barryG wrote:Some old guy saw me looking at it, came over and warned me it was Chinese and that he sees loads of chinese scoots all rusting along Worthing sea front and that after a year they get put in a skip

that's great

Bring in the Symba, the cubbers will love it, for what it is, which is all you need.
I see no point in having an exposed chain on any scooter, so I rule out, any with one, straight away.

Great pics by the way, Baz!

I'm looking forward to seeing the bikes myself tomorrow.

There are some good deals if you need to buy anything.
We heard them announcing "Any Arai £100" but didn't have a look,, maybe they were odd sizes.
Loads of jackets,, all sizes for £20, a few at £10.
I tried a nice Belstaff on,, not reduced in fact very expensive but a great fit, very comfortable.
More temptation with an Arlen Ness jacket at £130 but decided against
But I did get some gloves cos my hands got cold on the way down the M42.
Extra warm going back!

It was bloody freezin going there and back on Sunday. Didnt see any other scoots there and back or in the nice indoor parking area

J&S wharehouse clearance on a back wall were shouting the arai £100 helmets, all others were £50, but only the helmets under the yellow clearance banner, their other stuff was normal prices.

Sue fell in love with the Sym GTS 300 and didnt want to sit on any other scoots !
Looking on second hand prices, they seem very low compared to other Jap stuff, is it due to badly made bikes and aftersales or other reasons ? as £3900 for a 300 seems ok as the S-Wing 125 is almost the same price.

Any UK roadtests of it ? I cant seem to find any

Good pics

I liked the BMW 650 GT, and the T-Max 530 felt ok to sit on , as usual the staff didnt know f*ck all about the products, the standard 500 puts out 32KW and the 530 is 34KW...whats that in real money ?
Givi were there, I wanted a back rest for our top box, they werent selling on sunday..just for display only ?? WTF

Me and Liams scoot where is the parking area from 11am, till 2.45pm

Did not see your scoot!.

R1K SU wrote: Sue fell in love with the Sym GTS 300 and didnt want to sit on any other scoots !
Looking on second hand prices, they seem very low compared to other Jap stuff, is it due to badly made bikes and aftersales or other reasons ? as £3900 for a 300 seems ok as the S-Wing 125 is almost the same price.

I'm looking forward to going tomorrow with my other half & I dont think I'v missed more than 3 or 4 shows since 1980 when myself and 2 mates made the trip for the first time on our restricted 50's along the M42 (whoops)

As for the SYM I had the 250 version for 2 years & regretted selling it almost immediately although at the time it was only for financial reasons.
They are definetely not badly made bikes. I would rate them as being just above the Italian makes and not that far away from the Japanese scoots but leagues above chinese stuff.

I think the reason they sell so cheaply compared to Japanese scooters is down to good old British snobbery and some ignorance as many bikers and even some dealers are under the mistaken impression SYM are low quality chinese bikes.
This is great news for those of us in the know however as there are some cracking bargains about & I hope to be riding one again next year

It seems SYM place themselves the same as you, as the Maxsym 400 is priced a little above an Xevo 400 and a fair bit less than a Burgman 400. Ive had a good look at the Maxsym and yes its better made than an Xevo, but not as good as a Burgman.

Of course, over time the extra servicing of the SYM over the Xevo, coupled with possibly steeper depreciation will make the Piaggio cheaper long term. I wonder how it wold compare with the Burgman along those lines. Id like to have a ride on one for sure, looking at the suspension I can see it being similar to an Xevo ride wise, but Id like to know how it compares performance wise with both.

Following the SYM I had a Piaggio X8 400 for a year and that too was a good scooter but details such as the paint fading on the brake calipers and early corrosion on various fasteners let it down a little bit.

On the Sym I did the oil changes myself which was quite cheap when buying the oil in 5 litre containers from Halfords.
I had one full service done on the SYM at the dealers including a belt change and MOT costing £120 which I thought was great value

I couldn't afford a new Maxsym 400 anyway unless I sold the car but I would definetly consider a used one in a couple of years when they should hopefully be available for around £3000 and I wouldn't be tied to a main dealer for servicing

barryG wrote:
However, all is not lost as this little beauty was not bad at all and at only £1499 for a 125, a bargain.

Baz!!!

You forgot to mention that if you set foot on the CPI stand and sit on a bike you get ambushed by the CPI poster model, Jessy Riot (see pic below) and another model (Edit: actually pro dancer Lianne Redman) and get your photo taken for their facebook page!