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Wheels
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The rear rims & tires
were a standard moped size (2.25 x 16). I say were
because
most new vespa-styled scooters you see today are a much smaller
wheel diameter and wider tire width. Mopeds with The
16" wheel were pretty
common 20-25 years ago. They
also sold mopeds with 17" wheels & tires
which seem
to be a little more common. The ppv rear rims are
about 16.5"
in diameter, depending on where you measure,
historically that has been a
big issue for all wheel/tire
manufactures. The overall tire diameter is
about 21
inches. I suppose you could go with a 20" bicycle
wheel (bmx
size) and still have plenty of clearance. The
orginal rims were made by Sun
Warsaw, Ind.
Hubs are
another matter. The original hubs, if you have them, are
always
reusable. They are a very simple design.
1" internal size to fit over the
axle. 2 flanges,
spacer tube that extends inboard a little bit so a thru
bolt
can be installed to hold the wheel on and transmit the drive
force. No
bicycle or moped or motorcycle hub will work on a
ppv rear axle. Maybe a
hub from a popcorn cart or a
horse sulky buggy racer. If you still have
the rear
hubs, it's easy enough to rebuild the wheels. The original
spokes
are a 10 guage galvanized steel spoke. They
don't clean up very well but
bent ones can be straightened
and reused. New stainless or chrome would be
very
flashy but expensive and hard to find in 10 guage. Check
with your
local motorcycle dealer for those.
While
looking for new rims, don't forget you need the same number of
spoke
holes as the hub. 36 spokes.
Also, keep in
mind the listed inch size of ALL wheels is just a generic
size.
For example the 16" moped wheel size used on the PPV rear
wheels is
a bit larger than a 20" bicycle wheel.
Sheldon Brown's website has a list
of most of the dozens of
different bicycle sizes and once you get in to the
car or
motorcycles, countless more sizes pop up.
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