Report Abuse

Report this review to the Review Centre Team

Here at Review Centre we work hard to make sure we are the best place on the internet for honest, unbiased consumer reviews - we are grateful for your help in keeping us that way!

645924

Why are you reporting this review?

If you represent this business why not claim your page by creating a Free Business Account where you will receive improved review monitoring functionality.


★★★★★

“Whilst I have only been riding for a relatively short...”

written by brucer on 30/06/2006

Whilst I have only been riding for a relatively short while, I quickly realised that I loved it so much I would have to upgrade my first 100cc Peugeot for a larger touring scooter. I recently purchased a new Bolwell Firenze 250cc (sold outside Australia as the Sym GTS Voyager 250 and also known as the Joymax in some countries). After just three weeks of riding this scooter I can confirm that the upgrade is the most enjoyable decision I have made in recent memory!



Apart from my experience on the Peugeot Speedfight, I have also hired a Bolwell LeGrande (Sym Joyride outside Australia) and ridden it for a day up in far north Queensland (think tropical paradise!). The LeGrande is a 171cc scooter and was my first experience with long rides on the open road with significant twisties (look under Sym Joyride for my review). I thoroughly enjoyed my day on the LeGrande and found it a very comfortable scooter for touring.



The initial comparison is that the Firenze is an even more stable scooter than the LeGrande, most probably due to having 13" wheels and being quite a bit heavier (173kg dry). The weight of this scooter was the most noticeable difference when I first bought it. I have found that I need to be careful when manoeuvring it by hand as it feels as if it would be easy to drop, especially by letting it tilt too far from upright. I try to keep it slightly tilted towards my body so as I can use my lower body to help stabilise it. I also keep the side stand lowered when manoeuvring it "just in case".



It definitely feels more stable on the tight corners and I have surprised myself how confident I feel going through the tight twisties around the Melbourne hills. Whilst I am not the best person to judge the relative power and acceleration compared to other scooters, it does not feel as if it would be the fastest 250cc off at the lights. This suits my riding style. It definitely has the power to easily cruise at 110kmh with more in reserve. I am told that it is speed limited to 130kmh although this is not stated in the owner's manual and I haven't tested it.



The brakes felt very solid from the first moment I rode the scooter and they are improving as they wear in. The manual makes reference to the left brake lever being a "front and rear brake lever" so they are linked although there is no further information on the ratio of front and rear brake that gets applied.



I have found the seat comfortable for the rider although I have only done a couple of stretches of around 90 minutes at a time so far. The riding position is very upright which means that the screen is a bit too low for me and I do get wind buffeting around my helmet at speed. Another feature not mentioned in the owner's manual is that there is an adjustment for the riders backrest. There are adjustment screws under the seat and it can come forward two notches. I like it all the way back where it is set by default but it is nice to know that there is some adjustment available. The rear seat is very wide and I have sat in the pillion position once while stationary on the main stand and could easily reach the foot-pegs. It felt comfortable despite it being wide.



The Firenze clearly looks like a maxi-scooter with lots of plastic around the front and a long, wide seat area. It has one small storage compartment for a mobile phone or similar and another bigger lockable glove box at the front. It has a couple of drink holders and some more storage for small items on the central tunnel near your feet and I guess this could be useful to some. The under seat storage is enormous and my large flip type full-face helmet fits easily with lots of room to spare. It looks like another smaller open face helmet would fit in as well but I prefer to use this space for my wet weather gear and the other "stuff" that seems to collect over time. There is a light in the main storage compartment which is handy at night and the seat is held open with a hydraulic rod.



The lights on the Firenze are stunning! On low beam the headlight provides excellent lighting in front and quite a way to each side. The separate high beam light is also very bright. I used to ride around using high beam all the time on my Peugeot but I can't do that on the Firenze without getting flashed by oncoming drivers. There are LED lights around the separate high-beam headlight which no doubt look "cool" to some but their purpose escapes me. Unfortunately, the fog lights do not meet Australian Design Rules so there is a cover over the fog light switch. It does have a hazard flasher switch for all four indicator lights to operate at the same time. This is well thought out as you can turn the hazard lights on and lock the ignition and they cannot be turned off until you turn the ignition on again.



The LED tail light is brighter than most other bikes and scooters which I think is a good safety feature. I went on a scooter group ride recently and there were lots of comments from the other riders on just how bright and noticeable the tail light is during the day. The only down side is that if any of the LEDs fail then I understand you have to replace the whole tail light unit or, if out of warranty, maybe just accept that some of the 20 individual LEDs are not working.



The main centre stand is very well balanced and does not take too much effort to operate. In fact it takes less effort than my old Peugeot (the extra weight of the bike is not noticeable when operating the centre stand). There is also a side stand that is linked to the kill switch. I think this is an excellent feature that should be on all automatic scooters with side stands so as the engine cannot be run when the side stand is down thus avoiding the risk of accidentally twisting the throttle and having the scooter run off the stand and fall over. I did park it on a slight down hill slope recently and was not confident that the side stand would hold so I am getting into the habit of using the centre stand all the time. There is no parking brake which would help make the side stand more secure although one can easily be improvised with some Velcro wrap-around tape or releasable cable ties.



One feature I really like is the foldable mirrors. I have to park my scoter in a tight space both at work and at home so being able to quickly fold the mirrors in when parking is a real bonus. They are mounted forward of the steering column and screen on the front moulding and give good rear vision to each side but not quite as good vision directly behind you. A standard mirror mount on the steering column is available on each side so I will see if installing a standard mirror on one side may help give vision directly behind; a slightly convex "blind spot" mirror is another option I am looking into.



The fuel cap is released by turning the ignition switch to the left without pushing the key in. The cap is spring loaded and you simply push it back into position until you hear the locking click. I am not sure how durable this will be over time so I am being careful when filling up and when locking the cap. The filler is located low to the side of the centre tunnel near your left foot. I guess this is good in that it keeps petrol well away from the storage areas. I assume the tank is around the foot well area so this will keep the weight low. There is no kick start option included on the Firenze.



One of the surprises to me with upgrading from a 2 stroke to a 4 stroke is the improved fuel consumption. I managed to get 22km per litre (around 4.5 litres per 100km) on my first few fills. I have managed just over 270km before the reserve warning started flashing and the manual states that there is 1.2 litres left at this point; this should mean about 25km to go. I am expecting the fuel consumption will improve a bit as the engine gets run in.



Some of the other features include a 12V accessory socket in the glove box for a phone charger or similar; a trip meter; an oil change warning light with reset switch; and, a very handy digital clock that is easy to read while riding. A claimed security feature is an ignition cover that can be activated using a matching part of the plastic key end to prevent anyone trying to force something into the lock. It works by requiring the magnet embedded in the key end to unlock the cover. A quick test confirmed that it is not easy to unlock the cover without the standard key end (unless maybe you carry a magnet around with you as well!).



There are only a few accessories currently available. Givi in the UK do have a top box case carrier (SR230 - MONOLOCK case carrier) but I am not sure how easy this is to get in Australia. Futurescootering.com has some accessories that look interesting. Have a look at his modified front panel, chrome steering column and side mirrors with LED turn lights!



I am a bit surprised that there are so few Internet forums discussing this bike as yet as it has been released in the UK and elsewhere for quite some time.



Human nature is to justify ones own purchases as "the best" but trying to remain objective I have only found three "negatives" so far. The first one is the lack of third party accessories, especially a larger wind screen or "laminar lip"; the second is the weight of the scooter; and the only other one is a pet issue for me - the indicators are not audible. Most of the other scooters made by Sym seem to have excellent audible indicators but not on the Firenze. Oh well, the mods to the screen and getting audible indicators are now challenges for me to solve! I am now off to the gym to solve the weight problem (in more than one way!).



I will put updates in the comments section as I gain more experience with the fabulous Firenze.

Was this review helpful? 3 0