"My Kymco G5 125cc scooter
Over a year ago now I was getting pretty tired of using Taiwan’s public transport system to travel around the island so decided I’d get myself a scooter.
Cars just don’t seem practical in Taiwan and with the weather being more often than not sunny, riding around in the open seems to make sense.
That and I come from over a decade of bicycle commuting so it really wasn’t that much of an effort to switch over to motorised two wheels for the longer trips (or carting my girlfriend around).
I did initially want to get a SYM Fighter (150cc) or a Kymco Racing (150cc) but decided against it in the end. Both scooters look nice and flashy but with parking outside being the norm here, even with an electronic alarmed disc lock, I’d always be paranoid about it getting stolen.
In the end I managed to find a great compromise in the Kymco G5 125cc.
When I went scooter hunting, I pretty much had two considerations;
- It had to be black with minimal logos/stickers
- I had to be able to zip through traffic like I could on a bicycle
Mileage wise I seem to be getting over 120km out of a 5L tank which suits me fine on Taiwan’s stop start roads. When I bought the bike it had 7000km on the odo but in the year or so that I’ve owned it I’ve managed to get that up to over 25,000km.
The instrument panel is pretty basic;
Big circle thing is a tacho, electronic speedo + fuel guage, green indicators up top and various warning lights (oil/battery/some water tap looking one) and your blue high beam.
No problems to report mechanically other than me speedo cable coming loose and needing to be refitted (which was free with an oil change).
Maintenance wise the G5 is pretty easy to look after. I get the oil changed every 1000kms, the gear oil at 5,000km and the air filter at 10,000 km (I was getting the air filter done at 5,000 km but it kept coming out looking brand new).
Being electronic, the G5 doesn’t come with a kickstart. This initially worried me seeing as I’ve got no way to start the scooter should the battery fail, but thus far I haven’t had any problems.
With the amount of scooters in Taiwan I assume Kymco know what they’re doing in not supplying one. God help me if the battery ever fails in one of Taiwan’s remote mountains though…
All in all I’m pretty happy with my scooter. It’s no mini sure but it gets me around Taiwan over distances the bicycle can’t without a few extra days up my sleeve. Being 6ft1 I would like something a bit more relaxed and bigger but again the thief factor comes into play. Unfortunately anything other than a bog standard scooter sticks out like a sore thumb and I imagine is highly targeted by thiefs.
Bit of a shame really as Taiwan is a nice place to go for some long scooter rides once you get out of the cities.
Price wise my G5 set me back $60,000 TWD ($1950 AUD). A bit high considering a new 150cc Fighter can be had for $78,000-$80,000 but it was the color I wanted and in excellent condition, so I didn’t mind too much.
Thus far apart from the stupid sticker on the front there isn’t really anything I’ve had to change. The scooter came with a nice beefy racing tyre on the front which lets me zip around and corner ridiciously low and the handling is awesome.
I did have a nice round racing tire on the back too but that had to go and get a puncture one morning in a night market area. Unfortunately I was in a hurry to get to work so just went with the best looking tyre the nearest shop had.
When the current rear wears or punctures I’ll be sure to hunt around for a decent sports tire (not that I seem to notice much of a difference between the two rear tyres, I think the front is far more important for handling).
Oh and incase you’re wondering, yes I added an Aussie flag.
Not because I’m one of those raving patriots, but rather because there’s like a billion scooters in Taiwan and it’s really easy to forget where you parked if you don’t know the area at all.
I’ve become better at finding my scooter but I figure the flag also serves as a detterent to people acting retarded on the roads and maybe even perhaps the police randomly pulling me over (not too many speak Engish here, so not much point pulling me over unless I’m doing something obviously wrong).
June 1st, 2011 at 4:42 pm yi(Quote)
LOL aussie flag. are you going to buy a motorcycle?
June 1st, 2011 at 9:03 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Probably not. There’s not much need between the bicycle and scooter.
That and motorcycles are uncommon here due to being high on the ‘stuff that gets stolen’ list.