[Mera]

I own an Atlantic 500, love it, but hills with the wife on does loses some pick up. How does the 650 handle that. Atlantic 500 max. weight is 400 lbs. and the 2 of us hit about 350lbs.

 

[Randy]

I own a 400 but I know the 650 pretty well, and you should have no trouble with a 650.
You have to remember aside from 150 cc larger it's also 2 pistons which means your getting a lot more power from the engine,
not just from a weighted crankshaft.

 

[Arby]

I have and '04 650 and ride two up quite often with my wife. The weight is around 350lbs. I don't have any trouble with any hills. Just give it a bit more gas and maintain the speed I was traveling at when I encounter a hill.

 

[JohnnyDeath]

one of our forum members also rode an Atlantic, that is 'til he checked out my 650. Now he rides the Big Burgman.

I ride two up with my wife all the time. I am 220, she is about 115. Hills, highways, mountains, city streets etc. Always plenty of power. In fact there is always power to spare, and then some!

 

[NormanB]

The Atlantic is a lovely looking machine and well put together.

Unfortunately many owners spend a long time admiring its aesthetic form while they wait months for spare parts!

It is a great machine but a single 500 is acknowledged as being at the upper limit of the swing arm design (and perhaps a tadge over it).

The Big Burger has 2 big dynamic advantages over the Atlantic. The biggest is that it is more planted, with a motorcycle engine in frame design thus reducing the sprung mass problem of the traditional scooter design. The other - the twin cylinder and increased displacement/power. I am not sure how that translates specifically in power to weight terms as most manufacturers only quote power at the crankshaft - when to make meaningful calculations you really need the real power delivered to the rear wheel (after transmission losses). But I am sure the 650 owners can (and have) give a real world performance assessment.

You will of course lose all the 'goodies' of the Atlantic, top boxes and comms stuff. You can have and fit these to the Burgman but $$!

The best course of action would be a test ride from the dealer, alternatively a swap with a friendly Burger owner on a ride out.

 

[Mybug]

Honest assessment

That is a pretty honest assessment in my book and I ride a Scarabeo but I know both Aprilia maxi scoots very well.

The big trade off is the swing arm design and styling, features, fit and finish.

No doubt the big Burgman 650 is much more of a motorcycle. I haven't had any difficulty with obtaining parts but then I've not needed any. knock on wood

Me, I prefer the Scarabeo and next I'll be on a R1200 CL. Notice the comparison in styling.

ride safe,

Mybug


ps. I'm still looking for other maxi scoot riders in the KC area.

 

[garyw0cki]

I have a Scarabeo 150 and needed to upgrade as I wanted more touring capability. Rode the Atlantic, the Scarabeo 500 and after lots of test rides, bought the Burgman 400. We have a Aprillia dealer in Vegas and he has ben great to deal with, but I also discovered the parts problem with Aprillia. I love the AN 400 and I expect that one day I'll get the 650. The 400 one up is is perfect, 2 up for a long journey would be a comprimise. The 150 is for sale, now when I sell it, if I can talk my spouse into driving the 400, HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN.

 

[pauljo]

The Atlantic is a lovely looking machine and well put together.

I agree! Oops - this was from NormanB... Oh what the heck, I'll agree anyway. :wink:

My eye kept straying to the two Aprilia Atlantics that came to Scootercade. Atractive lines, very nice colors - pretty scooters for sure.

One of these days those Italians may build the Ferrari of scooters - ultra high performance and drop dead gorgeous. Probably cost $15,000 too -and worth every penny to own one. Maintenance costs - high. Fuel consumption - high. But as long as it goes faster, handles better, looks better and sounds more wonderful than any other scooter made - I'd let one sleep in my garage.

Meanwhile, I have to stay with my Burgman 650.

 

[NormanB]

The Atlantic is a lovely looking machine and well put together.

I agree! Oops - this was from NormanB... Oh what the heck, I'll agree anyway. :wink:

Oh!
I see! :roll:

There was I, sailing along under the illusion that you adopted the contrary position to everyone. But clearly, now, it appears I was unwittingly seduced into that false dawn - that you had reserved this more intellectual of pursuits (almost) exclusively for me.
:wink:

Sir, I am honoured - now choose your weapon --- matey! :whdat:

 

[pauljo]

Sir, I am honoured - now choose your weapon --- matey!

Water pistols at 20 paces!

 

[billmeek]

.. or Burgmans on the 1/4 mile. :lol:

 

[joezeff]

Personal experience

I bought a 2004 Atlantic earlier this summer, then sold it after one test ride on the Burgman 650. I was seduced by the Atlantic's Italian styling and Indiglo dashboard when I originally bought it. It had more power than the Vespa I was replacing, but on the highway it seemed to languish in the 70-mph zone, depriving me of the power I needed to quickly and confidently accelerate away from other cars. The Burgman, meanwhile, has decidedly more pep, from the out-of-the-blocks start to the highway. There's easily enough power to quickly push from 70 mph to 85 mph and higher, which can be helpful on New Jersey highways where the speed limit is routinely ignored. The Burgman has much more storage space than the Atlantic, and much more legroom, and much more space for the pillion. The integrated passenger footrests on the Burgman are much more sensible than the flip-out footrests on the Atlantic. Another huge difference is parts availability, as ronayers.com seems to have every single body part in stock and ready for delivery, versus Aprilia, where I waited a month for a top box only to find there were none to be found. Many more Suzuki dealers than Aprilia dealers for service, that's for sure. I found the Aprilia saddle to be a bit delicate, almost like suede in how it seemed to show every fingerprint. The Suzuki saddle is more durable, and the Corbin seat I replaced it with is better yet. I'm very glad to have switched, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Burgman 650, as long as you're comfortable with a 540-pound scooter. It does take more effort to get it on the center stand and lug it around the driveway, etc. But it's worth it. Joe

 

[Brian]

...I am not sure how that translates specifically in power to weight terms as most manufacturers only quote power at the crankshaft - when to make meaningful calculations you really need the real power delivered to the rear wheel (after transmission losses)....

Suzuki says 55HP at the crankshaft, independent dyno testing says 33 at the pavement.

 

[NormanB]

[snipped]Suzuki says 55HP at the crankshaft, independent dyno testing says 33 at the pavement.

Well that would explain why it is puffing uphill with 2 up!

Thats around 4HP (Four) more than the Svelte Burger! :shock:

 

[Brian]

[snipped]Suzuki says 55HP at the crankshaft, independent dyno testing says 33 at the pavement.

Well that would explain why it is puffing uphill with 2 up!

Thats around 4HP (Four) more than the Svelte Burger! :shock:

Correction: 37.4HP SAE Corrected Rear-wheel Horsepower; 58.6 lb. ft. SAE Corrected Rear-wheel Torque.

This comes from CycleStats™ in the May 2004 Motorcycle Consumer News ®.

(I was at work earlier, and speaking from memory -- which I should know by now is a mistake.)

And who says the AN650K puffs uphill 2-up?

 

[NormanB]

And who says the AN650K puffs uphill 2-up?

Well I didn't = did you :?:

I was referring to Mera's comment about the Atlantic :? {first post at top of thread}

 

[bechtoea]

Kind of long, sorry.....

Maybe I can lend some insight into the Aprilia parts issue.

My wife's Scarabeo 150 had a speedometer go out. I had called the same dealer that I had gotten a sidestand off of and they "attempted" to order the speedo. Note that because of the issues that I had heard of with parts, I sought out a dealer for the sidestand that had one in stock. This dealer was in Florida, had the sidestand, and overnighted it to me with no problem.

Anyway, back to the speedo. Aprilia never got back to them. The dealer, very frustrated, gave ME the phone number to ApriliaUSA in Atlanta. So I called them and they had an automated "press 2 for parts" and I did. I actually got a person. I never identified myself as a dealer, but he made the assumption and I never corrected him. I gave him the part number and he said they had the part. To quote him exactly, he said "those don't go out all of the time, but they do go out often enough that we keep them in stock. We have over 100 in stock right now."

Now I figured that since I was going to be ordering the doggone thing anyway, I might as well go through our local Aprilia dealer. Ironically, this dealer is pretty big, but not in scooters. They do sell Audi, Volkswagon, Porsche, and Aprilia. They called, emailed, ordered via web and phone, but could never get an order confirmation. Finally, I told them let me handle this.

I called Aprilia and got the parts manager. He said that the dealer never ordered the part correctly. He said "some of these new dealers are green behind the ears and they don't do it right." I told him that the White-Allen Auto group in Dayton OH has been around for 70 years and the specific dealership is a very large Porsche/VW/Audi dealer AND if anyone screwed this up I am not betting against the 70 year old dealer group, but I will bet against a very young Aprilia USA that has a record of this sort of thing happening." Silence was all I heard.

So he then said he would order it himself and work with the dealer to get this done. A week later I called Atlanta again...customer service confirmed the part was not on order. So I got ahold of the parts guy again and flamed him. He told me that he ordered the part but it was coming out of Italy and it woudl take a while. I told him I confirmed the part was in the US already and that I also confirmed he didn't do jack to get the part ordered. I told him I confirmed he never called the dealer or did anything at all to correct the problem.

Now I could go on and on, but I think you are seeing the problem, right? I did. So I called the dealer network folks and got their song and dance to a point. Then I told them something that seemed to wake them up. I told them "say what you will, but I have spoken to numerous folks that have acknowledged that the Atlantic and Scarabeo are some of the best scooters on the market. And they have never done as I have, complained and cussed over your dealer and parts support. No, they never did that. Instead, they quietly bought a Honda or Suzuki. So here I am telling you of a problem and I am getting lip service. Listen, keep your scooters. The Chinese are coming at the 50-150cc market and the Japanese are already dominating the 250+ market. Keep making excuses and jacking the customer around. It won't get you far."

I did get a call from one of the head honcho's in parts and he did acknowledge the parts issue, stating all kinds of excuses. I told him that it doesn't bother me as I ride a Honda (had the helix at the time) and as long as I can get parts for it, I guess my wife will have to suffer."

Again, silence.

Hope this explains at least some of Aprilia's problems.

 

[pauljo]

From what you have described, it sounds like Piaggio should toss the Aprilia USA organization and assemble a new team.

 

[Brian]

And who says the AN650K puffs uphill 2-up?

Well I didn't = did you :?:

I was referring to Mera's comment about the Atlantic :? {first post at top of thread}

But...but... :?

Now wait a minute here!

You said:

...The Big Burger has 2 big dynamic advantages over the Atlantic. ...The other - the twin cylinder and increased displacement/power. I am not sure how that translates specifically in power to weight terms as most manufacturers only quote power at the crankshaft - when to make meaningful calculations you really need the real power delivered to the rear wheel (after transmission losses). But I am sure the 650 owners can (and have) give a real world performance assessment....

Then I said:

Suzuki says 55HP at the crankshaft, independent dyno testing says 33 at the pavement.

Then you said:

Well that would explain why it is puffing uphill with 2 up!

Thats around 4HP (Four) more than the Svelte Burger! :shock:

So naturally I though you were talking about the 650.

Right?

 

[bechtoea]

What got me was I told them "Please ship it directly to my house" They wouldn't. I asked them to overnight it to the dealership and I would pay extra. They wouldn't. They simply didn't seem to care whether I was happy or not. I told them that this experience kept me from buying an Atlantic 500 and that is, in fact, the truth. While I am not sure whether I would have bought an Atlantic or Burgie, the horrible customer/dealer support of Aprilia made my buying an Atlantic simply not feasible.

My wife puts on maybe 1500 to 2000 miles a season. I can do that in a month of riding to work and back. Good dealer support is required for me.