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Hello, brand new to the board.

2K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  AlexR 
#1 ·
Typing at you from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

I've ordered a new Burgman 400 and should have it within a month (have to raise the down payment). I'm not new to motorcycling (I'm 35 years old) or scootering. I've own several types of bikes, but my faves were two Honda Elites (150 and a 250) that I owned years ago.

Anyhoo, I ordered a silver Burgman, since I wasn't fond of the black, and blue isn't available here in Canada. My immediate plans for it are to get a good Givi screen, and basically ride it all summer and fall.

I have a couple of questions, tho - What's the average MPG you get from your 400, how much did your Givi windscreen cost you, and how high does the engine rev at about 100km/h (60 mph) - ie, is it noisy? How often do you change the oil? Should I use only synthetic oil to begin with? Is the maintenance expensive?

Looking forward to getting the scoop on this new scoot.

- Darcy
 
#2 ·
I never owned any of the Elites, but I am pretty familier with the Helix which has the same drivetrain as the Elite 250. Good scoots, all of em.

Avg MPG= There are folks here that profess to getting over 70MPG, but I have yet to get that high. Over 3000 miles, the highest I have gotten is 64MPG and the lowest was 59.5MPG

RPM's at an indicated 60MPG as per the speedometer are "around" 5200RPM, but they do vary with load and throttle position as any good automatic transmission. Also, the speedo does read about 5MPH high @ that speed, which is why I said "indicated."

You can't hear it unless you stick your head down, out of the wind. What you will hear is a little single cyl engine purrin right along. If you twist the throttle @ 60MPH, the tack will gain about 1000RPM and the bike WILL take off, unlike the 150's and 250's.

I follow the owner's manual which states to change it @ 600 miles then every 3600 miles after that. I use synthetic in everything I own, but it's not required. I know this is quite a bit less frequent than the ole Honda scooters, and that's good.

The maintainance prices vary greatly between dealers, but most of the maintainance can be done yourself. The only thing I will go back to the dealer for is the valve adjustment and belt replacement, but that's more due to laziness on my part than difficulty in doing the task.
 
#3 ·
Great

Thanks for the fast reply. 60 mpg is certainly suitable.

The scoot is arriving at the dealership in another couple of days, and they intend to build the bike asap when it comes in.

Is it true that synthetic oil should only be used if it's been used since day one on a bike? In other words, should I call the dealer and tell him to assemble/fill the bike up using synthetic oil before he does otherwise?

And also (sorry about all the questions), does the break-in period really matter? I've been told by a Honda dealer that break-in isn't necessary these days with modern engines, and as long as the oil is changed early, it should be fine.

What's the worst that could happen, could the dealer be able to tell, and have you known anyone in all your years of riding to ever damage a bike engine by not adhering to the break-in routine?

- Darcy
 
#4 ·
Re: Great

Darcy said:
Is it true that synthetic oil should only be used if it's been used since day one on a bike? In other words, should I call the dealer and tell him to assemble/fill the bike up using synthetic oil before he does otherwise?
Shouldn't matter if you change within the first one or two oil changes.
Darcy said:
And also (sorry about all the questions), does the break-in period really matter? I've been told by a Honda dealer that break-in isn't necessary these days with modern engines, and as long as the oil is changed early, it should be fine.
I'd still follow the recommended procedure, and mostly just try to vary the RPMs quite a bit.
Darcy said:
What's the worst that could happen, could the dealer be able to tell, and have you known anyone in all your years of riding to ever damage a bike engine by not adhering to the break-in routine?
There's lots of things that might give away that you didn't follow break-in procedure. But if the bike is still in good shape and runs fine then I doubt they could prove that you did or didn't. Modern cars have computers that can store LOTS of data about your driving habits. The dealers can download that data (via OBD2 jack) and hold it against you if they want. But I don't think the burgmans have a data jack, so you should be safe from that.
 
#5 ·
Darcy,
I would check into the sythetic oil very carefully. I believe that synthetic oil does not allow the parts to seat properly and should only be used after you have run regular oil for a certain period of time. I don't know about the Burgman in particular but I was strongly advised against using synthetic in my Jetta till after the 20,000 km mark. I'm sure others in the know will pipe up here soon. In the mean time do some searches, there is a ton of good info in the archives.
 
#6 ·
Welcome to the BurgmanUSA forums Darcy. Glad to have you join us. Congratulations on the new Burgman 400.

Darcy said:
What's the average MPG you get from your 400
Lowest 51.92 MPG. Highest 75.83 MPG Average 59.62 Not bad considering I tend to ride a bit aggressive and cruise a lot at higher speeds which has a bad effect on fuel economy.

Darcy said:
how much did your Givi windscreen cost you
My Givi D258ST windscreen for the Suzuki Burgman 400 was purchased from http://www.cyclesaddles.com The price was $111.14 + $10.75 shipping for a total of $121.89

Darcy said:
how high does the engine rev at about 100km/h (60 mph) - ie, is it noisy?
60 (indicated) - 5250 RPMs
70 (indicated) - 6100 RPMs

Remember that the 400 speedometer reads about 6% high. At 60 the 400 single is 'singing' a bit ... but it's not excessively noisy.


Darcy said:
How often do you change the oil? Should I use only synthetic oil to begin with? Is the maintenance expensive?
I would follow the Suzuki guidelines on oil changes and other routine maintenance. I wouldn't run a synthetic oil until engine is broke in (around the second oil change). My first service cost $220 plus some loose change. $175 of that charge was for checking/adjusting the valves.
 
#7 ·
Hi Darcy,

I'm a new 400 owner (Silver as well) and the esiest way to give my opinion is to refer you to my 1000 mile review I just wrote.

http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 4446#44446

I'm getting 65 mpg average now that I push it some on the highway. I am 5'11'' and frankly, with a full face helmet, I neither need or want a GIVI screen. The stock is just exactly right for me. The comments here indicate that the GIVI will cut into your gas mileage alot.

As for the break-in period, please read the post "New Dealer Comes to the Rescue" in the general section, page 3. One of the Moderators blew an engine after only a few thousand miles, and Suzuki tried to deny his claim just because he didn't check the oile every time he rode it. Skip the break-in, and you're on your own for warranty work. Personally, I felt that although the break-in was a pain, I just paid almost $6000 US for the thing, so why not treat it the best i can? The time went fast, and since I ride it almost every day, it only took about a month to clock 1000 miles even with sticking religiously to the break-in schedule.

I get 60 mph out of mine at 5500 rpm, and the power curve goes up rapidly from there. 6000 rpm does 70 mph, 7000 rpm does 85, and I just can't see pushing it beyond that on a regular basis, so I dunno above that. Even at 85 it still has power for passing, though. I find it to be very quiet, relatively speaking, but I wear ear plugs to ride anyway to keep from getting ear aches from the wind in my helmet.

Congrats on your silver Burgy. I love mine, and i'm sure you will , too.
 
#8 ·
New to Burgman Forums.

Welcome Darcy from a fellow Maritimer! I am sure you have many miles and lots of smiles from your new Ride . I am sure you will start a fad on the Island and soon will have others on the Island to ride with. Enjoy and Ride safe./RW
 
#10 ·
Greatings Darcy and welcome to the forum. I would run the regular suggested oil myself untill at least the very earliest 3000km has passed. As far as break in goes It won't kill the 400 if you exceed the 4000 rpm limitation. However the biggest thing is not to sustain these exceeced rpms for any period of time. It's probably better shall we say pulling away from a stop to actually get the bike up to 6000 rpms or so and then back right down. Keep varying the rpms untill you have met the required mileage. These are just my opinion and not written in stone any where.
 
#11 ·
Greetings, Darcy. Welcome to the ICOBO. :hello2:

Regarding break-in, there have been several good posts here about that over the last year, including one that had a link to a site run by an engine-builder that goes into a lot of detail, has dynonometer graphs, etc.

If you use the "Search" function and use the keywords "Breakin OR Break in OR Break-in" you should get several threads.

In brief, though, I agree with what allwalk just said; varying RPMs and avoiding long, steady speeds is more imortant than not exceeding a certain RPM. Some tests suggest that in modern engines a little high-power acceleration for brief periods can actually help seat the rings better.

Anyway, good luck and good riding.
 
#12 ·
Thanks, all

I can see this should be a great board, lots of owners and experience.
Thanks everyone for your replies.

As with anyone here, I'll keep you posted on when I get the bike and someday I'll get to help some newbies.

As posted above, I see 'hrdillender' is 5'11 and the windscreen is tall enough. I'm 5'10" (and 195 lbs), so I guess the Givi isn't necessary.

And it looks like I'll take some dealer advice on what type of oil I should use. I plan to do some long road trips on this bike as well as daily commuting - I'm not one of those people you'll see going up and down the same street all night and day.

Anyone have some long road trip experiences? How's the Burg 400 for comfort after an 8 hour riding day? I know it's not a Goldwing, but that seat looks comfy...

I've ridden to Toronto almost nonstop (about 1700 kms) in 1.5 days on my Suzuki 400 and found it to be fine but tiring due to a very small fairing.

I've got so many questions to ask, like do you all know of a motorcycle club I can join that will include towing fees if I run into mechanical trouble on the road?

How about vandalism insurance? If you're not riding a Harley around here, you might as well wear a dress. I'll have theft and liability on the bike, but I'm thinking of putting some damage insurance on it in case some of the local rowdies decides a scooter is a threat to his masculinity....

I'll grill you all later. I appreciate the well-wishers.
 
#13 ·
Darcy,

Welcome to BurgmanUSA.

I agree that synthetic oil should never be used until the scooter is fully broken in. The 4000 mile service is a good time to switch over. Some say that once you do start using it you shouldn't switch back and forth. Why some say that, I don't know. I suspect there is some myth involved. After all, they do sell semi-synthetic oil blends, which are part synthetic and part natural oil.

I would definitely carry damage insurance for the first 2-3 years. Things can happen - and it doesn't always involve anyone but yourself. The classic incident was the rider who dropped his scoot in his driveway, went to pick it up, and dropped it on the other side. (Name withheld to protect the innocent.) Stuff happens sometimes, so you want to protect your investment. I carry $500 deductable insurance, which isn't that expensive. If you finance the scooter, the lender will probably require that you carry it anyway.
 
#14 ·
Re: Thanks, all

Darcy said:
do you all know of a motorcycle club I can join that will include towing fees if I run into mechanical trouble on the road?
I've never used them, but a few of the local motorcycle riders suggest :

http://www.brosclub.org
 
#16 ·
As for the seat issue, you might read

http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 4541#44541

there's a conversation going on right now about seat options on the 400. The gist of it is that it seems to depend on the butt you put on it, more than anything. For myself, the stock seat is so firm that my bony butt gets sore after about an hour. I'm designing slip over padded seat covers, I expect it to cost $30-$50 and a lot of sewing. The Corbin aftermarket seat runs $450 or so, and hasn't received the best reviews for the 400. You also might also look at "Margaret's new seat" in the photo gallery to see a cool mod.
 
#17 ·
Hi Darcy

Welcome to the board. I see that you are ahead of me and already ordered your Berg 400. Unless something unexpected happens I should be going for one as well.

Just out of curiosity what are the dealers out east asking for a 2005 400 :?:

In the mean time Good Riding :!:
 
#18 ·
My dealer is asking $7800 CAN.
It was the only silver one left in eastern Canada.
I might have been able to get a couple of hundred off, but I got them to throw in a cycle cover, and since they're nice to me about letting me pay a bit off the principle without starting the financing yet.
 
#19 ·
$100 below MSRP with some odds and ends.

It sounds like the 400 is very popular out east. Out here we still have some 2004 400's kicken around. I understand your requirment for the right color though, non of the 2004's are black, and that is the color I am going for :)
 
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