SYM Citycom 300i...WOW LOL By Bashan (Read 10,561 times)

[Bashan]

Yeah JV, Cookees did me a big favor, he knew I wanted a SYM so bad I could taste it. I was talking to him and told him my wife wanted me to get a scooter that she wouldn't have to worry about it breaking down during my commute. He said do you want my demo SYM? I tried to say yes but all I could do was gurgle and squeak I was so excited. It was his ride for a year and had a 1,000 miles on it. I knew it had been serviced correctly and not abused. He gave me a great deal too (thanks Tom). I'm telling you people, when Cookees runs a special and puts it on Scooter Doc, he's not kidding when he says he will cut a great deal. If you need a scooter and he's running a sale...jump on it. It showed up in perfect condition without a scratch, and still is. I have 4,000 miles now and it runs better every day. I swear to you, this isn't hype, it just keeps getting faster and I haven't did anything to it other than change the fluids. The valves are quiet and it starts instantly. Sometimes if the speed is just right and the air is just right, with my full face helmet on I can't hear the engine. It's like I'm floating along on an electric vehicle, the only thing I can hear is a little wind noise, it's eerie but very cool. I love it and the only way I MIGHT switch bikes is if a 400 came up for sale (TOM?). Rich

[Guitarman]

Cookies is OUT OF BUSINESS!

[Bashan]

No he's not, he moved down the street and is working with another guy. He still has his sales license and can sell bikes and has inventory to sell. Cookees lives, HPS is kinda out the door...c'est la vie. Rich

[Guitarman]

Ok, I'll let you get away with that one. LOL

[Alleyoop]

Same as out of business, " HPS is kinda out the door...c'est la vie." Trying to get rid of stock.

[Bashan]

I thought I'd share some more of the unbridled joy one gets from owning, AND WORKING ON, a SYM. No really, does anybody want THIS PIECE OF CRAP!!! I'm going to use it for a boat anchor and that's after Andy and I share an internet ceremony of setting fire to our scoots.

I'm at 4,000 miles. I changed the oil because it's due. I changed the tranny oil because it's due. I'm overdue on the valves so time to also tackle that. I thought getting the plastic off would be easier than Chinese scoots because of the level of engineering and the quality of the parts. OH! Foolish Earthling! I spent an hour and a half getting the side panels (affectionately called "garnishes" by SYM ) and then the tunnel cover off. Not one tab broke, not because I didn't try after I lost my temper, but because SYM makes the tabs out of lonsdaleite hoping you go insane trying to break them off while in a mindless rage.

But they're not done with you there....no siree. You know how it's actually easy to take a GY6 valve cover off? Oh those were the days! Check this thing out!!

How do you think you get those two bottom bolts out? That's right, the two you can't see. Go ahead...guess how you get them out........I SAID GUESS!!! When's the last time you used a flex? And I don't mean Lydia from college, one of these:

But see that bracket in front of the flex adapter? That's the coil bracket. That's right, you have to take the coil off before being able to barely squeeze your fingers through there to hold the flex.

I wanted to do it three or four more times but Sue was sick of hearing me shriek "kill me, for the love of God kill me, please kill me!" from the basement.

See the canister at the arrow? It's my favotite....a PAIR canister and it made it almost impossible to get the cover off!!

But finally I did and if I have one shred of energy left after lunch I'll try to set the four valves so that then I can put the body back together!

Ah ha..ha ha ha. AH HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!!!!

[cyborg]

Rich you fuking idiot,,,that was so funny i blew out a new depends on the second reading,,,MAN THAT WAS FUNNY!!!!!!! So glad i'm not the only nutcase that screams at inanimate objects and gets answers,,,,,

[Guitarman]

HA! We can light 'em all on fire and see how high they fly when the tanks go up. KA-BOOM BABY!







I only talk to myself because I crave intelligent conversation.

[Bashan]

OK, I went to set the valves and here's this deep bowl you have to get down into to set them.

I tried everything to get some tools down in there and nada, nothing worked. I couldn't even get a feeler gauge into the gap. So I called Jack and explained the situation and he said "thought the gnome thing was funny did you? Well here's how you set your valves...BITE ME! Ah ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!" I just really didn't see how that helped anything.

After much coercion, mainly in the form of a check, Jack told me the cheater's method. First, get the feelers so they will sit down in the head and choose a feeler one or two steps bigger than what you're shooting for. So the intakes are .1 mm or .004" so I went with .005":

Then turn the adjusting stem down with your fingers as hard as possible:

I couldn't get a decent pic with the wrench on but you then tighten the retaining nut with a box end wrench and do NOT hold the adjusting stem....just tighten this nut WITH the feeler gauge still in the gap!:

The gauge acts as a spacer and holds the gap open some as you tighten the whole apparatus down with the nut. Remember, pick a feeler somewhat bigger than the gap you're shooting for, some experimentation is necessary. Then finger tighten and then tighten with a box end or ratchet WITHOUT holding the stem...just tighten. Here's the amazing thing, even though Jack is hell bent on my destruction following the gnome incident...it worked...it friggin' worked without trying to get tools in there other than the bent feelers.

I also cleaned the air filter, put in a new plug, and changed out the oil with synthetic 10W-30. It runs like a scalded dog now, even faster. The other things helped but I think the valve adjustment did more than anything. They were noisy before but now eerily quiet. It was a PITA but it REALLY helped the performance. Thanks Jack, Rich

[Bashan]

Well I'm at 8,000 on the SYM and racking them up fast commuting the 84 miles to work. Something told me to look at the CVT this service job along with a oil change which I do every 1,000 miles. The oil change is pretty much like a GY6, you have your plug, spring and screen:

As usual here wasn't a speck in the screen. I wanted to show you how much comes out of the drain on the left side AFTER you drain through the plug:

So always take the time to remove the left 17mm plug, there's quite a bit of oil in there. So off comes the CVT outer cover and inner cover:

The clutch has some kind of a bearing that fits into the inner cover, I'll have to investigate this:

I had to use the big mambo impact to get the nuts off of the variator and clutch:

This is a serious clutch assembly, it weighs about 9,000 pounds:

[Bashan]

So here's the outer pulley and belt:

The clutch will need some coarse sanding to get the glaze off:

The rollers and ramps looked great, I've never seen no wear at all after 8K miles:

Here's the two belts, the new one is on the bottom. The one that has 8K on it is on top and looks kinda worn:

However, the manual says 23.5 mm is where the belt is supposed to be, both belts, new and used, are 23.5mm! Does anything wear on this beast?!:

I have to put this beaut back together tomorrow so I can ride it into work on Sunday to do some computer work. I'll post the results.

[Bashan]

I wanted to point something out here, Pete has talked about the importance of balancing a bike to increase power and durability. You can see on these pics where the variator and clutch have been marked and drilled several times until they are perfectly balanced. This really shows up in the day to day operation of the bike with smooth as silk acceleration and vibration free high speed runs. I'm talking 75 to 80 MPH, not horribly fast but it's nice to be able to see out of the mirrors at those speeds. Also, check out the beefy clutch pad arms on that assembly, they look indestructible.

[Bashan]

I was talking to Pete and he said there were probably more balancing marks on the components. Sure enough here's some more:

Pete made a good point that if there was that much balancing on the CVT imagine what they did inside the engine. He said that's why it's so smooth yet very quick. Well I'm going to put this thing back together now and try to get everything lined up like it's supposed to be. Wish me luck!

[cyborg]

Yes very important to balance everything,,,,all the energy that is wasted as vibration is now go power,,,2% here 3% there next thing you know you have a ton of power ,,,it runs cooler, smoother,higher rev limit,,,because everything is working in concert and not fighting itself and shedding power

[cyborg]

AND i'll bet you fifty bucks that the wheels are balanced the same way inside the rim where the tires go and all the shafts (engine axels everything )are centerless ground so theres no runout and finished to perfection