Sym Citycom 300i Review + Maintenance

Hello Kiwiscoot: Congratulations, many happy miles.

Congrats on your new scoot. I know you're gonna love it. I have the SYM RV 250, and I had the HD 200. I know what you mean about having a bigger presence on the road. I felt the same way. And I couldn't be happier with my 250!

Not that you are a speed demon, but what's the top speed you get outta that scoot? I like the way the 250 looks too (in black)

Well here's the first installment after 1 week of ownership and what a blast. Did 350kms since I got it. What impressed me was how smooth it is compared to my 150. It is a problem keeping under the slow New Zealand 50km/h city speed limit. All the weight is low down and the bike feels very stable. One is able to balance it below 10km/h. It cruises effortless at 110kph and accellerates quickly to 120+kph for easy passing. Even stable at 138 kph on the clock ;D. Got a fright though when I got passed at that speed by a chap on a bike, he must have been doing close to or over 200 kph. I'm not one for speed and what I felt and saw on the clock was fine by me. I wasn't to comfortable as I was riding through pine plantations and has a bad cross-wind in the gaps where there was not trees. The windscreen does a good job, but at 6"4 it is still to short, I get the wind on the top of my helmet. A RV250/250GTS owner who was shorter sat on my scoot at the shop and felt it was higher than the RV250's one. I did not compare, grinning from ear to ear to much. ;D
Fit and finish is excellent. Mine is black, which is actually more like a "mid-night blue". Paint finish has no orange peel effect, very smooth and shiny. Nice rough plastic finish where scuffing can occur like floor boards, inside of knee shield and handlebar covers.
Mine came with Maxxis 140/70-16 tires at the back and 110/70-16 on the front. Dry weather traction is excellent. I cannot comment on wet weather as I haven't used it in the rain yet, day after tomorrow I should according to weather forecast.





Braided back brake line from master cylinder at handle.

Braided front brake line from master cylinder at handle.

Under seat storage, helmet goes face forward. Battery under cover at the front of storage compartment. Engine disable switch marked.

Here you can see the evidence of all that will fit in, one large full-face helmet, polyprop jacket fit for a 6"4.5 brute ;D (yes that's me), tool kit, extra large gloves, camera, wallet and human fuel...380ml ice-coffee. This space is big enough for the errant grocery run like two 2 liter milk bottles and bread, etc.

this is the compartment under the handlebar. One needs to remove the little cover to access the radiator reservoir. At the left side is a 12V accessory plug to charge a cell phone or what-ever. My sunglasses and the logbook/pen fit in there.

Just to give an indication of the road I used to run it in. I opted for the hard break-in. I changed the oil at 150 kms and noticed a slight metallic shine in the old oil. Temperature never varies much, sits at 1/3 of scale.
Differences between the RV250 and Citycom:
1) No linked brakes. Back and front operate independent. Not sure if this is good or bad. I do wonder why Sym went this way with a newer model.
2.) No LED back light. All incandescent light bulbs.
3.) two 35W headlights, not 50W like on RV250.

The seat is very comfortable. I would've liked to sit further back, but the hump is to pronounced for that, about 4 - 5 cm. I only had my wife on the back one and she thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The back seat looks very wide, but she found it very comfortable. The seat height is higher than the RV250.
Well this is all for now. When I have time I'll post a video of my ride. You'll hear no funky music as the sound of the engine and wind is music to my ears. Bye for now.

just viewed your video.

i was really glad you didn't meet any other traffic since you were riding on the wrong side of the road. ;D

Now lets not start a discussion on which is the right side of the road!!
It could turn into a "CCS versus a reputable scoot" discussion!!! ;D

Well I guess you wouldn't have to worry about the deadly left turns without yielding we have in the US ;D. I guess, it would be right turns over there. My SYM RV250 did fine in wet conditions, the pad and rotor seemed to function as usual, tires kept good traction. I did stay out of the middle of the lane though to keep away from leakage of oil, transmission fluids, and etc from cars. My shoes I could barely keep traction with them .

Kiwi -
How do you think the Citycom would be for a short person. I have a 29" inseam.
Thanks!
Gary

Well I've done over 600kms now, but none in rain as yet. I have been on wet roads between rain storms tho. No issues.
I'm planning a trip down to Dunedin, 360kms south of Christchurch. This has a variety of riding conditions, flat plains for a 100kms, then twisty roads through meandering hills and then two short very steep passes. Conditions are often fog on the mountains and wind on the plains. For preparation I've done a few hour trips in windy conditions. Verdict, the wind-screen is to short for me. I'm 6'4.5 and the wind catches me right on the eyes at 110kph/70mph, which creates a load wind whistle at the hinges of the helmet. Strange thing is that it disappears when I put my left hand at the bottom of the visor. I'll have to put a lip onto the windscreen I think. The other uncomfortable thing is that with a tail wind the wind creates an alternating side pressure (or opposite vacuum) which feels like someone if pushing on the side of your helmet. Makes one's neck tired. Don't know how to fix that or if it is normal??
110kph/70mph is the sweet spot for the scoot at this stage, but that may change as the scoot wears in. It feels like it can do that for hours and it can keep that with very strong wind from the front. Passing was easy too as it can do 130kph under the same conditions WOT. All this was done one up on level Canterbury plains. Top speed at no wind conditions were 138kph, slowly rising... Top speed under special conditions(strong wind from behind) is approx. 145kph/92mph @ 8250rpm. Felt like a limiter as it just pegged there and did not move at all even with stronger gusts from behind. I knew when a gust hit from behind as I could feel the engine smooth out with less load. Felt stable, but I was uncomfortable about loosing my license and scoot if I should be caught....this was just an experiment and should not be attempted in your backyard as you'll wreck the fence!
As far as seating goes I wish the hump was further back, but this may be OK for people of normal stature. The seat felt good after an hour in the saddle and the butt was not numb.
I've done up to 250kms per tank and got 81mpg and 76mpg (all UK gallons), 27 km/l and 29km/l fuel consumption on the two tanks so far which matches the Xingyue/Ita's consumption. Fuel tank can be a bit of a mission as it seems to develop an air lock at around 8.5liter when filling.The fuel guage then shows full. I experimented at home and could get about 1 liter more in, then it's right in the mouth of the pipe. No expansion volume in the tank then. I think I'll keep to the 8.5l volume. The digital bar graph fuel guage flashes when only one bar shows when the tank gets low. I've haven't been game to take it to the point where no bars show.
One negative thing is the dashboard behind the windscreen does get dusty in the windy conditions we had. I think it has a quiet spot and the dust that whirls in then settles there. I noticed on a Xting 500 that Kymco has quite a large air duct that should stop that happening. Not a major issue, but thought I should mention that. That was the only negative thing I've found so-far.
One can hear the clicker when the indicator is on, which I like.
My conclusion so-far is that the Citycom is a very good all round scoot. I like the upright posture in traffic. I can see over the roof of cars and through the rear window of SUVs, which is great to check out the traffic conditions ahead. Pull-away is quicker than most cars and I like the bigger presence it give in the traffic. It gets quite a few looks and I had some very positive comments.
I can't comment on servicing as I had it serviced at the shop under warranty. Changing the oil and cleaning the strainer is as easy as on a GY6 engine with the smaller drain plug at the bottom left of the engine and the big plug under the strainer at the bottom right of the engine. More than that I can't say. It takes about 1.2 liters of oil. I always leave my scoots on the side stand and drain the oil via the left hand drain hole hoping the angle will help wash debris out of the sump area.
Well I hope I'm not boring you with this detail. I have not checked the speedo and odometer against my GPS. The bike does have a resettable trip counter.
If someone wants a video of the bike and the different things on the scoot I'll be happy to do that. Just let me know what you'll like to see, measurements taken, etc. I'll be happy to oblige.
Bye for now - Kiwiscoot

Hi Gary, I found the seat height info on the RV250 which is 760mm/30 inches and the Citycom is 800mm/31.5 inches. I guess you'll have to sit on a RV250 and then consider another 1.5 inches higher.
Hope this helps

fantastic video thx must have been some ride. Wish I was there. drool drool

Thanks for the nice feedback. I hope I'm not boring you to tears.
This is a wonderful country for cruising and one don't need to go that far to see spectacular scenery.

Well 1600kms passed and nothing to report. A bit dull, but let me assure you the riding is not dull. ;D

Led lights:
Had these LED light bulbs I bought for the Ita XY150T, but thought I'll put them in the Citycom's back lights.

This is what the back light looks like.

No use taking the center off, dead end I'm afraid. Interesting tho there is a substantial mounting point hidden here, wonder if this is for a top box, hmmm something to investigate later.

Under the back fender is an access panel.

View from right hand side. Take out 4 screws and it drops down to reveal the back of the light cluster. Just a matter of putting your hand in and unscrewing the lamp holder.

View with brake lamp holder unscrewed. Red Phillips light bulb.

Unfortunately this was where I struck an obstacle. These 57 led lamps are to big to fit through the lamp hole and the lamp socket slots are not opposite each other. They are at 9 o'clock and 1 (or 2) o'clock positions. I'll have to do my homework on which style these light bulbs are. I may not bother because the alternator is about 480Watt anyway, plenty enough to drive everything. So in the end the Ita XY150T got a birthday and it sports all new led light bulbs at the back. Looks just awesome as the Kiwis here would say. Interesting observation is that all the light bulbs used on the Sym Citycom are Philip's brand, not a cheap Chinese brand. The headlight light bulbs are Phillips H4's.
Perhaps with the next update the back of the scoot may look more sporty. I'll toying with a modification idea. Also the scoot is due for it's first major service in 3 days time. At the last service (300kms) they had to adjust the horn as it stopped working, now it sounds as if the trim around the front of the handle bars is loose. I think they did not tighten it enough when they did the horn.
Well until next time. happy scooting and miles of smiles!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Wow. I just read your complete review. I got to sit on a citycom 300 a few days back.
It is a tall scoot, but since I'm 6', I could plant my feet to the ground (just have to scoot forward to the edge of the seat to do so.)

It sounds like it would be great for a touring bike as well as a commuter...