Hi to all from Melbourne, Australia!
I just joined and thought I would share my experience so far with my Kymco Like 125 which I have owned for about 2 months now. This review is also on
www.scootercommunity.com.auApr 13 2011Well, after having done a grand total of 803km in 2 weeks and just completed my first service; I feel I can now write a somewhat more comprehensive review of my new scooter.
This is the first scooter I have ever owned, after getting my permit in early March I rode around on my dad's old PX200 for a couple of weeks, but given the age and impracticality of the thing, I figured I would go buy my own (modern) scooter. After a bit of research and visiting a few dealers I settled on a Kymco Like 125 in black, it seemed like a good bet for a first scooter, and considering I know nothing about them, the good reviews and general comments on Kymco quality helped seal the deal.
Firstly, I feel that the Kymco and I are a good fit, I'm 22, 178cm and weigh 67kgs. I find the seating position very comfortable, the seat is well padded and has plenty of room, all the buttons and switchgear are within easy reach, the speedo is clear and legible day or night and the scooter is not too heavy.
I find that it is a very easy scooter to ride, perfect for a learner. After putting just over 800km on the clock the engine has started to open up, and performance is more than adequate, easily pulls away from traffic at the lights, and cruises along at 80km/h no worries, so far I have not tried to push it any faster than about 80, but I can tell that there is a little more in it. It will maintain uphill speed no problems, for those of you that know Melbourne, riding up the hill on punt rd just past swan st, the scooter easily maintains a speed of 60km/h, could even go faster. I find the ride to be quite firm, some bumps that you would hardly feel on the PX200 cause the Like to crash a little, it's not so bad that the ride quality is poor, just a firm ride. The scooter handles well, and I feel confident in its road holding ability. Road through the torrential downpour we had in Melbourne this week without any problems. The brakes are fantastic, much much better than the PX. Twin discs means that the Like pull's up very well. I also find that the headlight does a great job, both low and high beam.
Practicality is also good, and one of the reasons I decided on this scooter. It comes standard with a top box, which easily holds my helmet, amongst other things. There is also under seat storage, but my helmet will not fit in there. The glove box is handy, and comes with a 12V outlet. Overall the build quality seems good, especially considering the price point. There was one small problem with my scooter when I collected it, and that was that the left rear indicator was being temperamental, went back to the dealer and discovered it was simply because the globe was not sitting in the socket correctly, easy fix. No other issues so far (and hopefully there won't be any!)
Anyway, as you can probably tell, I'm really happy with the scooter, love the way it looks, drives fine, and most of all its so much fun! Love riding to work every day, rain or shine.
Apr 17 2011So I had my first little incident... (hopefully it will be my last too)
I was driving down Sydney rd heading away from the city in peak hour, moving slowly down the left lane, probably about 30km/h, and the person next to me, who obviously didn't see me has tried to change lanes, the front left hand corner of his car has clipped the exhaust on my rear right hand side...fortunately I managed not too tip, I fish tailed a little but came to a stop. Looked back, and the moron in his shiny new commodore sv6 sportwagon, which now has a long scratch down the front just swore and kept driving! I didn't manage to get his rego...I was a bit shaken and got off to take a look, just a small scratch and the heat cover over the exhaust was pushed in slightly, nevertheless it’s fair to say I'm really annoyed, the scooter is only about 3 weeks old and has done just over 1000km (I do a fair bit of driving). More disturbingly, and the point of this post, is that I have noticed that now the scooter has developed a shudder on take-off, I'm not sure whether the accident is the cause. But basically when I take off from stand still, once I hit about the 10km/h mark as I'm accelerating the scooter shudders and vibrates for a brief moment, the shudder is stronger if I'm accelerating slowly, and not nearly noticeable if I accelerate hard. I'm concerned about this. Any ideas on what might be the cause? A friend who has a Piaggio Zip 100 road it and said he reckons there is nothing wrong and it’s just a bit of vibration, but the scooter never used to have this vibration before..
Apr 21 2011 I popped into the dealer yesterday, spoke to the mechanic, he put it up on the stand and said he wanted to take a look at the clutch. I waited about 30 minutes and was back on the road at no charge. Scooter now running fine again
Very pleased with the service from the dealer, and despite this hiccup still in love with my scooter! 1300kms and counting!
May 12 2011Anyway, latest update. I stayed at my partners place in Prahan last night, had uni this morning in Bundoora, about a 22km ride. Melbourne weather put on its best this morning, freezing cold and pouring rain, many of the intersections flooded. This was probably my longest ride so far in heavy rain, plus there was the morning traffic.
I should mention I have no rain gear...haha. So I took a very slight detour on my way to uni, went past my dealer and picked up a pair of rjays rain pants, my last $30 for the week (is that a good price?). ahhh, much better, well spent I think.
The Kymco, as usual, handled everything well, and I got to uni on time and mostly dry! Copped a few pitiful looks on the road from people in there cars...pfft, if only they knew how much I was loving it!
May 15 2011So tonight out of curiosity/boredom, I decided to take the scooter onto the freeway for the first time. I'd been wanting to try for a while, but was waiting till the motor had been properly run in.
Anyway, I layered on all the warmest clothing I own and headed off. Got on to the Eastern Freeway at Hoddle st and headed down, getting off at Chandler, not far, only about 3km. On the way down got the Kymco got up to an indicated 100km/h. So I'm guessing it was actually somewhere between 90-95km/h (The manual says max speed is 95km/h). It's a flat run. I weigh 68kg and there was no luggage on board, just a full tank of petrol. I was kind of hoping to get a little over an indicated 100km/h, but I was full throttle and that was the most I could get (is this reasonable for a 125?).
I've noticed since owning the bike that once you hit about 70km/h you start to feel a slight throbbing vibration through the floor board and in the handle bars, nothing that makes the bike feel unsettled, just a slight throb. The faster I went tonight the more frequent this vibration became, and at 100km/h the scooter still felt stable, despite this vibration. Is it normal for the scooter to have this sort of vibration at speed?
On the way back up the freeway toward the city, for some reason I could not get the Kymco to go any faster then just over an indicated 95km/h. I don't know why, perhaps theres I slight incline on the way back.
The dealer had told me when I bought it that this scooter would be unsuitable to take onto the freeway, but after tonight I'm not sure. Is it o.k. to take a 125cc every once and a while down the freeway for a short run? I would only need to do so very infrequently, but like I said, I'd have to be at full throttle the entire time to maintain a reasonable speed (in the left lane only of course!)
