Hi,
Anyone have any idea about this scooter and modding it for a bit more power… i know its pretty new on the market, was wondering if it was worth getting an exhaust and air filter? Any potential?
Thanks in Advance 
An exhaust won’t give you any power. It just makes a nice sound. Start with some transmission mods if you are looking for a little more power. Different pullies, rollers, clutch, and clutch spring. That should get you started. Keep the stock airfilter on for now.
Thanks for the info, really appreciate it, thought mods would kind of work the same as cars… hehe, Do you know where i can get that sort of work done? Hopefully around the Banciao area, and a rough idea on cost? With those mods, how much power gain we looking at? Sym says it has about 11bhp at the moment.
Thanks again for your reply
Performance transmission mods don’t give any more power; they use the power you have more efficiently. Usually it enables you to accelerate faster, because the stock transmission is set up to accelerate more gradually.
To get any real performance gain, you really have to do some engine mods. For me, putting on a bigger cylinder (they just take the old one off and replace it) a taller cam, and a pipe (necessary with the mods) took the bike from barely being able to go up steep hills to really fun. But you’re not going to get a GSXR out of your bike…
Cost was NT15,000.
Hmmmm… i am now wondering if it is really worth it… Maybe will have to just save up and get a 180cc bike, you guys seen the Kymco Racing King 180? whats ur opinions on it? it goes for almost $100k
I just got this scooter, too! If you wanted more power, you should’ve gotten a different scooter… this is just a run-of-the-mill scooter…
One of the easiest and cheapest mods to get faster acceleration is to replace the stock flywheel fan with a lighter flywheel fan. Basically, the flywheel fan must be spun up by the engine, and the heavier it is, the harder it is for the engine to rev up. The only drawback to a lighter flywheel fan is that when you are going extremely slow and revving in order to stay upright, you will lose some of that gyroscopic balance the fan provides.
The only mod that is cheaper than this is to completely remove the flywheel fan and the transmission housing… you get faster acceleration, AND you still get the cooling effects of air when you’re riding at speed. Now you know why you see kids riding around with parts of their scooter missing.
I think for this scooter, the rear shock is three-way adjustable, so if you put it to the stiffest, it’ll also increase your acceleration (less power absorbed by movement of the shock).
I advise against modifying your exhaust pipe… do you really want to contribute to the noise pollution?
Hi Shawn,
Thanks for the reply… I really don’t know much at all about scooters.
This is the first one i have ever owned, i used to modify my car, kind of thought mods would work in a similar way with exhaust and air filter being the first thing u modify, i too am not a big fan of noise… Thanks for the tips for more speed, learnt quite a bit from you 
.
How you liking your scooter?
[quote=“shawn_c”]I just got this scooter, too! If you wanted more power, you should’ve gotten a different scooter… this is just a run-of-the-mill scooter…
One of the easiest and cheapest mods to get faster acceleration is to replace the stock flywheel fan with a lighter flywheel fan. Basically, the flywheel fan must be spun up by the engine, and the heavier it is, the harder it is for the engine to rev up. The only drawback to a lighter flywheel fan is that when you are going extremely slow and revving in order to stay upright, you will lose some of that gyroscopic balance the fan provides.
The only mod that is cheaper than this is to completely remove the flywheel fan and the transmission housing… you get faster acceleration, AND you still get the cooling effects of air when you’re riding at speed. Now you know why you see kids riding around with parts of their scooter missing.
I think for this scooter, the rear shock is three-way adjustable, so if you put it to the stiffest, it’ll also increase your acceleration (less power absorbed by movement of the shock).
I advise against modifying your exhaust pipe… do you really want to contribute to the noise pollution?[/quote]
Hahaha, you sound like you are in high school. Bahahahaahahhah!
Wait, I do not see why I sound like I’m in high school? I was not encouraging the said modifications; I was merely mentioning them.
Well, Durbanite, scooters are indeed fun to ride around, and I would suggest not modding your scooter at all. It’s brand new and works very satisfactorily from the factory. I would concentrate more on riding technique; the first thing I would focus on is riding really, really slowly while keeping your balance. Basically, you want to be able to navigate the crowded streets of Taiwan without putting your feet down… anyone can ride fast; good riders can ride extremely slow.
Second technique to learn is leaning…
I like the scooter, but again, it’s nothing special in terms of performance. Apparently, however, it gets better mileage than a comparable-sized scooter. Another cool thing is how the trunk is a bit roomier than other scooters of the same class. Did you get the disc-brake or drum-brake version? What color? Mine is the brown drum-brake version.
Tip #1 for Taiwan: Get a good U-Lock and always, ALWAYS lock the back wheel when you are parked.
Tip #2: Always, ALWAYS turn the protective keyhole cover when you are parked (turning the ignition with a screwdriver is the easiest way to steal a scooter).
I guess you are right, maybe i shouldn’t mod this one, maybe at a later stage by another scooter and play with that…
I got a black one with the disk break. I find my rear drum break doesn’t work too well, so i am glad i got the front disk one. How is your braking with drum brakes?
I have been riding a scooter for half a year, i am okay with riding slowly, without touching the ground, (most of the time)hehehe.
Leaning however i think i really need some work, haven’t really worked up enough courage to do what i have seen some others do when cornering.
The scooter is pretty good with mileage, i do quite a bit of mileage everyday and only really need to fill up once a week or just over a week.
I do find the gas goes down really quickely when my wife is on the scooter with me. i guess thats normal though, extra weight and more wind drag.
Overall i guess it is an okay scooter…
At first i did use that U - lock, but nowadays i don’t use it much, i am just careful where i park it. I do always lock the stearing and slide the cover over and also flip the kill switch in the seat.
Thanks for the advice.
Dude, don’t let the fact that it didn’t get stolen when you used the U-lock lull you into thinking that you now don’t need to lock it up…
That said, the keyhole cover is pretty much unbeatable (for petty thieves, and except for some CPI scooters…); I do notice that a lot of people with really nice scooters also don’t employ U-locks. Still, it only takes one instance of coming back to no ride to start becoming more vigilant!
Definitely, two people uses a lot more gas than one person… I also tried ducking at speed (in the past)… and hey, it does allow the scooter to go much faster!
The drum brake blows… haha. I should’ve gotten the disc! Well, too bad for me, I guess. At least it’s cheaper to maintain and less desirable for thieves.
In order to get better at leaning, you basically just have to do it. You can work up to leaning more and more… I used to lean until the kickstand would scrape the floor… and then one day, I took a slide (because I was going too slow…) and then I became scared of leaning for a long, long while.
But honestly, it’s a good skill to have and is really fun. (You can sit further back and straddle the front portion of the seat, for a bit more body stability in leans.)
You can play with this scooter a bit, I suppose, because you’ve already had it for quite a while. But, the amount of mods/customization you can do is very limited compared to what you can do with an actual motorcycle.
Cool, will take ur advice and use the U-lock… Don’t feel like having to use public transport again… hehe, way too time consuming…
Drum brake, hehe, if ur front one is anything like my rear one, u have my sympathies… hehehe
I am slowly edging towards more leaning, i am going a lot faster into corners and i think my angle is getting a little better, just think it will take me a long time before i can start scraping the foot stand - thats hectic!!!
With removing the transmission cover, wouldn’t that damage the internals? I mean with regards to rain and dust?
Is it at all possible to do an engine swap on these scooters? maybe to 150cc?
Sorry for all the questions, i don’t know much about scooters, i am keen to learn though
The mods I talked about earlier in this thread are what you do on scooters instead of swapping engines. But you’re still going to have a ~160cc engine in a 160 kg bike. You’d be better off starting with something lighter in the first place. A GTR, for instance, weighs about 115 kg.
Here are some articles on learning to ride a motorcycle. You don’t need to read the stuff about shifting, etc… of course, but a lot of the rest of it is the same on anything with two wheels and a motor:
The transmission cover (the one I’m talking about, anyway) only covers the drive belt… so, it would only dirty the drive belt, no big deal, really.
The front drum brake is a bit better than the rear brake, but it’s still not nearly as good as a disc. However, the difference between the two may be due mainly to weight transfer (bike leans forward during stopping). Something like that.
I’ve seen this “strut bar/frame tube” on some scooters, which increases the rigidity of the scooter frame, but precludes you from carrying any groceries at the front. Basically, it runs from front to back, in the floor pan area… like this, except the one I saw was one bar down the middle: scooter-attack.com/pics/big/ag-513800.jpg
The bar would give you better acceleration and braking, because no power would be wasted in deforming the frame.
My first suggestion for a mod would be to get a set of expensive tires! Some lighter rims would also lighten the load.
According to my sources, the SYM GT Evo 125 only weighs 105 kgs…
You’re right. Didn’t know which bike he was talking about for sure, as I’d never heard of it. Looked on the site and thought it was the GTS EVO:
sym.com.tw/eng/showroom/inde … and&bid=53
Don’t know why they can’t be more imaginative with their names…
Damn, I wish I had a GTS EVO… but yes, why can’t they be more creative?! Why can’t the damn foreigner they hire to name the scooters do a better job for fuck’s sake!!!
GT/GTS and EVO are too waaay overused names in the scooter market.
I guess SYM did do an OK job, however, as there really is an older-model GT 125… and this updated version is the GT 125 EVO… get it? Evolution. Har-har-har…
I like the scooter names that are named after animals… SYM Shark, 野狼 (Wild Wolf)… PGO T-Rex…
Durbanite… here is the mod you are looking for, spotted on the streets:
Sorry for the very late reply, things have been crazy lately…
Just wanted to thank you guys very much for the pics and advice.
Still sitting on the fence though, between selling my scooter and getting a Racing king 180 or playing with this one…
No worries…
But… the Racing King 180 is still a scooter, no matter which way you slice it. If I had some money to burn… I’d just go for lightweight rims and the best tires money could buy for the GT Evo.
Sorry dear, i’m hearing first time about this scooter but i think you should buy a popular scooter cause those are more trusted than a new. Honda 125cc or Yamaha 125cc scooter is best choice.