300cc class scooters at Motorcycle Live

[poldark]

Have you tried the Beverly 350 at all, this really is a viable alternative to the Forza on every level, 33bhp for the same price ABS/ASR, 16"/14" wheels, good storage & long service intervals

[gn2]

I've seen lightly used Forzas advertised from circa £3600
Heated grips are not standard fitment but I believe they are available as an accessory.
If they're anything like the PCX heated grips from Honda they might be worth avoiding, a few people have reported they are not anywhere near warm enough.

[spaceprobe]

Ah yes motoGB: http://www.motogb.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Daelim and Enfield are also now firmly off my list. Shame as I like Enfield. And SYM come to that.
It's pretty sad when it's easier to get spare parts from Greece than Lancashire.

So it still looks for me that the best buy is the Honda Forza, with huge backup and service, a decent 279cc engine with more power than my current GTS300 (Honda = 24bhp, GTS300 = 22bhp, 263cc), decent mirrors and seat (both of which I had to modify on the GTS300. For £4.5k it also comes with ABS and heated grips. Honda options are a single key topbox and decent screen - I had to import an Isotta for my SYM (which is excellent BTW!).

More underseat storage than my GTS300 too, although the big helmet space is at the front of that, huge storage next to the handlbars and the optional topbox has huge capacity with a backrest. The handlebars are interesting too - because you can adjust them and attach sat-nav etc clips to them with ease.

I may sell my Joyride next year but carry the GTS on through until 2015 as it's a nice machine and buy a Forza then unless I need parts, in which case I may trade it in earlier. Definitely top of the list. An additional problem of poor parts availability is that it depressed second hand prices, so I expect depreciation on the Forza to be lower too.

I did not say it was easier just cheaper, they do parts for most makes not just SYM so worth a look.

[Globs]

I've never looked at the Beverly TBH - I should though! Good call.

I've always used and liked Oxford Hotgrips TBH, I tend to buy the scooter pack and then a decent v8 controller - the ones on it at the show did look a lot more feeble.

Thanks for the pointers for spares, all appreciated. As the price and power rise for these bikes towards 29bhp I'm looking more at the Yamaha Majesty 400 as the weight is good and the 35bhp beats the others anyway.

Second hand may be an option, it depends what comes up, I quite like not getting an MOT each year though and the UK salt is not kind to bikes and scooters.

[Fizzy Rascal]

Hi guys,

Another newbie here.

Great forum(s) - I've already been researching the Forza 300 here - good info, so . . . thanks.

I was at the NEC (all week) too...

I have a few bikes and scooters (I'm a bit of a collector) - but I recently bought a Honda PCX after falling in love with the look of them at the recent Bike Live event at the NEC. So much so that I did a quick 'google' on my 'phone and found a local (to the NEC) Honda dealership (Tamworth) and went and bought one there and then after test-riding a demo model. (I'm not from anywhere near Brum - I literally just took a punt as I was at the NEC all week.)

I'm enjoying the scoot, but I've just ordered a replacement 'non-hump' seat for it (as the 'hump' tends to push me forward and after doing a bit of research it would appear that the aftermarket 'non-hump' seats sort this - I'll let you know.)

I now fancy a Forza 300 (as well) for longer rides. I'm only average height and getting on a bit, so I don't want a BIG tourer. I tried a Burgman 200 Executive at the weekend and that 'fit' really nice. I'm hoping to test a Forza later this week.

Again, many thanks for the info I found on here.

[melpotter]

I had to import an Isotta for my SYM (which is excellent BTW!).

What's the story with your screen then? I've been wondering if my 300i would benefit from a taller screen.

[Globs]

I had to import an Isotta for my SYM (which is excellent BTW!).

What's the story with your screen then? I've been wondering if my 300i would benefit from a taller screen.

The original GTS300i evo (2011) screen is a big feeble, as bad as the burgman 400 screen in fact, so it had to go.

Look here: http://symforum.com/index.php?topic=1760.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It came via Austria but was fine and is superb. Keeps the wind completely off the hands and the weather off very well - only my elbows have ever got wet. Transformed the bike.

On my GTS I had to fix 3 design faults:

1) Seet hump too big. So I took it out and made a small cover for the area.
2) Hopeless gearing inviting over-revving: Put in 19g Dr Pulleys
3) Hopeless mirrors, removed, blanked spaces with vinyl wrap, put ebay ones onto the bars in the threads provided

It's been faultless up to now - but now I have a sticking front brake caliper so I will be re-building that over Christmas, I thought the front suspension was hard and the mileage was down!! Not a biggy though - just a strip and rebuild with silicone grease + a reverse bleed.

[melpotter]

I had to import an Isotta for my SYM (which is excellent BTW!).

What's the story with your screen then? I've been wondering if my 300i would benefit from a taller screen.

The original GTS300i evo (2011) screen is a big feeble, as bad as the burgman 400 screen in fact, so it had to go.

Look here: http://symforum.com/index.php?topic=1760.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It came via Austria but was fine and is superb. Keeps the wind completely off the hands and the weather off very well - only my elbows have ever got wet. Transformed the bike.

The screen looks good and seems easy to fit. Three questions please.

how much taller is this screen?
did you cure the flexing?

and could you still see the standard mirrors with the new screen fitted?

[Globs]

The screen looks good and seems easy to fit. Three questions please.

how much taller is this screen?
did you cure the flexing?

and could you still see the standard mirrors with the new screen fitted?

Fitting is _fairly_ easy, I ended up I think using the old bolts in some places as there are expanding rubber bungs in the SYM with 'captive' nuts that can be fiddly. I.e. get them all loosely caught first, tighten more later when you know you have them engaged with the nut. Take your time and have patience.

I'm 6'1" and can see just over the screen top - I have to crouch to see through it. Because of this it seems to keep the muck off a treat. It's also much wider to shield the hands.

Flexing isn't too bad, just in very very windy fast places on the atlantic coast I thought it flexed a lot. It's not the screen flexing BTW, but the bike plastic. I don't really notice any issues from day to day TBH.

The mirrors were so hopeless I had those changed before the screen - sorry. The total transformation in rear visibility given by £20 worth of eBay mirrors over stock was astounding. I possibly noticed more because my SYM Joyride has bar mirrors - so I used to a decent rear view.

Both screen and mirrors completely transformed the bike TBH, then without the stock seat hump I could actually be comfortable on it too
BTW I also used a Fein multitool to chop out a lot of the spare plastic under the seat so I could fit stuff under there, it's much better now.

Summary of essential mods:

Screen to remove inadequate one
Mirrors so I could see
Seat hump so I could fit on the bike
Seat underside so I could use the storage and fit my XL lid
19g Dr Pulley sliders so it pulled away better and would not over-rev (even with those I have to watch revs at over 120kmh!)

[horobags]

All this talk of forza's, and gts's great scoots but dont right off the sh 300, the anchor of the 300 scoots.