Scooter
Community

I am after any good and bad reports on the Bolwell Firenze as I am considering purchasing one. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Trev I just bought a firenze only done 600km's.

Negative points so far, , slight shudder at take of(which has improved),  which Ive been told is the belt.

 Ive ridden 2 other firenze's with same issue, one had a bit  of shudder under accelaration between 0-20kmh and it had  6000kms on the clock, the other one was new

Idles very rough on cold start up, I have to hold open throttle for 20 secs then it will idle normally, an adjustment perhaps?

Buffetting noise from screen particularly at freeway speeds, maybe someone can suggest a remedy? 

That said it rocks!

luv the lounge chair seating position, the dash, the rear view mirrors, the LED tail light, oooh yeah !

Not the quickest scoot around, but for me, in this type of scoot  I dont need it to be super fast, I just wanna sit back, take it easy and cruise baby!

I just couldnt resist this sexy beast.

I couldnt find anyone with any issues when I was looking at buying this model

 

 

 

 

Yes, I owned a Firenze 250 for a year and did 10,000 kms. I found the scooter very good overall. I especially liked the under seat light and storage, the comfortable seat for pillion also, the fuel consumption, the great head and tail lights, the overall ease to ride. I disliked the sluggish power with a pillion on the freeway with a headwind. I also disliked the cost of drive belt and rollers at 10,000 kms and the frequency of the services with ALL the Bolwells (every 2,500 kms). It seemed like I was getting the thing serviced all the time. I also was not a fan of the look of the Firenze rack that held the top box. It was quite ugly, but if you plan on fitting no top box, no problem then. Like I said, a great scooter overall if you can get it for a decent price (less than $6K on road - no more).

G-SCOOTA:

I also disliked the cost of drive belt and rollers at 10,000 kms and the frequency of the services with ALL the Bolwells (every 2,500 kms). It seemed like I was getting the thing serviced all the time.

How much did the 10,000km service cost?  " let me cringe in advance"

I agree with the 2,500 km servicing intervals,Ive done 8200kms in 3.5 months on my HD200, thats a service for each month so far

Ive got to cut back my riding to avoid servicing  LOL!

The major 10,000km service I got done at a proper scooter shop by a experienced mechanic and it cost about $360. That's not bad as most places will charge about $400-$430. That included everything basic as well as checking brake pads, coolant, valve clearance, etc. The other minor services I did myself as it only requires engine oil, gear oil & spark plug as the Firenze has no oil filter, just a mesh strainer type thing that you just clean out. The belt alone is about $160 and that must be purchased from a Bolwell dealer as the run of the mill scooter or bike shop will not stock it. Unfortunately that's the thing about Bolwell, they only sell their genuine parts to Bolwell dealers ONLY. They have the market by the nuts. There are many non genuine parts available for other Bolwell (PGO & SYM) models and they are so much cheaper than genuine and just as good but you have to find somewhere to source them. Bolwell bring in and sell some good little scooters but they all have to be serviced to frequently and that is a real pain if you are doing the kms like I do as I don't own a car. The Nexus I just purchased and other Piaggio models require a service every 10,000km but I will change the engine oil myself every 5,000km to be safe as I plan on keeping the thing for a while. Hope this helps.

The Firenze is a great scoot all round, and very capable for a 250. The driving lights and the power outlet in the glovebox are great features too.

As for the buffeting, some people suffer it, some don't. It is more to do with head height in relation to top of the screen. There is a bigger, wider screen available from Secdem (see it here: http://www.bullster.com/fr/catalogue-produit.php?id=25434&typerecherche=scooter). The Australian importer for these products only places an order with France when there is enough requests to justify the freight. As a result we have had one screen on back order for about 4 months!! If we were to get a few more requests for these screens, the importer would most probably hurry things up a bit...

The shuddering- I can only put this down to the belt, and it goes away when the belt has settled in.

G-SCOOTA:

Unfortunately that's the thing about Bolwell, they only sell their genuine parts to Bolwell dealers ONLY. They have the market by the nuts

 

They don't have the market by the balls, this is normal. We service many different brands of bike and scooter and have to source our genuine parts from other shops. For example, if someone brings a Suzuki GSXR to us for servicing we have to source the required parts from a Suzuki dealer because we can't deal with Suzi directly. Industry standard is 10% off for other dealers, so if a part retails for around $80, we (as a shop) pay $72 then about $12 postage, but we only charge the customer the $84. I can understand this, because we work very hard promoting and supporting the Bolwell (Select) brand and if they sold parts directly to the workshop down the road, that would jeopardise our business.

I have no hesitation recommending the Firenze, as would the other owners on this forum. 

G-SCOOTA:

The other minor services I did myself as it only requires engine oil, gear oil & spark plug as the Firenze has no oil filter, just a mesh strainer type thing that you just clean out.

You can do your own servicing without voiding the warranty?

 

 

the scooter shop:

As for the buffeting, some people suffer it, some don't. It is more to do with head height in relation to top of the screen. There is a bigger, wider screen available from Secdem (see it here: http://www.bullster.com/fr/catalogue-produit.php?id=25434&typerecherche=scooter). The Australian importer for these products only places an order with France when there is enough requests to justify the freight. As a result we have had one screen on back order for about 4 months!! If we were to get a few more requests for these screens, the importer would most probably hurry things up a bit...

The shuddering- I can only put this down to the belt, and it goes away when the belt has settled in.

Thanks for that option, is the screen height the same as the standard screen?

It would be interesting to know if this screen makes a worthwhile improvement?

If I use an open face helmet, the wind hits me right on my chin area.

Thanks everyone, you have given me lots of things to consider! As for the under 6k price, is that for brand new drive away?

FreedomSeeker:

Thanks for that option, is the screen height the same as the standard screen?

It would be interesting to know if this screen makes a worthwhile improvement?

 

 

All I know is that the screen is a bit higher, and a bit wider. Looking forward to having one come in and a Firenze owner trying one out. Based on the fact that ours has been on backorder for about 4 months or more, I'd say there are none in the country as yet so it will be hard to get a definitive opinion. Maybe if you shoot an email to the manufacturer in France, they might be able to offer you some tech specs... 

Hi, I bought my Firenze a couple of weeks ago & the only trouble that I have experienced is with the cold start, as it has been said, you need to hold the throttle open a bit until it warms up, then it will idle, this will be sorted with the dealer soon.

As for the servicing every 2,500 kilometres, if the oils are changed at that interval & all bolts & fasteners checked, there is no need to check the tappets or major work,( every 5,000 should surfice ) unless you thrass the guts out of it between servicing, as for changing the spark plug that doesn't need repacing until 12,000, if you buy a KLG Iridium replacement, it will last in exccess of 50- or 60,000 Ks.

As for the belt & rollers, if you use the bike as a stoplight racer, yes they will need replacing around 10,000 Ks, if you treat it right there isn't any reason that you don't get 20,000 before replacing, I'm a 65 year old Ulysses club rider & due to the old bones I have bought this Scooter to keep riding & wish I had changed a long time ago, for the money it is a great Bike

As for the price of parts, if you are prepared to buy overseas on the net you can buy a lot cheaper but remember your dealer is there to not only sell you a product but to give you good service, if you think you are getting a raw deal, tell him, everyone is approachable & all said & done we need each other for it to work.

Regards & Safe Riding. 

David

 I see from some of your specs and comments that you have met Tiny. Are you heading to the AGM? (if so see you there) But for the benifit of the scoot com, This a letter we recived this week. v\:* {behavior:url (#default#vml);} v\:* { BEHAVIOR: url (#default#vml) } 0D40C971-E6D8-4AC2-8766-EB6DA9F2B92D 3.0 Letter Letter\cream_stripes.imf Elegant Paper II Stationary Cream Stripes SU1CTDEsNDYsgUmBSYEoiYE0xZ2FTSyZKMFNiSQ0kU3BnZmZTSwwmSgkxTiRMMWRKEmBSYFJgSxJTUJMMiwwLCxJTUJMMywwLCw= cid:2D3163C8-A814-45BD-8911-CBE03F1FC37E repeat #feebd4 left 0px X-ASN,X-ASH,X-AN,X-AP,X-AD ;

Hi Just want you to know I got the new tyre's put on. And I was impressed, because of the service at Honda in compare with Susuki. Here are a few details you might want to know: Back tyre 20,000 km. Front tyre 40,000 km. Rollers and belt 16,000 km 1 Bearing at rear wheel 27,000 km Break pads 27,170 km And that is all the maintenance I had on the Firenze after 40,000km, apart from the regular oil chance.