Sym 250 rides

[rkman82]

First thing, i'm new to KiwiBiker forum so here's a bit about me. I got my class 6 licence back in April 2017 after doing a 5 night holiday to Rarotonga and after renting a Yamaha 125 cygnus and being on 2 wheels for my first time, the bug had certainly bitten me. Was in Raro for 5 nights and somehow managed to rack up 455km on an island that only takes 32km to get around, WTF was the response when i gave it back to the hire company. So got back to NZ and within 2 months i had my licence and also wanted to get my licence so if we did go back to Rarotonga i could wave my NZ licence under the cops nose (the drivers licence test for tourists over there is a bit of a money making scam, the handling test is easy but try passing their theroy test when they refuse to give you a copy of their road code, near impossible as i'm sure the testing officer makes their own rules). Did the handling test on a Sunday, theroy test on Monday morning and and walked out of the dealership at 2:00pm that same day having just purchased a 2011 Sym GTS 250i.

This scooter is brilliant, it holds it's own on the main highways and still has power to overtake, costs about $25 to fill with 95 octane and i can get 350km-370km till the fuel light comes on. But however the speedo is out, when doing 105kph on the speedo, my gps is saying 95kph also a few days after buying it i went passed one of those speed indicator signs that you normally see around school zones and had 60kph on the speedo and the sign says 52kph and my wife was following me in her car and said her speedo was reading 54kph, but i have an uncle that is an automotive instrument technician and after doing a roller test says he can't adjust it as it's just within the legal requirements (has to be more than 10% difference).

I mainly use the scooter for going up the road to run a few aerends etc (can't take it to work as i start at 4:30am so would be outside my allowed riding hours when i leave home) but it does do the odd trip out to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway as i'm a volunteer out there. First real ride i went on was from Manurewa-Musick point-Takapuna (first time on a bike over the harbour bridge)-Helensville via old north road-Manurewa. Another decent ride was out to Port Waikato, i was only meant to go to Ramarama to book our cat and dog into the pet motel but afterwards somehow ended up riding out to Port Waikato and came home via Pokeno.

Yesterday i went on my first real long distance ride. Left Manurewa at 8:00am to go to Otorohanga as there was a military equipment display on. Got to Pirongia and got my first traffic ticket on my scooter, i coasted up to a stop sign looked both ways saw nothing coming and forgetting about the stop sign, went across the intersection but didn't notice the cop car coming towards me on the other side of the intersection, he flashed his lights and i knew what i had done wrong so i pulled over, jumped off and waited for him to do a u-turn and stop behind me. After Otorohanga i thought "iv'e still got a lot of the day left so carried on to Mangapehi to see if the old Mangapehi railway station was still standing which it is.... just. Got to Te Kuiti and filled up and it took $16 to top up, as i knew there wasn't many fuel stops after TK. Got to my destination and took some photos of the old station, then carried on to Whakamaru hydro station, then onto Arapuni hydro station for a walk across the swing bridge, then to Karapiro hydro station, then back home at around 4:30pm. All up i covered almost 500km and the bike never missed a beat and infact it seems to be running better so probably just needed a good blow out.

Next big trip i'm planning is to ride down to Kinloch to stay a night with relatives and check out the Makatote viaduct and to check out the new memorial at Tangiwai that is dedicated to the crew of the rail disaster. Would also love to ride the Forgotten World Highway before the colder weather arrives. I'm also a rail enthusiast so the scooter is perfect for getting pacing vids of trains, GoPro on the helmet and i'm off.

[WALRUS]

First thing, i'm new to KiwiBiker forum so here's a bit about me. I got my class 6 licence back in April 2017 after doing a 5 night holiday to Rarotonga and after renting a Yamaha 125 cygnus and being on 2 wheels for my first time, the bug had certainly bitten me.

A fine choice for your first Scoot' buddy! My daily into the city and back is a 2008 Cygnus X (with a few mods) and when I can't be bothered tinkering with the Ducati or the Race Bikes, I've done the odd track day on it too, just for shits and giggles!

$5 for 200~km over here, half price rego for being a 125 and now able to comfortably sit at 100kmph (until you reach a hill).. Can't go wrong

[Scoot300]

I am also new here in KiwiBiker and was looking for scooter riders and fortunately stumbled upon your thread. What an awesome ride you had!
I did a ride early this march to Hahei from Auckland on a Yamaha Tricity 125cc and it was superb. Unfortunately, the scooter was really under powered with me being 95kilos.
I am planning to trade in my tricity for a new Xmax 300 within this week or next week. I am hoping to plan a ride with you one of these days (only if you are willing. :D )
Anyway, ride safe brother.

[rkman82]

I've been looking around to see if there are any scooter clubs but the only club i can seem to find is a classic scooter club in which most seem to be Vespa's. With seeing the amount of scooters running around the city and out on the open road these days, i'm surprised there is no club where anyone with a scooter can join. Would be great to ride off somewhere with a bunch of scooters.

[rkman82]

Towards the end of April i did a ride from Manurewa to Raglan via Pukemiro and got lost somewhere around Waingaro as my GPS decided to have a hissy fit and freeze on me, should have gone straight at that intersection but turned right and ended up at Te Akau. Anyway i got my bearings after pulling out the phone and using Google maps.

Once back on SH23 i ended up at Raglan and ended up riding out past Raglan to Whale Bay. Funny story when i got to Whale Bay, there were some guys on sport bikes and when they saw me pull up on a scooter they were giving me odd looks so one of them comes up and says "where you come from" i replied "south auckland" and the look on the guys face was priceless (scooters don't just potter around the city dude). Anyway i took some photos then back on the bike and rode on to Hamilton Train Station and did a bit of train spotting. After that it was off to fill up the bike then carry on home. Was a great day and a great ride.

I recently had to do a delivery to Ohakune so had i bit of time to kill on the drive down so went to check out the old railway cutting just the other side of Kakahi which was eventually going to join up Taupo to the North Island Main Trunk Railway but never happened and is now a glowworm attraction at night and at the end of the track is a neat little camping spot on the banks of the Whanganui river so might have to plan a scooter camping trip when the weather starts warming up.

[rkman82]

Went on a ride out to the Awhitu Lighthouse on the southern Manukau Heads this morning and to also explore around that area, which was a ride that i have been wanting to do since i started motorcycling.

Left home at 10:00am and reached Waiuku by 10:40 as the traffic was unusually quiet. First stop was out to Te Toro Point to take some photos and there was several cars with boat trailers parked up as well, would have been a good day for it too as almost no wind with flat seas.

After that it was onto the end of Pollok Wharf Road to take more photos. So after that it was back onto the bike and i rode to Matakawau village which is a real holiday bach type of village. Stopped there and took more photos and carried on to Big Bay village.

I had been wanting to get back out to Big Bay for sometime as when i was a child and back when i did junior sailing at the Manukau Yacht and Motor Boat Club we organised an Easter weekend sailing trip and my dad took about 8 optimists and members gear in his truck for the weekend and members who owned larger sailboats sailed there from Mangere Bridge which was quite the journey for a bunch of 16ft sail boats. Also remember the campground we stayed at being owned by a guy that had the same strictness as a Nazi General and also remember my dad threatening the owner that he was going to drive the truck through some of the old grotty caravans that belonged to the owner because he refused to give our bond back so some reason i couldn't remember.

After that i rode out to the lighthouse where a Ford Mustang club had gathered and was having lunch, the looks i got when i showed up on a scooter (yes mustang owners it's a scooter and it's come all the way from Manurewa). Walked up the path to the lighthouse and lookout and took some photos. Went inside the lighthouse and read all the information signs and climbed the stairs to the top where there were 4 really hot German chicks so yeah had to stay up there for a while. Entry to the lighthouse is by donation as it relies on funding from visitors, had about $3 in coins in my wallet so i was more than happy to donate that.

After spending about 30 mins at the lighthouse it was back on the bike to head home. The trip back was uneventful until i came across mr rich guy in his Audi that thinks he doesn't need to look both ways at intersections, he pulled out in front of me, then sees me and stops in the middle of the road, i swerved and slammed on the brakes in which somehow i managed to stop just before putting the bike into a ditch and then this asshole puts his window down and says to me "where did you come from" (he would have easily seen me coming down the road), i replied "that obviously doesn't concern you because you never bloody looked did ya" then he says to me "don't be a smart ass mate" and he speeds off with no apology whatsoever, was going to chase after him but my little 250cc scooter would have been no match for his Audi RS5.

Got home at 2:30pm and covered about 250kms. The road the the lighthouse is excellent and is very enjoyable to ride and you get some fantastic views of the Tasman sea and Manukau Harbour in some places, but be careful as the road has a lot of corners that are tighter than they look so take extra care, and if your planning on heading out that way it will also pays to fill up the tank as well as the only place that has fuel is Waiuku which is a good 40kms south of the lighthouse so your a long way from help if you run out.