Sym Citycom 300i Review + Maintenance

[shoupdawg]

Nice! I can totally see you. My moment of glory is fleeting however....

vimeo.com/48337166

If you stop it at 38 seconds, you'll see my noble steed to the left of the 2 guys riding in from the right side of the screen. And to the left of that (yep you guessed it) in the white helmet is me.

Please note that not all of the group had shown up yet.

[jwalz1]

Aug 17, 2012 19:34:18 GMT -5 ootscoot said:

The New 2013 SYM Citycom 300i will be arriving here in the USA next month! Look forward to checking them out! MSRP is gonna be around $4600.

That is a great price on a pretty darn good scooter. Especially when you consider you can probably bargain the dealer down some. The Citicom is to tall for me though.

[audioguy1]

I noticed my front brake pads, especially the inboard pad, wearing fairly quickly. I've only put on about 1000 km since I purchased used and they are wearing quickly.
ordered EBC organics from OEM Cycle. $18.66 + $9.95 shipping to Canada. Looking forward to trying them out.
As with Kiwiscoot and some others, my front and rear pads are the same.

[audioguy1]

I installed a cruise on my scoot today. It was a Sound Off Recreational NEP CC3.
I bought it off Ebay for $20.
Definitely NOT a bolt on, but with a bit of filing and mods to the cruise itself,nothing harmed on the Citycom, it works awesome.
No more numb hand on long rides.

[shoupdawg]

Oh man Audio...I got a throttle rocker, but this may be even better!

[massscoot]

Aug 28, 2012 12:14:44 GMT -5 jwalz1 said:

Aug 17, 2012 19:34:18 GMT -5 ootscoot said:

The New 2013 SYM Citycom 300i will be arriving here in the USA next month! Look forward to checking them out! MSRP is gonna be around $4600.

That is a great price on a pretty darn good scooter. Especially when you consider you can probably bargain the dealer down some. The Citicom is to tall for me though.

I agree! If that retail is @ $4600.00, that's almost $800.00 less then the Kymco GT300i. At 262cc, & 20.65HP is soild, but not our Kymco's 28.7HP. SYM makes one very soild scoot!

[nzray]

Hi all, a quick update on my planned little wiring project for my scooter. Well, the result is “I didn’t do anything”, besides removing garnish and cleaning the radiator.

From experience, most of entry level scooters earth their ground to its chassis, and only one wire connects the battery’s negative terminal and the chassis. As you might expect, battery voltage drops significantly when firing up the engine or turning on the headlight due to insufficient earthling.

Unlike those entry level scooters, what I found yesterday was that our Citycoms have complete circuits at least for those power-consuming items. Take headlights for example, the grounding wire comes all the way to the middle of the chassis and is reconnected directly with another wire from the battery; same as the rectifier. Therefore I ended up doing nothing.

Weird discovery was also made yesterday: the more lights you turn on the higher voltage is generated by our Citycoms. Presumably it’s the generator responding to the demand?

Before the engine is fired up: 12.72V
Firing up: 12.55V
Engine idling: 14.40V
Engine idling + positing lights on: 14.61V
Engine idling + main lights on: 14.70V

Those numbers are captured by two voltmeters at the same time so I'd assume they are pretty accurate.

Happy scootering
Ray

[shoupdawg]

Thanks Ray. I had planned on working on my HID lights this past Friday as I took the day off of work due to the long weekend here in the States. Alas, my mates planned an impromptu ride through the twisties and the coast so that's what I did. I went on another ride on Saturday that took us all over the place and in the end we rode home in the evening on the highway. I sure wish I had my HID's in!

[shoupdawg]

Did a lot of riding this weekend, up and down PCH and through the Canyons here in LA. One of the guys was having issues with his chinese scoot and seemed to be going slower than us. So we were averaging 15-20 miles for dozens of miles. I got my best mpg...89!

[rovoul]

interesting, your scoot has not the lamps switch right below the red switch?

did you remove it or it's stock? Don't you have the option to turn the lights off?

Aug 30, 2012 19:21:58 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

I installed a cruise on my scoot today. It was a Sound Off Recreational NEP CC3.
I bought it off Ebay for $20.
Definitely NOT a bolt on, but with a bit of filing and mods to the cruise itself,nothing harmed on the Citycom, it works awesome.
No more numb hand on long rides.

[audioguy1]

In North America the lights must be on while the bike is running, so they have no switch in that position.
There is a control box that acts like a relay and turns the headlights on and off with the key.

[rovoul]

here in brazil they must be on aswell, but the switch is there. As I've changed the 35/35w headlights for 55/60W (Philips Motovision), I need to start the engine with the lights off.

[symluver]

Aug 28, 2012 0:34:57 GMT -5 shoupdawg said:

Nice! I can totally see you. My moment of glory is fleeting however....

vimeo.com/48337166

If you stop it at 38 seconds, you'll see my noble steed to the left of the 2 guys riding in from the right side of the screen. And to the left of that (yep you guessed it) in the white helmet is me.

Please note that not all of the group had shown up yet.

Ya I seen you! looking good! haha.. Hey your bike looks like its black. So far I have not seen another Citycom in Winnipeg that is exactly the same colour as mine. Its a Blue pearl metallic... looks so sexyyyyy .. haha...

[audioguy1]

So today I installed my EBC brake pads. I did the recommended
bed in and then I bled both front and rear calipers and I notice a substantial difference. Much better bite. I am happy with the results.
Then I replaced the 35 watt headlight bulbs with 55/65 and my problem of the headlights not coming on after starting is gone.
No more remembering to flash the lights to get them to work.
Overall a successful day of maintenance.

[shoupdawg]

Sept 9, 2012 20:08:59 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

So today I installed my EBC brake pads. I did the recommended
bed in and then I bled both front and rear calibers and I notice a substantial difference. Much better bite. I am happy with the results.
Then I replaced the 35 watt headlight bulbs with 55/65 and my problem of the headlights not coming on after starting is gone.
No more remembering to flash the lights to get them to work.
Overall a successful day of maintenance.

How are the bulbs? Finally spoke to DDM tuning. They want me to splice resistors into one of the headlamp assemblies. They are not sure it will work but want me to do it. I'm worried it will mess up the headlight if I want to revert back to bulbs. So I'm thinking of just using bulbs vs. the dual HID kit.

[zfjelstad]

Those pictures you showed above of your scoot and the road--I've been there! Isn't that just on the other side of the bluffs outside of Chch? I can't remember the name of the town however. Wonderful fish and chips there. Gorgeous scoot by the way.

[audioguy1]

Sept 9, 2012 20:22:10 GMT -5 shoupdawg said:

Sept 9, 2012 20:08:59 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

So today I installed my EBC brake pads. I did the recommended
bed in and then I bled both front and rear calibers and I notice a substantial difference. Much better bite. I am happy with the results.
Then I replaced the 35 watt headlight bulbs with 55/65 and my problem of the headlights not coming on after starting is gone.
No more remembering to flash the lights to get them to work.
Overall a successful day of maintenance.

How are the bulbs? Finally spoke to DDM tuning. They want me to splice resistors into one of the headlamp assemblies. They are not sure it will work but want me to do it. I'm worried it will mess up the headlight if I want to revert back to bulbs. So I'm thinking of just using bulbs vs. the dual HID kit.

Funny thing about that.
I was going to go for a ride last night and got side tracked and never made it. Went to leave for work this morning, no headlights. NONE. No high or low beam. When I flashed, nothing. The high beam indicator light would come on though. So I didn't have time to investigate so i drove to work without headlights.
After I got to work i checked the fuses and the headlight one was blown. i replaced it and the lights work again. I left it for a while, went back out and started the scoot up and the lights were fine.
So i will see on the drive home if they continue to work or they pop another fuse. A bit strange.

Update. I'm hoping the fuse was a fluke. The lights worked fine on the way home. Fingers crossed.

[shoupdawg]

Sept 10, 2012 15:01:53 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

Sept 9, 2012 20:22:10 GMT -5 shoupdawg said:

How are the bulbs? Finally spoke to DDM tuning. They want me to splice resistors into one of the headlamp assemblies. They are not sure it will work but want me to do it. I'm worried it will mess up the headlight if I want to revert back to bulbs. So I'm thinking of just using bulbs vs. the dual HID kit.

Funny thing about that.
I was going to go for a ride last night and got side tracked and never made it. Went to leave for work this morning, no headlights. NONE. No high or low beam. When I flashed, nothing. The high beam indicator light would come on though. So I didn't have time to investigate so i drove to work without headlights.
After I got to work i checked the fuses and the headlight one was blown. i replaced it and the lights work again. I left it for a while, went back out and started the scoot up and the lights were fine.
So i will see on the drive home if they continue to work or they pop another fuse. A bit strange.

Ah yes...that's happened to me. Apparently, although there's no marking indicating it, there is a right vs. left headlight and cover. If you have it in the wrong area, and if the bulbs and cover aren't fully and completed seated, you WILL blow your fuse if you flick or go to high beam. I've blown like 6-7 fuses before trying to figure it out. What I've done is using a marker, I've noted the right and left headlights on the rubber covers.

Do this...quickly flick your highbeam. You will notice that instead of going to high, it will actually dim. Do this lightly and quickly. If you see this, immediately release the flick. This will save your fuse. This means you have the headlight rubber gaskets/fittings/or bulbs switched around. Open her up and switch it. Make sure the gaskets are back in. Then test it.

If you flick your highbeam and it goes high, you've plugged everything into the right sides.

[nzray]

Sept 10, 2012 19:42:34 GMT -5 shoupdawg said:

Ah yes...that's happened to me. Apparently, although there's no marking indicating it, there is a right vs. left headlight and cover. If you have it in the wrong area, and if the bulbs and cover aren't fully and completed seated, you WILL blow your fuse if you flick or go to high beam. I've blown like 6-7 fuses before trying to figure it out. What I've done is using a marker, I've noted the right and left headlights on the rubber covers.

Do this...quickly flick your highbeam. You will notice that instead of going to high, it will actually dim. Do this lightly and quickly. If you see this, immediately release the flick. This will save your fuse. This means you have the headlight rubber gaskets/fittings/or bulbs switched around. Open her up and switch it. Make sure the gaskets are back in. Then test it.

If you flick your highbeam and it goes high, you've plugged everything into the right sides.

Thanks for sharing your experience and tips, shoupdawg.

I am about to "upgrade" my light bulbs to 55/65W in the weekend and I believe your post will save me quite a bit hassles when doing it.

[audioguy1]

So, I found that the handlebar grips were a little small for me. My paws were a little big and it was a bit uncomfortable. So on some recommendations I bought a pair of Grip Puppies, size small, from California Sport Touring. $9.80 plus $3.90 shipping to Canada. I read about a lot of install issues and thought I would see if I could come up with something easier.
I don't know if anyone else has done this but it took at the most 4 minutes, including taking pictures, to install with no rips or tears.
I used a 1' deep socket with a rope through it to pull through the grip, with a squirt of dish soap. I inserted the end of the socket in the grip. It expanded the size of the grip to slide right on. It worked so well that the rope was not needed, except to hang on to the socket as it was so slippery.

[shoupdawg]

Ray - No worries. I think that was Kiwi's purpose in keeping this thread alive. Do let me know how the install goes. I bought some 55w bulbs, and I didn't see any real difference.

Audio - The dealer did a bit of customization to my bike and that's one of the things that on it. I LOVE those grips. Quite comfy, and I have better grips even when my hands sweat.

[symluver]

Sept 9, 2012 20:08:59 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

So today I installed my EBC brake pads. I did the recommended
bed in and then I bled both front and rear calibers and I notice a substantial difference. Much better bite. I am happy with the results.
Then I replaced the 35 watt headlight bulbs with 55/65 and my problem of the headlights not coming on after starting is gone.
No more remembering to flash the lights to get them to work.
Overall a successful day of maintenance.

Hey how do you bleed the brakes? Since the rear brakes have been replaced on my 300, i notice that after driving on the highway for a few miles, when i go to brake, they depress almost all the way to the handlebars and then when i brake again they are fine... I guess they need to be bled. But i dont know how..


ALSO, my rear disk brake assembly seems to rattle/vibrate also since the pads were replaced.. Does anyone know what this might be? Brakes not seated properly? Something loose??

[audioguy1]

There are a few different ways to bleed. I have a hand vacuum pump that I hook up to the bleed valve and then suck fluid through till it has no air bubbles.
You can pressure bleed from the master cylinder, but not everyone has equipment for that either.
The cheapest way is to have someone pump the brake lever while you open and close the bleed valve. hook up a clear hose to the valve and then have someone pump the brake. Have them hold the brake in the applied position, then open the bleed valve and let the fluid out. Watch for air bubbles. Close the valve and then they can release the brake lever. Repeat until there are no air bubbles.
WARNING! Keep an eye on the master cylinder. It does not hold much fluid, and you can run it dry very easily.
Make sure you have a new bottle of DOT 4 brake fluid before you start and familiarize yourself with all the parts.

[symluver]

Sept 12, 2012 11:28:23 GMT -5 audioguy1 said:

There are a few different ways to bleed. I have a hand vacuum pump that I hook up to the bleed valve and then suck fluid through till it has no air bubbles.
You can pressure bleed from the master cylinder, but not everyone has equipment for that either.
The cheapest way is to have someone pump the brake lever while you open and close the bleed valve. hook up a clear hose to the valve and then have someone pump the brake. Have them hold the brake in the applied position, then open the bleed valve and let the fluid out. Watch for air bubbles. Close the valve and then they can release the brake lever. Repeat until there are no air bubbles.
WARNING! Keep an eye on the master cylinder. It does not hold much fluid, and you can run it dry very easily.
Make sure you have a new bottle of DOT 4 brake fluid before you start and familiarize yourself with all the parts.

That really sounds like something out of my Skill Range... Would you mind doing it for me? Yes, i will bring you beer

[symluver]

Just got home from a 440km scooter ride with the scooter club I belong to. Went to Kenora Ontario and back. If I knew how to upload pics I would... Anyone interested? Anyone wanna let me know how to do it? Everytime I try a "error" message comes up...

[audioguy1]

Just purchased a set of Dr.Pulley 19g sliders from quad_squad88
on eBay. $36 plus $6 Int'l shipping to Canada.
He is located in Taiwan.
Just thought I would pass it along if others are looking for some sliders.

[furshore]

Gear oil leak. I have 17,000 miles on my scoot and I am starting to have gear oil drips on the rear wheel. The oil is coming from the "breather tube" that runs from the gear box to the back of the cvt cover. It then drips a little after riding some distance onto the rear wheel. I have been very careful about replacing the gear oil with the correct amount 160cc and I have been careful to allow the old gear oil to drip out and I rock the scoot a little back and forth and I still have this problem. There is no oil leaking from the seals or drain/fill bolts. It is definitely coming from the breather tube. I have also noticed a small drip of oil from the hole in the back of the gear housing near the rotor.

[chaks]

Hey guys,

I went to the store on the weekend and picked up 15w-40 oil for an oil change. I know the manual recommends 10-40w, but I was in a hurry and picked up the wrong oil by mistake.

I live in Victoria Australia, so our summers are pretty damn hot, you reckon the oil will be better suited to the high temperatures?

I also have some 10w-30 oil lying around from my old scooter, I've read that mixing oils (same brand) is not such a bad thing.

Any ideas?

cheers

[chaks]

Also, some jerk knocked my scoot over in the parking lot and did a runner, he only damaged the casing for the exhaust which was very fortunate.

I've ridden about 14,000 kilometers and I'm thinking the exhaust could probably be due for a replacement in the next few services anyway, any recommendations? And this forum is dangerous, everytime I come here for questions or to browse I see all the modifications everyone makes and I'm tempted to try and replicate them.

Unfortunately I am poor with money and time (phd student), but yeah, I would like to think about replacing the exhaust and dream about it. Maybe something to do over christmas break?

[chaks]

So I've had a read around and looked at my service history and 14,000kms seems like a big one. I've decided over the next few weeks, I'll take a look at some parts oils and gradually replace them.

I've done the engine oil replacement with the 15w-40w, I'm going to change that up after summer season passes. It rode real fine today, but it seemed to take a little longer to warm up the engine than usual. I wonder if it was psychological or not.

Looking to purchase in the next few weeks.

Gear oil, 85w-140
Brake fluid, dot 3
coolant (No idea what's good)
Air filter (no idea what's good, should I just go with the stock?)
Drive belt/rollers (Might look into some of the older posts where everyone was looking to replace their rollers and find what worked, if anyone knows a website that ships cheap to Australia that'd be great)

So far i've been looking at these two websites,
www.exportstrength.com/
makinaparts.com/lang-en/108-sym-en

And I'm keeping an eye out on sales at our local autoshops for consumables, but if anyone knows cheap websites, hit me up!

cheers

mike