Three weeks after I looked at the Piaggio Fly 125 at 2211 Works, I was ready to take it home. I felt like bringing a new born baby to its new home. Well of course, I don’t know what that feels like but taking home “Firebird” seemed to feel that way. Oh yes, my new red scooter’s name is Firebird. I named it after Igor Stravinsky’s opera.

Before taking it home, I had a taste of test-driving the unit just so I’d be familiar with the controls. It has been seven months since I’ve driven a scooter and so I wanted to make sure that I could still ride and control one.

Robby, from 2211 Works explained the basics which I needed to know in driving Firebird. The throttle, the breaks, the switches, what to expect, etc.

The Fly is automatic. Having gotten used to riding a geared scooter, I had to slowly learn to drive an automatic. Of course it was much simpler but it takes time to unlearn the old and adapt to the new.

It’s got an electric start and a kick start. Of course, the electric start is easier to use. Squeeze the left or right break controls, squeeze the throttle and press the start button. Sounds simple but believe me, it takes some kinda ’style’ to do all these.

The throttle. Don’t squeeze it too hard. Just a little bit and let the scooter work up speed on its own. Gently squeeze to your desired speed.

The rear break is on your left and the front break is on the right. Robby said not to squeeze the front break too tight as it really stops immediately. Actually, it was a bit confusing for me as I am used to the bicycle break controls positioned vice-versa.

Left and Right Signal light switch on the left side of the handle bar. Push to return to neutral position. This control is neat.

Ok! I’m ready to go. Oh, don’t go beyond 60kph till you reach 1000km. That’s called break-in period. Wow, I thought that was slow. 60kph. Anyway, follow the gurus and it will result to a better running scooter.

From Manila to Quezon City. That’s the trip for the night. So, I started the engine and off I went. I gently squeezed the throttle and was very cautious about it. The Fly just glided and true enough, I needed just a gentle squeeze. That’s the first thing I noticed. From stop to start, it smoothly glided and was a fast one.

Since I was bonding with Firebird for the first time, I made sure I rode on the farthest right of the road. For me, it’s not the safest part of the street but at least I don’t get to irrate other drivers with my slow pace.

Did I say slow? Oh, that was a mistake. Relatively slow is what I would say. I was running at 40kph and tried to hit 50kph. I always had to tell myself that I was driving the scooter for the first time. Mind you, in the streets of Manila, driving at that speed was just right. You can’t go any further not unless you were in the main road.

It was early in the evening and I really liked the scooter’s bright lights. It beamed a little bit high and so I need to adjust that later on. Oh, I forgot to mention. Once you turn your keys to ON position, the lights automatically switches on as well. Just like the cars in North America. They’re always on even during daytime. I found that weird when I was living in Toronto but later on realized the benefits of it. Besides, the lights are automatic so it’s one less thing to remember when I start the engine.

Compartments. It’s got one under the handle bars. At first, I thought that it’s just too small. It can only hold my cellphone, wallet and another small thing. Then I remember, it’s got another one under the seat and that’s big enough to carry my thermos, belt bag and lunch pack. Not bad! Not bad at all. If I do my groceries, I could fit some items inside the seat compartment and still manage to have a few grocery bags hooked under the seat and resting on the foot panel. Oh! And I discovered, I could put my half-face helmet inside too. No need to carry with me wherever I go. Sweet.

The horn. Now this one needs replacement. Oh, nothing wrong with the horn. It was working completely fine. It’s just that, it sounded like a bicycle horn. So faint. Definitely not for the streets of Manila. It’s just too tame.

The speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge. Very analogue but Firebird has a digital clock! That’s cute.

Fuel Consumption. Firebird has accummulated 89km and used 3/4 of the fuel tank. That’s in a week’s time. That means, Php180.00 worth of gas.

The seat. It’s long and wide. I can have a passenger and we can both seat comfortably. It’s also got a roomy foot rest for me and my passenger.

The ride. Smooth I would say. Maybe because it’s got 12″ wheels which made the ride more stable. Plus, it’s got this rear shock-absorber which really bounces so smoothly and is perfect for some bumpy side streets. As a matter of fact, the next day, I took it to Valenzuela, Bulacan and the Fly made all those uneven roads feel like they were just ’small challenges’ to overcome.

The engine. I should say I am happy with Firebird. He doesn’t seem to look extraordinary but he’s got a Piaggio 125 cc Leader engine and that makes him rock! It makes him fast and it doesn’t use up much gas. I really haven’t maximized his speed yet. I could only go at tops, 60kph and at that, he’s already flying. I just couldn’t ride past 60kph yet because of the break-in period and besides, from my house to my work place, I couldn’t drive that fast unless I come home late at night.

Oh, one last thought. If you are a femme and would like to own one, I suggest building up some muscles first. The Piaggio Fly 125 is heavy! I can move it around, no question about that but sometimes, I could do with some help from a brawn brod.

Firebird. He’s my city road hero.

Here’s no. 10 and the bike’s specs/stats as provided here.

Harley Davidson Knucklehead
Year: 1936
Power: 36 HP
Engine capacity: 1,340 ccm
Weight: no info
Top speed: 145 km/h
Rank: 10th

So are you really up to spending the next hour or so watching the remaining clips? If so, let’s proceed with the countdown from no. 9 to numero uno!

PROCEED TO COUNTDOWN!

Read my personal review here.

Long time MCP member and past President of the MIB, Dennis “Dencio” Opina, share with us his real world review of the G-Max 150.

PGO borrowed their tried and reliable tranny from the hard working two-stroke P-Max and gave it a new engine and a new angular body and called it G-Max150 EVO.

Like most of you, I never really enjoyed the running-in period of a new scoot, like I could fall asleep while riding. But I was very patient and now that my new G-Max150 has already past the 1000kms break-in period I couldn’t be any happier.

Sitting on a G-Max gives me a commanding view of the road with its 820mm seat height, an advantage when you are filtering traffic in the streets of Manila. The racy cluster greeted me the moment I sat on the Max. To make up for lack of a trip meter it offers a clock instead. What? To tell me that I am late again. Ha, ha, ha.

As a new G-Max rider I missed the big helmet bay those other brand offers but then so long as a full-face lid fits under the seat who would really mind. After a couple of trips from Alabang to Pasay I noticed my frozen bottled water is still relatively cold. My old Joyride200 compartment is so hot with just less a kilometer of traffic riding, it will fry an egg and brew me coffee.

Another one on the plus side of this new scooter are the lights -seven lights(lucky number) on the front and three at the rear. Now this comes very useful if you do a lot of riding at night like me. And the stock headlight(35W) is adequate, thanks to the OEM halogen that comes with the Max.

For the street, the G-Max is a bit on the hard side, this bocomes apparent in a bumpy road. This could be attributed to the six-bar centralized link rear suspension. Too bad its not adjustable. The Max’ seemingly hard ride on the other hand, gives me a clear feel of the road and what’s going on under those sure footed Maxxis rubber that hugs the tar like a bugger under my desk. The low center of gravity of the Max works with its 60 series low profile tyres on a big 13-inch alloy that gives it a precise steering on the street and on the race track. This scoot doesn’t just perform on curves -it excels in curves!

A claimed 11.6 ps/7750rpm of power is more than I need for the street. But I could used more on the track.Top speed of this stock scoot is about 120Kph and could cruise at 100 all day with out worry. The pull will come at about 4800rpm and as I turn the throttle wider so is my speed, and it’ll cruise at 80kph at 6000rpm. 6Krpm is just the beginning, the big pull comes past 6Krpm up to 9000rpm where beyond 9Krpm is a flat spot up to redline.

I did my own math and came up with a 34Kms/liter for mixed city and hi-speed riding, not bad. Max has a superb stopper with a four pot caliper at the front found only in sports bikes. An air and oil cooled engine means less parts to worry about, no coolant to top up, no C-clamp to come loose, no water hose to leak, no water pump to seize and no thermo switch and fan to go haywire so I could concentrate more on my riding skills.

Also, there are little positive things that I like about this scoot like the 7-point ignition switch, keyless gas cover, the EVO exhaust that gives a deep note, and that light cut off feature( lights turn off when I press the kill engine button, so I could leave the key in on position with out draining power), access to battery is very easy too, female riders will love the relatively very light effort to put the scoot to her center stand.

Hey, no scooter is perfect, compartment light is useless(drains your battery), decals sucks, digi clock reads military hour, the side stand is too tall and the mirrors are way too wide.

At an SRP of Php130K, the PGO G-Max150 EVO is a little bit on the higher price range, but then quality doesn’t come cheap.

If you’re looking for a sporty, futuristic styling, a sophisticated suspension, an ergonomic layout and a looker that will keep you smiling every time you remove the bike cover, then G-Max150 EVO fits you.