalog. That you could send me so I can pick a scoter I fancy the blue racer. With solid wheels and how much and how fast could I get it I am after a new scoter and the blue racer looks perfect so let me no how much and if I can have a 14. 15 mile an hour one please
Hi for catalog, do write to our on office@velobike.co.uk we will gladly assist 🙂