Suzuki Burgman 650
SUZUKI BURGMAN 650
CYCLE WORLD TEST
It's not a big scooter, it's a small Gold Wing
JOHN BURNS
I ALREADY KNOW YOUR first question vis-á-vis this big Burgman scooter: Will it do a rolling smoky burnout? The answer is Yes. All's ya need to do is punch it into "M" for manual with your left thumb, which drops 'er into first gear, clamp on the front brake, stand up and feed gas. No clutch technique required (just as well 'cause no clutch). From there, you can burn the rear 160/60 Battlax radial right down to the cord whilst easing off the brake and rolling away, to the delight of all the little kids playing in your toxic rubber smoke. With that ability, maybe you don't need a real motorcycle. On the other hand, I can't get the Burgman to wheelie. Cernicky?
The next question is, of course, how much? Followed immediately by the hyper-astute observation that for $7700 you could have a “real” motorcycle. Anybody who says that has never ridden a nice “scooter” like the Burgman. Ever tried to carry a Chrysler marine manifold on your motorcycle, or stopped by the store on your way home for a few groceries and a 12’er? It’s a pain in the posterior. On the Burgman, you roll up, pop the trunk open with an opposite twist of the ignition key and throw your helmet under the seat. You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need, pop the seat back open, throw your recent acquisitions in next to the 52pound Mopar manifold, and off you go. The Burgman is a motorcycle, with most of the motorcycle advantages, but it’s also half-car, and everybody knows a car is a more convenient conveyance in a hunter/gatherer society. Cmise the drive-thru, and two 49-cent tacos and a bean burrito fit nicely in either of the two front gloveboxes. No cup holders, though, which is an egregious oversight. Why there’s no CD changer in the locking glovebox in the middle, I know not, since there are grills in the plastic that look like they should contain speakers. (I’d like to be “hep” and blast some of the music the kids like-your latest Def Leppard, your Motley Criie...) There is a DC outlet.
Burgman 650
And the big pad over the top triple-clamp looks like it should contain an airbag, but I don’t think it does. Listen, I am approaching male menopause, and not because there’s anything medically wrong with me but in truth because I seek revenge against the world, I’m thinking of adopting the kilt as an annoying affectation. On the step-through Burgman, you could pull it off without being arrested. (Not the kilt.)
What you have to do is stop thinking “scooter.” Though it may look like a big scooter, the Burgman more closely resembles in both scale and performance a small Honda Gold Wing-and when you think about it like that, $7800 suddenly doesn’t sound so excessive. On Yamaha Vino 50s and Honda Metropolitans, I have out of habit ridden to the front of lines of cars stopped at lights, only to realize at the
green that I had bitten off more than I could chew-and been swallowed back up by vengeful mommies and real-estate salesmen in Excursions and diesel Benzes. Let them pull that on the Burgman, please. Hah! There’s a 638cc dohc liquidcooled parallel-Twin sitting somewhere under the hood, and whether you use Sport, Cruise or shift-for-yourself mode in the continuously variable gearbox, nothing on four wheels can touch you-“Ingrid” scoots from 0 to 30 mph in 2.4 seconds. Compared to the other Suzuki 650 I’ve been riding a bit lately, the SV Twin, it seems to me the Burgman punches through 100 mph just as easily-maybe thanks to the windscreen. The Burgman is as unblustery as any of its type at cruising speed, cruising speed for me being between 80 and 90 mph on SoCal freeways. (Law enforcement officials think it’s a scooter, too: When I found myself staring down the barrel of an unexpected radar gun at about 25 over the limit in a 50-mph zone, the officer grew even more slackjawed as I rolled past with the brakes and an innocent expression on.) Mini Gold Wing? I would go to Sturgis on this thing sooner than on any Softail, averaging around 42 mpg all the while, spent gasses cleanly disposed of through a catalytic converter. The seat’s great. The backrest adjusts fore and aft. The ride is fine; I’d call it “cushy firm.”
At 80 mph, the Burgman’s trick LCD, Honda RC51-style bar tachometer reads 5000 rpm, though there’s no hint of it from the engine room. The laydown Twin down there contains dual counterbalancer shafts. It also contains a 360degree crank, four-valve heads and liquid cooling, and wouldn’t it be cool to replace the uglyish black exhaust with something shinier and louder, and stick on Yoshimura badges or something? You got your fuel-injection-a pair of 32mm throttle bodies overseen by a 32-bit ECM, which also controls Ingrid’s SECVT (Suzuki Electronically controlled > Continuously Variable Transmission). This thing is like all the other scooter/snowmobile CV transmissions you’ve seen, just more highly evolved. The belt itself consists of aluminum blocks, H-shaped in cross-section, stuffed with rubber and aramid cords and embedded in some sort of resin-sort of a miniature tank track. Instead of centrifugal weights, the optimal ratio is continually figured out by several sensors inside the transmission as well as a throttleposition sensor, a road-speed sensor and some other things that make sense of it all. It’s all very logical.
The gray button on the left handlebar lets you choose
Normal or Power from the gearbox. Power just gives a little lower overall gearing for quicker acceleration, but I hardly ever used it. No, when it’s power you want-when the mommy next to you at the light in the Volvo turbo wagon reaches back to cinch the kids in tighter, gives you that corner-of-the-eye non-look and starts loading the thing against the brakes-then you slyly left-thumb the yellow button into Manual, and big digits 1 through 5 flash up on the dashboard. Not a bad idea to get a little heat in your tire if the coast is clear, if you know what I mean.. .then, when the light goes green (and after you check for cross-traffic mortgage brokers on the phone in Lexuses who didn’t notice the light change), you drop the hammer, and when the LCD bar tach gets to about 8, you hit the orange UP button and leave ’em all bewildered back there in the smoke as you thumb through all five without rolling out of the gas. Truly, this is suburban living at its finest.
Another thing I would not hesitate to do, especially since our test Burgman belongs to Suzuki, would be a track day-preferably someplace tight. Remember all the praise that got heaped on the Gumey Alligator? If you yanked off the Burgman’s seat and upholstered the trunk, you’d be looking at damn near the same vehicle. The engine and gearbox are right there low and central, and unlike some scooters, the rear suspension uses an actual swingarm. Also, there are 41mm fork tubes and good strong, non-linked triple-disc brakes. While I have to admit I didn’t get around to “carving” any “canyons” on the Burgman, a few freeway interchanges, etc., lead me to believe the Burgman possesses pretty damn impressive cornering clearance along with its high-speed stability. Not at all wallowy or too soft. Turning with the brakes on is not a problem, and that transmission gives good engine braking, too. It’s a tight little package. I bet I could get a knee down. I bet I could even spank the Brillo-headed Hoy er...
As usual with anything different, the experts crawl out to croak, “It’ll never sell in the U.S.,” which always seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy since nobody ever makes any effort to ’splain off-beat products like this one to the public. Whatever, maybe
washed-up motojoumalists in kilts are the Burgman target audience.
Frankly, you can wave GSXR1000s and Ducati 999Rs in front of me all day. Thanks anyway, I’ll take Ingrid. I got stuff to do. U
EDITORS' NOTES
I WAS FEELING PRETTY SECURE THERE FOR a couple of weeks, thinking I’d be able to hang onto the Burgman for a good long time. Surely, no one at the “World’s Biggest Motorcycle Magazine” would be in any sort of hurry to get a lowly scooter back. I’ll slip right under the radar with this baby, long-term loaner all the way. Alas, I hadn’t gotten past the infatuation stage when the phone rang with the lame
excuse that the other kids had to ride the Burgman in order to chum out these Editors’ Notes. Dammit! Why does anybody need a second opinion when mine’s the first?
If you live anywhere west of the Pecos, where rain is rare, the Burgman is ridiculously practical transportation with about 90 percent of your daily-recommended allowance of moto-testosterone. Sadly, since my policy is never to spend more than $5K for any vehicle, I must wait for a used one. Could be a long wait-I don’t think anybody will do without one of these once they’ve done with one.
-John Burns, Contributing Editor
A FIVE-PAGE ROAD TEST AND NOT A SINGLE sentence to explain the Burgman’s name? It derives from the term “burg,” meaning part of a city, what New Yawkers would call a burrough, Angelinos a ’hood. But what this overpriced, overachieving “scooter” ought to be called is the “Burbman,” as in suburb, because that’s where its target audience resides.
Take Bums, for instance. He might strive to give off that James Dean vibe in photos, but there ain’t no bigger yuppie nowhere, no how. The boy drinks Natural Light, fercrissake! The Suzuki perfectly suits JPB’s daily commute from his notso-humble abode in uppity East Side Costa Mesa to Dana Point Harbor, where he berths his vintage cabin cruiser. After all, it has almost as much carrying capacity while boasting far better fuel mileage and reliability than his “Jag-rolet” V-8.
Me, I’ll stick to motorcycles. If you ever see me attempting to tuck a marine manifold under the seat, please shoot me...
-Brian Catterson, Executive Editor
HEY, IF PADDLE-SHIFTERS ARE GOOD enough for the snoots in Porsches and Ferraris, then why not the GSX-R of scooters, too? Where Honda’s Silver Wing 650 left me cold and uninspired, Herr Burgman rocks on! (At this point, I’d like to sincerely apologize to the gaggle of Harley dawdlers I buzz-sawed on Ortega Highway the other day. Sorry, bros, it was a momentum thing... )
bros, it was a momentum thing... ) An)Avay, assign me a cross-country tour tomorrow and I can think of 50 “real” motorcycles more ill-suited to the task than this Suzuki. And if a gal-pal (or boy-toy) is hitchin’ a ride, the B’man has the best passenger accommodations this side of a ’64 Caddy. I’d trade out the stock windshield (a little too blustery at speed for my 5 foot, 9 inches) in favor of the optional taller screen, and an extra gallon of gas capacity might come in handy, but otherwise pack the road maps and fire up the company credit cards, I’m ready to wander.
What attire is appropriate for the long-distance scooter geek?
-David Edwards, Editor-in-Chief
SUZUKI BURGMAN
$7699
