[frugality]

Greetings all from a newbie making his first post. 8)

I'll cut to the chase with my question first: I'm keen on this new Burgman 400 Type S. I've never driven any maxi-scooter, but am tempted to put down a deposit on a new Type S. In your estimation, will it be possible to get one for anything less than MSRP? Suzuki's site lists the Type S at US$5849. If other people have regularly paid less than MSRP, then maybe I'll wait and see what I can get one for when they arrive at dealerships. But if it doesn't look like these will be discounted much, if at all, I might put a deposit down on one in advance.

I perused this forum quite a bit last fall. Thanks for the great board! My motorcycling history is short. I'd never ridden but always enjoyed cruising in the car, so last year I bought a 1990 Honda Hawk GT, a 650 V-twin naked bike from a coworker. I passed the MSF class and put a couple thousand miles on the bike. It was O.K., but something wasn't right. It has more of a sport bike position, especially with lower than stock clip-ons. Even though I'm a 32-year-old single male and people think I should be on a motorcycle (for improved image), I'm one who just enjoys tooling around. Touring is more my style than sport riding. I didn't find the Hawk to be very practical, given no storage space and semi-tucked foot position. I do kind of like certain aspects of the unfaired bike, so my attention was piqued when I saw the Type S with its chopped windscreen and funky paint job. A different coworker is interested in buying my Hawk, so I'm looking to upgrade. Some would find it wrong that I would be 'upgrading' from a cult classic motorcycle to a big scooter... :wink:

I also have a diesel VW Golf, and one of my reasons for going with the 400 over the 650 is that I need to have a scooter that gets better mileage than a car, fer cripes sake! :wink: My Golf gets ~45mpg, which is about what the 650 Burgy seems to get. 'Frugality' is my screen name on a VW TDI forum, and I thought it would be appropriate here, too, if I end up with a 60mpg 400 Burgy.

Anyway, that's enough for a first post. Greetings to all, and I hope to one day soon join y'all as a scooter rider...

 

[pauljo]

Welcome to BurgmanUSA. The Type "S" is a brand new, and limited production, model. I think it is going to be a looker on the showroom floor too. My guess is that the dealers are going to hold out for MSRP or very close to it on those. I think you'd stand a better chance of negotiating price on a standard 400, or a leftover '04 if you can find one.

If the Type "S" were what I wanted, I think I'd just order one and pay the price. I would check a couple of dealers, and I would look for a deal that at least didn't tack a lot of "add-on" fees to the price. If you are totally driven by frugality, look for a leftover '04 and try to beat the dealer up on price.

 

[JD]

Welcome to the group!! I don't blame you for wanting the Type S. It's a beautiful machine. 8)

 

[Randy]

frugality,
Welcome - If the types "S" is what you like but you can't get a better price because it's so new, you could look into a "standard" at a good price and then order the parts for the "S" and convert it yourself.
-as it happens I am thinking about doing this myself.

 

[lilleyen]

frugality,
Welcome - If the types "S" is what you like but you can't get a better price because it's so new, you could look into a "standard" at a good price and then order the parts for the "S" and convert it yourself.
-as it happens I am thinking about doing this myself.

The only difference is the black wheels, smaller windshield and red paint.
For this they charge you premium prices :?:

I saw one at the Toronto show in Dec. 2004

I like the regular one better. Classier.
Moot point as I'm getting the 650 anyway, but thought I'd ad my two cents...

 

[billmeek]

Welcome to the BurgmanUSA forums frugality. Glad to have you join us.

There are several dealers that sell Burgmans at less than MSRP. You could get prices from them and use it to negotiate a better price from your local dealer. Here's a couple just off the top of my head that offer good deals on new Burgmans :

http://www.procycleusa.com
http://www.hondaeasttoledo.com/
http://www.abxtremesuzuki.com/

 

[NormanB]

Hi Frugality

Welcome to the Forum :hello2:

If I may be so bold I think you should reconsider your motivation to buy a Burgman - any Burgman.

You buy a Burgman for fun and to banish the chore of ridin in a cage.

If you are doing it to save money over and above your Golf you are chasing an illusory target - particularly in the land of low gas prices. Even in the UK I do not think the sums add up as fuel is just one relatively small part of ownership costs. Depreciation, vehicle insurance, tax together with servicing and maintenance costs -all add up - so to speak.

Nope - do it for fun m8 (the numbers detract from that!! :lol: )

 

[frugality]

Thanks for the welcomes. :hello2:

I may have played up the 'frugality' thing a bit too much. Actually, I'm looking to ride mostly for kicks, not as a fuel savings. I'm just looking more at the 400 partly because of its ~60mpg (US) vs 50mpg for the 650. Too bad there isn't a diesel motorcycle option. (there's a company that retrofits Kawasaki KLR650s with a diesel thumer for the US military, but it's not for sale to the general public unfortunately.)

Given that I'm riding solo, it seems that the 400 should have enough oomph for me. I've just got to wait until the snow melts so I can try out one of these scooters when they arrive at the local dealer. But thanks for the heads-up on MSRP. Looks like if I want the Type S I'll plan on paying MSRP. I'm not so keen on either the blue or silver. Everything seems to be silver these days. The most popular car color has been silver for quite a few years now, and everything from PDA's and cell phones to toasters seems to be going with this silver trend. Maybe I'll find a slightly used Burgman, take the body panels off, and paint them golden yellow to match my helmet and give it some pizzaz.

 

[billmeek]

Honda East (one of the links I listed above) lists the Burgman 400 Type S for $5,099. $750 less than MSRP.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Too bad there isn't a diesel motorcycle option.

Well, if you are independently wealthy and want to provide some seed money, there's a company that wants to build a diesel/electric hybrid sport bike. When I first heard of them a couple of years ago, they wanted $5K up front and they would build a bike for you, with you watching. Then you would be your own service technician - no dealer network available! Their web site now says it's on hold because they haven't been able to raise the money necessary for research. You can give them a look-see here - impressive stats they were shooting for!

 

[frugality]

Sorry, Bill, I missed that one. I see that ProCycle has the Type S listed at $5k, but marked 'out of stock'. Honda East has the regular Burgman 400s and Yamaha Majesties at ~$5k. At least this might give me some negotiating room with a local dealer if I can show that others are going to sell the Type S for $5k.

That diesel/electric bike looks interesting. If only it'd do more like 90mph instead of its 80mph top speed. We have 70mph speed limits on freeways here, and going 80 isn't too uncommon. I'd want a wee bit more oomph in reserve if I needed to venture out on the freeway.

 

[billmeek]

Here's the exact ad from Honda East for the 400 type S :

http://adcache.cycletrader.com/5/5/7/77669057.htm

I'd call all 3 and see what they have in stock as it changes often.

 

[Seminoles3]

I really like the Type S myself and will probably drop a deposit this Summer on one. I understand the need for MPG as thats why I'm getting one as a daily commuter. I have a Nissan Pathfinder that gets 16 MPG and I'm gonna leave it in the Garage.

 

[Pete]

Welcome Frugality!
Yup, even with diesel for propulsion, petrol is a hammer.
See what a plethora of stuff you get here!
The lardy ain't a "sipper." I did better with my 3 cyl "Chevy" Sprint (foot to the floor with the A/C on). Alla that aside, however, the big burg's range bothers me. 4 days later (or 3) I have the gas tank readout "yakkin" at me - (flashing its dog/canine-based "I'm here,I'm here,I'm here,I'm here,I'm here!!!! dammut I AM HERE!!" (sigh) around a 'bout a hundred and thirty miles (or so).
Has anyone drove a 650 to dry!?
Long distance? well don't count on the burgy's tank (as with other bikes.) The 400 will probably get you past or better than the micro car market gas mileage figures but...the 650 is, at best, "on par" with economy cars notta whole lot better.
a lithe scooter based deisel (turbo?) a blown one or two "lung" scoot?
that'd be cool.
aint happnen tho.

ciao.
pete