Why avoid the Italians like the plague ?

I thought they also had longer service intervals compared to the japs?


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Unreliability, poor build quality, corrosion, depreciation... Having said that, if I were buying a fun, fair weather bike that looked good and I didn't need to rely on it day in, day out, to get me to work, I'd consider one.

If you are thinking of buying new or nearly new, the bike show is on now until next Sunday at the NEC. You'll be able to look at and try out for size, many different models.

Thanks. I do value reliability so will probably go Jap. Saying that, you do see a fair amount of Vespas out in winter with commuters on them. Of course, that is not say they don't have reliability problems.

Yes, planning to go to the NEC next week and at least sit on all the scoots I am considering as well as the opportunity to sit on a few I probably haven't even considered. It may throw a spanner in the works and have me ending back here with a slew of different questions

Kymco, Sym etc worth considering...

I will be doing around 170 miles a week so I think jap reliability might be better

sym and kymco are as good as the japs for reliability

the jap scooters especially Hondas are not as good quality wise as they used to be

I'm pretty sure the pcx is made somewhere like Thailand (may be confused it happens)

andyscooter wrote:sym and kymco are as good as the japs for reliability

the jap scooters especially Hondas are not as good quality wise as they used to be

I'm pretty sure the pcx is made somewhere like Thailand (may be confused it happens)

Yup, PCX is from Thailand. I think the Nmax is, too.

The truth of it is that most of the lower order scooters are made in China or Thailand, regardless of brand. The only ones that aren't are Kymco and Sym but their products are still Far Eastern (if it bothers you). If you want "real" Japanese you need to go for bigger bikes. Same for Piaggio and Peugeot too. Mind you, even some Yamahas are made in France...

But IMO, it's more important to buy from a good dealer who will look after you than worry about the merits of individual manufacturers unless there is a specific machine that floats your boat.

The Forza 125 is every 4000 or annual, whichever first. Not a lot to do really; oil change is simple, no filter to change. Valve adjustment the usual pig to get at.
If you go for the SH, be very sure that you can put up with not being able to stretch your legs out...my personal bugbear; hence the Forza and T-Max!

Thanks guys.

I recognise that most cheaper products will be made in places such as China, India etc but I think the difference between a chinese brand and a japanese brand is that the jap brands will have stricter quality control in place and standards their suppliers should adhere to which hopefully means slightly better quality/reliability out of the box, as it were

not always red the rust on a brand new cbf thread on bcf

wasn't just one of them there were loads to suffer with it

also just in case you read this one before the bcf post it was a givi screen