[forthguy]

Tomorrow I'm going to check out a used '03.

The bike's got just under 1200 miles on it, used for the current owner's daily commute when it's dry. Coming from a world of Beemers, I'm not even sure where to begin checking out a bike with only 1200 miles on it. That could be a dealer's demo bike.

In particular, this bike had a low-speed (not a no-speed) tip-over on the right side. It was enough to justify replacement of the right lower trim piece, but resulted only in light scratches on the right mirror and the right rear "fender", and a scuff on the shiny coating at the front end of the muffler. That damage seems minor enough to me not to warrant too much concern, but I don't know what the underpinnings look like in the affected areas. The current owner has sent me reasonably high resolution photos of the impacted areas, and they do look rather minor, actually more like a parking lot tip-over than something at any speed. But then, I'm not really sure what the characteristics of a Burgman tip-over are. (I know that a demo BMW K1200RS tipped over in a dealer's parking lot because the rider didn't get the sidestand all the way down can result in around $3700 in damages. DAMHIK.)

Outside of the checking out the level of damage from that incident and the other usual items, such as condition of tires, general appearance, oil level, etc., are there standard nagging items that could affect a 650 with so few miles on it? I gather that the other items people have had problems with (wheel bearings, others?) have tended to pop up later.

Thanks.

Greg

 

[JD]

I'm not sure what to else to tell you to look for, but I am sure someone here will. I just want to wish you good luck, hopefully you get a good deal on it.

 

[Randy]

forthguy
Really sounds like you got it covered, The only other thing I could think of is check with the dealer to see if at least the 600 mile service was done, maybe he knows something about the accident. It sounds minor and if the parts were replaced then there should be no problems as most plastic parts clip to them selves or the body -if something were bent you would have a problem replacing parts--
Hopefully someone will confirm that ,because I am thinking about the 400.

 

[Jim]

forthguy welcome,

I have an 03 with 8,200 miles on it. I guess other than overall apperance, if the price is fair, the first thing I would do is change ALL the fluids. Engine, Trans, and Rear Drive. At 2 years old, there may be areas that are dry from lubrication, so a good going over should all that is needed. Along with checking all the bolts.

With that few miles on it I would basically do a 600 mile checkup just to be sure, it was done.

Mine has tipped over once or twice, in a parking situation, with no concern for frame issues. Minor scratches don't really bother me, I guess it's life. I never had to buy parts for damage reasons.

As for the wheel bearings I have not had any problems, and do ride in the rain. I do have the wheels off, for a yearly inspection, and or tire replacement and monitor them, but I don't worry too much about it.

Good luck and hope it works out.

 

[allwalk]

Sounds to me like a slow turn fall or stop where they were caught off guard by the weight of the machine and it went over. Nothing really mechanical to look for. I say if the price is right go for it.

 

[ScubaGirl]

Welcome!

Welcome to BurgmanUSA!

I just purchased a "project" Burgman 650 off eBay. I have to say I am impressed with the craftmanship on the actual beast. I have removed most of the plastic and so far, forks and frame look to be ok. I won't know for sure until I finish stripping it to get it to the frame shop but it took a few good hits. Check out the pictures in my gallery: http://burgmanusa.com/gallery/Scubagirls-Burgman

I don't think I would worry to much about anything from something low speed as long as it rides and drives fine. Take the others advice and change all the fluids, oil ect. just for piece of mind.

Dee

 

[pauljo]

The only repeat issue has been wheel bearings, particularly one of the rear bearings. But that has not been universal by any means. I have 13,500 miles on my original bearings and they looked good when the wheel was off for tire replacement about 500 miles back. It sounds from your description that the scraped body parts could be repaired (sanding & paint) which would be cheaper than replacing them.

 

[forthguy]

Sounds to me like a slow turn fall or stop where they were caught off guard by the weight of the machine and it went over. Nothing really mechanical to look for. I say if the price is right go for it.

Very close. I had a long chat with the seller; we ended up on the phone for about 2 hours talking about all sorts of things, some related to riding, some not.

Anyhow, it was a case of getting caught up in the grind of the freeway, seeing too late the stopped traffic ahead, locking up the rear wheel coming to a stop, and quite fortunately, not impacting anyone. Apparently, he never even came off the bike.

I have a feeling the price is a little high, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to quibble over a few hundred dollars if everything generally looks to be in good shape.

Thanks all for the comments to this point. I didn't think I had missed any issues that affect these guys this early in their lives, but I figured I'd check. As for the 600-mile service, I'd always figured I'd start it with a full slate on my own. Just seems like the thing to do.

At this stage, I'm unsure that it's had an official 600-mile service. Does Suzuki put standard weight engine and tranny oil in, such that an extra 600 miles shouldn't be any big deal just doing it now after 1200 miles? (The engine oil was actually changed within the last year; it just isn't now clear to me that the transmission and final drive oils were.) Obviously, I'll try to get all of these details from him tomorrow.

My search for a 650 has been going on for a while, and I'd hate to pass up a decent deal for some minor quibbles. On the other hand, I'd hate to buy something that's likely to be trouble because it was treated poorly early in its life.

Greg

 

[jkrerol15]

scootergirl, I hope I didn't miss this already, but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to that Burgman? It doesn't look like it could have been treated much worse.

 

[Robert]

Even a no speed fall can tweak the forks. I'd suggest riding it, and paying to have a mechanics check done on it (check cylinder compression, wheel bearings, plug condition, fluid levels and conditions...).

 

[Edwljoseph]

Unless I missed it, what is the price?

 

[forthguy]

Unless I missed it, what is the price?

The answer is, too much. $5950.

The description was a couple of scuffs. As I learned more, I became a bit more concerned, which is when I posted here. I would have felt the need to talk him way down from that price, and even then, it's not clear how happy I would have felt.

I notified the seller than I'm passing. I can get an OTD price from a local dealer for a 2004 for only about $800 more than the "OTD" on the used model plus possible repairs. Peace of mind (I'm now fairly certain the 600-mile service was never done), warranty, etc., may easily pay for the $800. He forgot his cell phone yesterday, so we missed our appointment for me to see the bike, which gave me time to start poking around at what local dealers were offering.

Greg

 

[WLB :>)]

It sounds like you've already made up your mind, but there was a recall of a group of 2003 650's... read about it here.

http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2216

 

[pauljo]

That was never a recall on the Burgmans.

The information from the Yahoo list calling this a recall was not correct.

Suzuki would replace a gear spacer under warranty to reduce the diesel noise at idle somewhat if you pursued it with your dealer. The "diesel noise" at idle still remains, but not as loud. The 04's still have the noise (at the reduced level), and I'm betting the 05's will also. Suzuki has always maintained that this is not a functional concern. I had this fix done on my '03, but it was hardly worth doing.

The clutch issue was fixed at the factory or at the dealerships before most of the affected machines were sold. Mine has the punch mark showing that the problem was fixed. You can check the link given above for the serial number range affected, and also where to locate the punch mark showing it was fixed. The dealers have a "service bulletin" on this, but it is also not a recall.

 

[WLB :>)]

Thanks for the clarification. A friend of mine is buying an '03, and thanks to this board we were able to identify the bike he's buying as one that didn't have the service bulletin performed. The dealer will do the work before he picks it up.

WLB

 

[pauljo]

Thanks for the clarification. A friend of mine is buying an '03, and thanks to this board we were able to identify the bike he's buying as one that didn't have the service bulletin performed. The dealer will do the work before he picks it up.

WLB

Excellent! I am glad you were able to spot that for him.

According to the service bulletin, with the defective clutches catastrophic failure would generally occur within 500 miles of riding. My dealer also said that sometimes the person doing the repair forgets to do the punch mark. Regardless, if mine did not have the punch mark, I would have had it torn down for inspection. Better safe that sorry! :wink:

Additionally, the one catastrophic clutch failure that I know of occurred just after the 650 went out of warranty, well beyond 500 miles. Suzuki did treat it as a warranty repair however.