I’ve tried them all. Everything from Vespa, SYM, TBG and even some of the cheap Chinese brands which you’ve never even heard of and all I can tell you is: be very careful!

It turns out that a scooter is not a scooter. It is not like buying a car. It is more like buying a used car – you never know who is really being honest.

The truth is, in Australia you get a lot of small businessmen bringing in container-loads of “cheap Chinese crap”, rather than supreme quality. And keep in mind – some of these scooters are not even remotely safe. I’ve purchased a bunch of scooters from a mayor distributor in Sydney and found my life in danger while riding around on one of these scooters.

So here is a review of a few scooters I came in contact with over the last year that might give you an idea of what you are getting yourself into.

SYM Classic

Apparently this scooter was brought into Australia to be an introductory scooter to scooting. It features amazing SYM engineering, but lacks just about everything you need while riding it up the hill – guts!

This is a 4-stroke 49cc engine scooter. The engine is regulated. The maximum speed is 55km/hr – which mine only did downhill. Maximum speed on a 5% incline was about 35km/hr and you were lucky to hit 30km/hr on a slope bigger than that.

But the quality of the finish is quite nice. It is a Vespa rip-off. This Classic 50 looks like a vintage scooter from the 80’s but has none of the cool quality which you would expect from a manufacturer who has been building scooters since 1954.

The main problem I had with this scooter while riding it on the Gold Coast is people passing me in my own lane, swearing at me while riding on the Gold Coast highway (speed limit of 60kn/hr) and going up-hill in some of the Gold Coast suburbs. For those of you who’ve been on the Gold Coast – it is virtually flat.

So, put all of that aside, I am astonished to see how SYM has the guts to be selling this scooter at a retail price of just over $2750.

Yiben QT50

Here is another scooter to stay away from. The 4-stroke 49cc engine will give you nothing but trouble. The electrics on these bikes are horrible. One of the scooters would not start because of the way they’ve grounded the main ground. Another would not start because or wiring issues as well. While the third one I’ve tried had malfunctioning blinker lights only because the leads had rattled loose out of the connector joints. Shocking!

Top speed on a 10 degree incline was about 20km/hr and on some hills it would stop and go backwards.
I faced the same problems with this scooter on the Gold Coast as with the SYM Classic.

TGB 101S

So we started looking at the 2-stroke scooters. We came across the 101S made by TBG scooters.

This is a very simple scooter. It looks nothing flash. The design is quite ugly to tell you the truth, but the unit is put together quite nicely – quality wise.

However, TGB uses very weak cranks, shocks and other mayor components. So, this is not really a heavy duty scooter. But for those zips around the town, this one is almost perfect. And the Price is right retailing at around $1800 on the road.

In conclusion, make sure you read the customer reviews before you go shopping.

Author Bio: Are you looking to hire a scooter on the Gold Coast? Door to door Gold Coast scooter hire from Thrill Rider Pty Ltd is your best option. Specializing in Gold Coast Scooter Rental and Brisbane Scooter Rental. We deliver it to your door.

Category: Opinions
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