Modern Vespa

Yes, I know it's not a Vespa/Piaggio test but I thought it was fair. If you search they also tested a Lance Cabo too.

https://www.motorcycle.com/features/sym-fiddle-iv-scooter-review-first-ride.html

I see that Alliance is still importing them..... But SYM makes great quality scooters. Like I mentioned before, the CityCom 300i is a lovely scooter plagued by shoddy support in the USA. What a shame. A few friends have Cabo 200i scooters as well and they love them. A local dealer sells SYM and they have the Jet 14 200i on the floor. I should pop in and check it out one day.

The Fiddle series has always been a nice retro styled scooter.

Thanks for sharing.

Apparently the reviewer has seen a Vespa Primavera and rode a Honda PCX 150, and that's all he has to compare this thing to.
It would be a decent value at about $2800, but it's not one of the well made in Taiwan scooters people associate with SYM. For reasons unbeknownst to people in the business, SYM has tried to build market share by offering dealers great margins, compared to the big four. Kymco did it too when they first came out. The way they do this is to mark up the price so it doesn't make financial sense to buy one, and they get a lot of first time buyers, but when the buyer is ready to move up, the difference in price between a Honda or Yamaha and the SYM equivalent, is not something a lot of repeat buyers go for. So a dealer will make a lot of money selling a few bikes to people who don't come back when they want something bigger. The distributor also puts incredible margins into the parts department, at a time when Honda and Yamaha have gotten very reasonable on most of their parts, and then don't bring over any parts. The idea is that these won't need spare parts for a while, being new, and so there is no need to bring over a container full of body panels, mirrors, lights, etc.
Decent bike, overpriced, and it's a Lambretta tribute, not a Vespa Primavera copy.

Carter Bros screwed SYM in the US and Alliance is still recovering from their screwup. My HD200 was a great scoot and I'm glad I bought it (though I owned a Fiddle v1 and it was a bit rough).

I don't have any first hand experience with Alliance except for this. I was emailing Dave Harrington of Just Gotta Scoot which is now defunct. He intimated that, in addition to major manufacturers, he was black balled by Alliance too. Incorrectly I learned.

How? I sent a snarky message to Alliance through their website that I thought it was bad business to stop letting Dave evaluate their scooters. I included my cell phone number and hit enter thinking it would go to the dead letter office. Not five minutes later Mike Hickman called me back. He said that No, Harrington wasn't black balled by them but that appreciated Dave's evaluations since Dave didn't accept advertising and didn't mince words on a scooters strengths and shortcomings.

No, I haven't tried to buy parts or scooters from Alliance's three companies but if someone takes the time to call me, a nobody, to straighten out an issue I wouldn't hesitate to buy a product from them.

Motovista has more real world experience behind the scenes, and the semi-local shop that my SYM came from also had real world experience with Alliance. I had to order parts for my CityCom 300i and made sure, twice, that the order sheet was correct before submitting it thru my at-the-time Lance dealer. I not only got the wrong parts but Alliance said it was the ordering dealers fault, and the dealer blamed Alliance. Re-ordered the parts and again, got the wrong parts!

Then when I finally got the scooter up and running, with the correct parts, I spun a end bearing on the variator side and junked it. I think it had 60,000 miles on it, the first 40,000 were HARD miles. So when it came time to replace it I went with Piaggio. I know no scooter company is perfect but I have faith when ordering thru AF1, and have always got the correct parts.

I'm not sure if Alliance has gotten better. Like Motovista stated, my 2 friends with Cabo 200i's have obviously not had issues because they are new with low miles. One did upgrade to a Yamaha Xmax 300 but his old Cabo is still blasting around last I heard.

That SYM seems like a nice scooter....but very strange to read of starting troubles at 50°F with its EFI set up!
My 2012 Kymco LIKE200I continues to start instantly ....very rapidly settling onto a perfect idle....in temps ranging from 103°F down to 5°F. Pouring rain makes no difference to the Kymco EFI.
My 2017 Liberty S is nearly as good.

I once looked hard at SYM products when shopping my first scooter.
A rural HVAC firm had the entire model range for sale.....out of a new garden shed next to their shop. "Had to let the receptionist go, and sadly our mechanic quit last month - but he said these are pretty easy to repair. "

I bought my LIKE200I from mega bike shop, closer to home.
O.S.

Unlike the careful prep a loaner Japanese scoot gets, the SYM only got released from its crate and ridden around a parking lot before being released into our clutches. We're told there's a simple idle adjustment screw on the side of the throttle body to make starting from cold easier, but I'd need to remove the "seat bucket" to get to it, which appears pretty easy. But, as it turns out, after a couple weeks of riding around and getting 60 break-in miles on the little dear, she starts easier and runs better/smoother: the smell of fuel during warm-up is way less noticeable.

It's worth noting that unlike a scooter bought from a dealer this one didn't get the prep it deserved. Taking off the seat bucket from an "Asian" scooter these days isn't an exercise in frustration anymore and if he had done so the problem may have disappeared.

On a side note I have a 169cc engine in my latest acquisition. When I first got it the scooter wouldn't idle without throttle held open for a minute and a half after which it was fine. That problem vanished after 250 miles and I have a carburetor. He said the problem got better after only 60 miles. I'm sure by the time 250 miles passes under his wheels the fuel injection will work properly at most temperatures.

Again, I'm lost here. You don't adjust things on an EFI engine. Throttle cable stop maybe....but even that wouldn't be necessary on any properly engineered EFI. Nor do you touch the throttle on starts.
And according to my dealer the only thing they did to my Chinese made Kymco was put the mirrors on, test the battery, look at the dipstick, check tire PSI, hit the front axle nuts with an air wrench, and put in a qt of SHELL.
A lot of Kymcos are assembled in China.

O.S.