SYM Joyride 16 - 300cc - Ridefast Motorcycle Magazine

Some clown asked, “Who comes up with a name like Joyride?” – Uhmmm…. Roxette, one of the most popular bands in the world – “🎵Hello, you fool, 🎵I love you. 🎵C’mon join the joyride – 🎵Join the joyride🎵” and I bet every single one of you sang that in your head rather than reading it. Well, go and ride the all new SYM 300cc JOYRIDE 16 and I am willing to bet that will be the image in your head next time you hear that song.

Here at the Motomedia offices we have had a long standing respect for the SYM brand. Our daily run around is a SYM GTS 300i EVO that has been ridden, abused and crashed by various team members over the last 10 or 12 years and it still keeps going. We can really attest to important stuff like cost of ownership, reliability, indestructibility and more importantly the availability and cost of parts. SYM has to be the Toyota of the motorcycle world if ours is anything to go by and just for that reason alone, the brand should be high up on your list if you’re in the market for a sub 500cc bike or scooter.

But we’re not here to discuss just the brand, but rather to introduce you to SYM’s all new offering in the S.A. market. We managed to nab the boss of SYM SA’s personal Joyride for a few days and we do understand why The Boss rides one.

The SYM Joyride 16 is a completely new offering to the market and is packed with a lot of tech and really nice features. A feature we really like is the 16 inch wheels, and the reason for the “16” in the model denotation. The 16 inch wheels just give it such a nice ride, especially on our rapidly deteriorating roads and absorbing the inevitable pot hole strikes a lot better than smaller wheels. The bigger wheels also make it a lot more stable at higher speeds and fun in the corners as well.

Another new feature is the adjustable windshield height, albeit only two positions and that you can only do it while stationary with the correct tooling, but it is there and can be suited to the height of the rider. Full LED lighting all around not only improves visibility at night but also makes you more visible to other road users during the day. The stylish, uncomplicated LCD display is easy to read and fairly intuitive.

This next one is a bit of a bane in our lives – keyless ignitions, very cool idea, but we inevitably misplace the fob or ride off with it, on another bike. Maybe we are just too old school. The keyless system 2.0 is claimed to be more user-oriented and easier to operate. Uhmmmm…. Jaa, it took us a few tries to work out how to make it stop beeping the whole time, but we got there eventually. It also has an emergency ignition mode which allows you to start the engine even when the key fob battery is low.

The fairly large under-seat luggage box is claimed to have enough space for 2 helmets storage, we tried – unsuccessfully, so we can only imagine they are referring to open face helmets. A neat front compartment allows the riders to put their phones, wallets, or gadgets inside. This is also where you can find the USB charging socket.

The Joyride 300 has ABS as well as switchable Traction Control – and we can attest to its effectiveness. We parked on some wettish grass for a pic or two and then carried on with our ride. When we opened up, the back wheel broke loose and started to get a bit squirly, but milliseconds later the TCS kicked in and saved us from a very awkward telephone call to SYM SA.

“What is it like to ride?”

Séan and Glenn took turns taking the Joyride for a bit of a trundle around town for a few days and this is what they came back with:

Séan says: The first thing that I noticed is the seating position, at just on 2m’s tall I fit into the cockpit reasonably easily, even when Deon was riding pillion taking photographs we were both comfortable.

I’m tall, so my knees were higher than my butt when my feet were in the riding position, making for quite an acute angle on my hips and knees – not a huge problem bumbling around town, but might become a bit of a challenge on longer trips. Shorter people had no complaints. The cockpit is actually quite a nice place to be. Everything is where you would look for it intuitively and all works really well.

The motor is quite perky off the line and one up I saw 140 km/h on the speedo on a flat piece of road with the bodywork and windshield doing a good job at keeping the wind off of me. Where I really enjoyed the Joyride 300 was sweeping through the bends, those big wheels really do keep it incredibly stable, inspiring a lot of confidence in the handling, but still keeping it nimble enough to dodge road hazards. The brakes are adequate with just one person aboard, but two up, I’d have liked them to be a bit more responsive.

Let’s chat about the styling, there is no denying, the SYM Joyride 300 is a modern, attractive machine with its sleek lines, LED everything mostly formed into the lines with its modern grey paintwork and red stitching, it will stand out in a crowd for all the right reasons.

Other than me being a little bit too tall for it I really can’t fault it.

Glenn says:

I have an affinity for SYM as a brand – our poor old 300GTS really has made me a believer. The new Joyide is quick off the line, comfortable and a lot of fun to ride. Big scoots make a lot of sense, if you haven’t ridden one, chat to your dealer and go and swing a leg through.

Get down to your nearest SYM dealer to see it for yourself or go to https://sym.co.za/ to find your nearest stockist.