Friday 8 November 2013

Finally Sorted

Finally after the best part of 4 months chasing both SYM UK (Moto GB) and two local dealers (P and D Motorcycles, Wakefield / Padgetts, Dewsbury) I've managed to get my daylight running lights sorted on the Joymax.  The replacements  came in the form of the two integrated circuit boards in which the LEDs sit and were fitted within the space of a couple of hours.


Thanks to Padgetts for taking up the warranty and fitting the lights once they came in.

You only have to read my previous posts to get an idea of my opinion on the overall process.  Poor customer service and drawn out lead times.  The reason scooter dealerships are going under on a weekly basis!

Monday 4 November 2013

6 and 9km service combined

Due to work commitments and lack of funds, that and SYM's rather short 3km service intervals, I had to look at combining both my 6km and 9km service.

As part of the service the bike went through a thorough vehicle check as well as the following key items:

  • oil change
  • valve clearance check
  • tyre pressure check
  • spark plug replacement
  • greasing of parts (where needed)

Since purchasing the bike in March 2013 I've done just over 9,000km and also in need of:
  • New Air Filter (to be ordered and fitted when available)
  • Rear tyre (was on the legal limit in places)

Servicing Costs
  • Workshop Oil (0.80ltr) - £5.20
  • Air Filter - £17.85
  • Spark Plug - £6.29
  • Environmental Charges - £3.50
  • Labour Charges - £43.00
  • Grease/Lubes (£1.00 x 3) - £3.00

VAT: £15.77
TOTAL: £94.61

Sunday 29 September 2013

Still waiting...

Well... it's been well over a month since my last post and I'm still awaiting a successful outcome from the warranty claim on the daylight running lights on the Joymax... - Yep I'm getting rather fed up!

Having been let down by my original dealer, I spoke to SYM who seemed to be aware of the issue and suggested looking at filing a warranty claim with another local dealership. Been fairly local to where I live I decided to choose Padgetts in Batley, West Yorkshire who filed a claim for me which was accepted and put into action.

Weeks have passed since filing the claim and all I seem to get from either SYM UK is different stories on where my replacement part is (either in Taiwan or Bulgaria) or in a bunch of boxes they haven't got a clue what's in... or Padgetts who seem to be under the impression I should be doing all the donkey work rather than them...

And they wonder why dealerships are going to the wall...

Wednesday 21 August 2013

The joys of ownership

Well... I've had the bike for about 5 months now.  To summarise a lot of what you'll read below - the bike is performing really well with a couple of niggly problems that need to be ironed out.

Over the last 5 months it's covered over 6.6km and taken in a variety of sights around the UK.
(left to right - Dent railway station / Viaduct - North Yorkshire, Albert Docks - Liverpool & Fountains Abbey - North Yorkshire)


The engine appears to be settling in well.  A slight whine, but I think that's me more used to a carbureted engine rather than fuel injected one.  It can cruise quite nicely at 70mph without feeling strained too much.

Still got the issue with the LED side lights...  As you can probably see from the first picture, I'm now down to no more than about 2/3 of them correctly working.  Informed my local dealer (P and D Motorcycles, Wakefield) of the problem to be told it was probably because I'd had an aftermarket alarm installed and it had caught some connectors causing an intermittent fault.  On closer inspection this appears to be complete rubbish.  Having given the problem a good look over it looks as if one or more LEDs have failed on each side of the bike (each on their own circuit board) that have caused a number of the other LEDs to work intermittently / fail.  Having spoken to Sym it appears they're aware of a problem and are now willing to fix the issue under warranty via another dealer.

A word to the wise...  Don't get a black bike!  Not that I'm vain or anything, but it shows up everything!  I use the bike 7 days a week, 365 days of the year so it gets a fair beating.  There's nothing worse than your pride and joy getting a scratch on it. :)

Friday 17 May 2013

The gremlins are taking hold

Looks like the gremlins are starting to take hold. :(  The bike is barely 3 months old and already I've lost 7 of the LED lights (both front and rear) as well as a new problem with the speedo...

Whilst traveling into work the other day I noticed that speedo needle was no longer moving and I was getting no increase in millage from the electronic trip counter.  From what I can gather, as well as experience of similar problems on Italian based scooters, I'm imagining it to be a problem with the speedo sensor.  - They've got a bad habit of picking up road dirt / rain water and getting damaged quite easily.

Thankfully, from speaking to the dealer where I originally purchased the bike from, each of the problem items should be covered by the 3 year warranty.

As of today (1 day after posting) the speedo seems to have sprung back into life.  It must be either a faulty connection or some water / dirt has got into the sensor.  Hopefully they'll replace the full part as part of the bikes 3000km service.

Saturday 4 May 2013

Flashing in the dark

Well, I've had the Sym for just over two months now.  All seems to be fine apart from a noticeable flashing coming from the front of the bike whilst in dark conditions.  On closer inspection I've noticed that I've lost 6 of my LED accent lights. - Not something you'd expect from a 2 month old bike!

I've emailed SYM UK to see what they've got to say and if this is covered by the 3 year warranty.  - We'll await an answer...

Saturday 27 April 2013

Leg Pain

Not sure if this is related or not but I appear to be getting bad aching pains in the top half of my legs (groin / upper thigh area) that travel down towards my ancles.  

Bearing in mind this has only recently happened I'm starting to wonder if it's linked to owning the Sym...  The pain seem to be isolated to just my right leg - the leg I mainly use to steady the bike.  Not sure if the seat / leg positioning is causing bad pressure points or not. :o/

Friday 22 March 2013

300km (first) Service

Well, the bike went in for it's first service yesterday.  Have to admit I was rather dubious of the need for a service at only 300km, I can cover that distance in the best part of a week!  Apparently it's the norm to ensure that the bike has been correctly run-in and no foreign object have appeared in the oil etc...

The service schedule for the Sym is:

  • Pre-Delivery Inspection
  • 300km First Service
  • 3,000km / 3 months

then every other 3,000 / 3 month interval.

The breakdown of my 300km service was:

  • Environmental Charge - £3.50
  • Workshop Oil - £6.50
  • Grease / Lubes - £1.00
  • Labour For Parts - £55.00
Inclusive of VAT I was looking at a total bill of £81.24.  A tad expensive for an oil change...

Due to the bike been stored outside I needed the centre stand and lock cover greasing due to them not correctly springing back into their retaining space.  Other than that there was little to do to the bike.  Looks as if the shop even gave it a good clean for me! :D

Although the bike has a 3 year warranty you're hands are somewhat tied into ensuring the bike follows it's correct service intervals.  Think it's time to learn how to change the oil myself to cut down on some of the overall costs.

Saturday 16 March 2013

First 300km

I picked up my new Sym Joymax 125i on the 9th March 2013 from P and D Motorcycles in Wakefield, West Yorkshire - England.  From what I can gather I'm the first to take on board one of the new models, so I hope I don't become the guinepig for future buyers...

Sym Joymax 300i in white.The dealership had the 300i in white (very in colour at the moment) as well my 125i in black.  I was tempted to go with a white version of the 125 but I've heard of long wait times so I opted to go with the black model that was sat there waiting to be bought.

The 125i cost me £3499 + £71 for registration and road tax.  Personally I think that was a fair price considering Piaggio are asking nearly £4,000 for their 125 models.  I opted for finance anyhow which left me little scope to look at reducing the price through discounted on-the-road deals etc...


I've been riding the bike for about a week now, covering just over 250km. - Mainly 20 mile round trips between work and home.  The tank was just over half full when I picked the bike up and has cost me £14.47 (10.49 LTR @ 1.379 per LTR) to fill the tank from nearly empty to the brim.  So far I've covered about 60km and the needle is still fixed on full. - Here's hoping it's not a faulty fuel gauge.

Link to my Fuelly account showing how the bike is doing on MPG.

So here's a few pictures of the bike...


The bike has a great street presence added to by the inclusion of a passenger back rest - taking it away from the standard sports scooter look.  Unlike many other models both lights are lit when the bike runs in either running or full-beam mode.  The inclusion of the LED accent lights give the bike a modern look.  The indicator LEDs in the mirrors are bright and can easily be seen by other motorists.  Unfortunately the fog light option below the headlights isn't included on the 125 models and just has the bulbs installed.  A closer look in the future may provide answers on if this is an easy add-on install or not...


Unlike many other maxi-scooters in its class the SYM comes with a 125cc fuel injected engine.  Hopefully this should cut down on many of the cold start / running problems seen by other caburatted models.  The bike is well specced up with both dual rear (adjustable) shocks and linked front and rear brakes.  The only downside seems to be the inclusion of a mild steel exhaust rather than a stainless option.  Something that wont last too long to the muck and rubish the English weather will throw at it.  Others have commented on a price tag of nearly £400 to replace this!

Under the steering colum you'll find the key hole as well as the button for the hazard warning lights.  As mentioned earlier, unfortunately the button for the integrated fog lights has been left off the 125 model.  SYM have decided to add a security measure in which you will need to insert part of the key into a hexagon shape to the right of the key hole.  All fine and well until you've got a pair of gloves on / try it in the dark.  That and you can see the key becoming worn and a pain to fit once its used a few times...


The bike has great under seat storage.  For me there's enough room for my flip front Caberg Justissimo helmet as well as open faced helmet to the front of the compartment.  Certainly more than enough room to get a few bags of shopping in there. :)

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Pre Sym Thoughts

After much searching on the net I've struggled to find any concrete information about the Sym Joymax 125.  You'll find plenty of videos about previous models (the GTS / Evo) and the current 300cc variant but little information about its smaller brother the 125.

Up until now I've owned a series of small, medium and maxi-scooters.  I've experimented with:
  • Peugeot WRC 206 100cc x 2
  • Peugeot Elystar 125cc
  • Piaggio x8 125cc
  • Piaggio xEvo 125cc
  • Piaggio X9 125cc
  • Aprilia Atlantic 125cc
All have performed well up until the poor Atlantic deiced to seize its engine and leave me with little option than to look at a new bike.  Having experimented with the Italian market I figured it was time to try something new and look at the Sym models.  I've ridden 125 and 200cc variants of the Joyride over in Greece / Cyprus and always found them a great ride / really well pulling machines.  Others I know have commented on their reliability so I thought I'd give them a go...

I've placed an order for a black 2013 model Joymax 125i.  From what I can tell it's the 125 fuel injected version of what used to be the GTS.  Sym appear to have played around with the model titles that much from market to market it becomes hard to establish exactly which model is which.  I'm quite sure I've bought the latest model - least I hope so... :)

From doing a bit of searching around the 125i seems to be pretty well specced machine.  Details can be found at:


From what I can tell, the only missing part on the 125cc model (apart from the engine obviously) compared to the 300 appears to be the lack of integrated fog lights.  No idea if the wiring loom is included, but I'll have a closer look when I pick the bike up...