Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

A few months ago I switched to the Apollo Actigrip S3 90/100-10 tire at the rear on my Dio. This is a tube type tire and has been an excellent tire in my experience.
Also I suggest you maintain recommended tire pressure to get the best performance out of the tire (most ppl tend to over inflate the tires).
Mine is a 2007 dio, and the stock mrf zappers were excellent tires too but used to wear out by 12-14k km at the rear. I've used ceat too in the past, but this apollo variant i mentioned seem to be better.
Look for a tire with similar chunky treads, even ceat has one called the ceat gripp.
And on a damp road with usually the first few minutes after rain, the road will be more slippery and so exercise caution.. no change in tire brand will help you with that. Maybe run 1-2psi lower in the wet.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

My spouse recently slipped and fell from the scooter, she must have been doing 30-40 kmph at the max. She got hurt pretty badly. In the past I have also fallen and gotten hurt, though in my case the road was wet and slippery. In my spouse case the road was bone dry and she was attempting to avoid hitting another reckless bike driver who was looking the other way when turning. I am running on MRF tyres and I never inflate the rear tyre beyond 36 psi and front tyre beyond 22 psi. Further my front tyre pressure leaks and goes from 22 to 16-17 after every 10 days or so. My rear tyre is still better as the leakage goes only from 36 to 33-34 in the same period

So I was looking for a soft compound tyre which will give me excellent grip and also comfort but with Grip as the main criteria. If I have to sacrifice mileage and long life in that process I am fine. Any idea on which is the best soft compound tyre available for Activa DLX 125 cc which gives excellent road grip? How is Micheline City Pro brand of tyres? I will definitely look at Ceat Gripp and Ceat Secura Neo. Is Ceat Gripp better than Ceat Secura Neo?

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

wishing your spouse a speedy recovery.
this is my experience on my 2007 Dio, tubed tires: i've never had an issue with the mrf tires (am talking about the mrf zappers tubed type).. stickiest tires, relatively soft compound. am not sure if it's the tires to blame or the situation (road, balance, other rider) that caused the accident. even the most stickiest tire could cause a loss of grip say if there is sand on the road and you are in a tricky situation trying to avoid a crash.
I've used the stock mrf zappers, the ceat secura (which last long, but not as sticky.. but not bad per se), and currently the apollo s3. Of these three, which one would i recommend.. for the rear, definitely the apollo s3.. good grip, good ride comfort. My riding style being enjoying the nippiness of the scoot by accelerating 'hard' sometimes and also braking 'hard' to shed speed.. these tires never gave up on me. The mrf's used to go bald by 12-14k km and were a nightmare when bald in the wet!! The ceat secura when worn, causes a bit of wobbly feel in handling.

Haven't used michelin's so can't comment on those.

You might want to get the front tire and valve inspected for a puncture/leak.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

My tyres are stock tubeless MRF tyres. But I never felt confidence in them while riding. Always felt that I was one step away from skiding on the road. On a straight line they are good, but do a few turns or go over unpacked roads or uneven roads and the scooter gets completely wobbly. I go over a lot of pot holed and patched roads with quite a section having gravel like quality. There are stretches where I have good Tarmac and in certain sections concrete roads too. I am a bit disappointed in the MRF tyres performance.

Will have the valve checked for punctures. I have already have the tyres checked and there is no puncture. Either air is leaking from where the tyre side wall meets the rim or from the valve. I would not go for a tyre+tube and only for tubeless.

I will have a look on Apollo too. My spouse is getting better thank you.

Which of the tyres for Activa have soft compound rubber and which have hard compound rubber?

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

unfortunately on slight gravel or concrete roads with a layer of sand or dust are recipes for disaster irrespective of tires.
the mrf zappers and the apollo s3 seem softer compound compared to the ceats.. from your usage, i would suggest the apollo s3 or ceat gripp (chuky treads).. but unfortunately it is a tube type. Look for a tire that has a somewhat chunky tread pattern vs the other kind like the zappers
i.e. look for something like this



and avoid these kinds:



Here is a tubless variant i came across from TVS:



Or this: (Tvs jumbo GT)



The above two tubeless variants from tvs should be a decent choice.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

This is exactly the type of tyre tread pattern that I have currently have on my MRF stock tyres. It gives me great stability and stopping power when I am on good concrete roads and good tar roads. However if I turn the vehicle or I try to go over potholed roads and gravel like roads then the scooter looses its composure very quickly. I tend to drive fast 45-65 kmph. My spouse on the other hands tends to be sedate driver about 30-45 kmph and only occasionally going upto 50 kmph.

The reason that I want to go for Tubless tires is that there is no catastrophic loss or air pressure in case of puncture. Even if a puncture happens one can reach a safe place and then get it repaired. This is especially true if one is traveling late in the evening or late in the night. Tubeless tyres give one the ability to reach home safely and then tackle the puncture the next day.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

yep, agree on the advantages of tubeless. and remember to inspect the tires say once a week for any embedded objects.
try those tvs tires that i had listed, they are tubeless.
apart from that, i felt the 125's ergonomics doesn't make it very flickable..(i rode it once for around 2km).. this is comparing to my first gen dio. maybe its the front suspension and the handlebar/rake geometry.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

I agree. Dio is extremely fun to drive and is very quick in changing directions. Activa either 4G or 125 variant is not. Dio is one scooter that I think deserves a 125 cc engine but it is doubtful whether Honda will do so. After all it would not want to canabalize its own sales with Dio 125 cc. Another fun scooter that I have driven, liked and I think can very easily handle a 125cc pot is TVS Wego. The only downside, I have is that I am extremely doubtful about it's reliability. I have seen many TVS scooters stranded on the road especially after a downpour. Aprilla range of scooters are also good, with their flat board, high stance and good ergonomics but they are let down on their dealer network and extremely poor resale value.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

Dio is the new weapon of chain snatchers
it comes down to the ergonomics for its nippy handling, and i don't think it needs a 125cc for what its designed/targeted at. the 100/110cc is plenty enough to even haul two fatso's in the city.
personally, i would stay away from the tvs scooters while Honda is around. i have seen the earlier tvs wegos, mahindra's age very badly and a few reliability issues too.
Aprillia if you want something faster and racy looking, provided the spares are easily available.. it can be serviced like any other scooter. I don't buy a vehicle for it's resale value so that doesn't bother me as long as i enjoy it. It's reliability, i have no clue as i haven't come across many of these.. just had a test ride a long time ago.
and i am not a sucker for fancy gadgetry like digital consoles, external fuel filling, mobile chargers, led lights.. those don't influence my choice in an automobile.
i was infact looking at picking up the aprillia, but with 3 vehicles already it seemed apparent i would be thrown out of the house if there was an addition to my garage.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

Hey guys,
I remember someone had swapped the Dio's shock absorber with the TVS wego/jupiter one. But it was on the new gen dio. Any ideas whether the same suspension would fit the first gen dio? Anyone who did that here? I believe the new gen dio has a slightly longer shock but i'm not really sure! I have a 2008 Dio and i find the shock absorber to be on the softer side, specially when there is a pillion. Please do let me know about the options.
Thanks!

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

So today my tyre had very less pressure when it was filled up just last evening. Thinking it is a puncture I took it to the local puncture repair shop. He found no nail in the tyre but there was air leaking from where the tyre beading meets the rim. I have tubless tyres. He took the tyre out and showed me that the interior of the tyre was filled with a bluish-green puncture seal liquid. He told me that such types of liquid do more damage than good and also the same was responsible for the tyre beading not adhering to the rim or not forming the complete seal required to prevent air from escaping. The funny part is that just a few days ago I had taken my scooter for its monthly service to honda Authorized service station in Bangalore and they I had specifically told them about this problem and requested them to fix this, i.e slow leakage of tyre air pressure and they had said that they had fixed that.

So the local puncture walla removed the tyre from the rim, washed the rim and the tyre thoroughly and changed the valve. The total costs was Rs 350. Has some one who has put these types of liquids inside their tubeless tyres encountered similar problem? How have you resolved these issues?

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

did you put the sealant in, if so which brand, was it tubeless specific ? unlikely (maybe not impossible) such sealants would cause an issue.. i have used a type of this sealant called "slime" and also on my dio it runs on the tuffup tube (mrf tube that comes with sealant built in.. very good tube.. unfortunately difficult to get one now)

350rs to clean the rim/tyre and new valve!? many of the puncture wala's have been scamming people into changing valves on tubeless to make a quick extra buck. a valve usually doesn't cost more than 50rs and seldom goes bad, but these guys charge 100-150rs whenever someone goes in for a puncture on a tubeless by cooking up cock and bull stories (and sometimes themselves damaging the valve). earlier with tubed tires, they used to say tube is gone (sometimes using sleight of hand to inflict damage) and force a tube replacement. seen and heard quiet a few stories at-least around here in hyderabad. this was also confirmed to me by a very honest puncture wala who has shop next to where i live.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

Nope the sealant was put in when I had purchased the scooter. I was informed that it will help in preventing something called as micro punctures. My scooter runs on MRF.


Yeah that i know. These local puncture wallas have been scamming people for quite some time now. I have also seen the case where the damage was done deliberately to the tube just so that they could sell a new tube. They buy tube tubes in bulk and sell them at a steep profit, Rs 100/120 per tube. Also it is much more cost effective and takes less time to replace the tube than to fixing a tyre puncture. But if you think that the local puncture walla typically looting people then one should go to the branded shops. Firstly these shops are more interested in selling you tyres and are not interested in fixing punctures, especially those of 2 wheelers. For example I recently went and inquired about Ceat GRIPP tyres for activa and they said Rs 1500. I was shocked when the online price of the same tyre is about Rs 1000-1100 on amazon in the recent festive mela. Then I asked about fixing the tyre puncture they said it would take about 1-2 hours, they were more interested in doing wheel balancing and rotation for 4 wheelers. We need something like an online service OLA or Uber or Amazon or Swiggy to come and shake up the market.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

My aviator is giving me the problem with self-start, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. when pressing the switch the self start motor doesn't work and i hear a tik tik sound only.

Re: Honda Dio, Activa and Aviator

How old is your Battery? If it is in goodworking condition then have a look at the starter and then finally the wiring.