[bikersmurff]

Out for my Sunday ride down my favourite windy mountain road when I was over taken dangerously close buy an R1 .So the red mist came down and I was OFF. Power button on I caught him in 3 corners and over took him on the 5 sweeper scraping my knee and the centre stand.(I was wearing my leather pants with knee sliders as I had Just been down the same road on my 916 duke about 2 hours ago, and then went home to get the wife to go for a ride with her on her cruiser) well he was so shocked that her waved me over and said that he never thought that in his widest dreams he would be overtaken buy a scooter. He took a photo of the bike after I gave him all the details about it he left still shaking his head.
I know what you are all thinking an R1 against a 650 Bergman how is that possible well there a lot of factors that need to be looked at

1 I know the road like the back of my hand
2 all the corners are no more than 45ks
3 short straits
4 I have done track days on my Bergman and have a racing back ground

I am always I awe of what this bike can do

The wife caught up with me and just shook her head and said you just had to do it didn't you
well I said a challenge was thrown down and had to be answered

 

[yellow wolf]

sounds like a tall tale to me,lol

 

[MacDoc]

Mmmmmm - from what I know, BikerSmurf has decades in the mcycle business so coming from someone who shuts down the sportbikes on the Dragon on an unlikely - I'd be careful of calling something a tall tale.

And understanding the 650 in the twists after coming from an RD400...I have no issue believing it.

Wait til you ride a Burgman 650 YW.

Like the track guy riding the VFR800 as escort in the mountain twisties said on the review that got me into the maxis
- "if this were a race there would be no losing the Burgman 650 "

Indeed high praise and well deserved. I'd suggest a bit of an apology and suspend your judgement til you've ridden one.

 

[yellow wolf]

Mmmmmm - from what I know, BikerSmurf has decades in the mcycle business so coming from someone who shuts down the sportbikes on the Dragon on an unlikely - I'd be careful of calling something a tall tale.

And understanding the 650 in the twists after coming from an RD400...I have no issue believing it.

Wait til you ride a Burgman 650 YW.

Like the track guy riding the VFR800 as escort in the mountain twisties said on the review that got me into the maxis
- "if this were a race there would be no losing the Burgman 650 "

Indeed high praise and well deserved. I'd suggest a bit of an apology and suspend your judgement til you've ridden one.

really you thought I was serious????lol

 

[Liamjs]

I believe it. I've passed MCs on the 400, up hill no less. Not sport bikes mind you, but a V-Strom and such.

Yellow Wolf, you're embarking on a wonderful journey, no matter what you get. The 400 is going to feel like sport bike, sans the 100 HP, next to that Goldwing of yours. It's a very flickable bike. My guess is your wife will ride it for its intended purpose... And YOU will ride it every chance you get when she's not on it. You'll volunteer to run errands, grocery shopping, etc.

I always tell Motorcyclist, they're welcome to try my bike for free, but it will be expensive. Cause they'll want one afterwards. Lol.

 

[bikersmurff]

I had no intention of beating him BUT his knowledge of the road and mine were a contributing factor and if it was any of my friends who I ride with on are sports bikes, I would have a very hard time of keeping up.my aim was to highlight the capabilities of the Bergman ridden in anger. Yellow wolf I have seen your video of you riding the dragon and kudos to you it was brilliant to watch what a rider can do on a big heavy gold wing( one of my riding friends has the GL1800 and I showed him your clip he loved it ,I hope he does not try to copy you though ...).I have never ridden the 400 Bergman BUT buy what other owners say here it would be just as rewarding to ride

 

[dsfraser]

I want to highlight the important parts.

Out for my Sunday ride down my favourite windy mountain road when I was overtaken dangerously close buy an R1... I was wearing my leather pants with knee sliders... just been down the same road ... about 2 hours ago...

1 I know the road like the back of my hand
2 all the corners are no more than 45ks
3 short straits
4 I have done track days on my Bergman and have a racing back ground
I am always I awe of what this bike can do

These are very important parts, and he's still pushing the limits. His limits, in these circumstances, are more generous than most. Ride within your limits. Ride Safe.

Regards from three-feet-of-snow-land
Scott Fraser

BTW, its spelled BURGMAN

 

[MacDoc]

my aim was to highlight the capabilities of the Bergman ridden in anger

I've always felt the 650 had more handling than I was willing to push it to. You vividly confirmed it.
I'll stay in my safe envelope ....it's still a thrill when I'm feeling pumped and my hands are okay.

•••

YW - my apologies if it was not your intention to disbelieve the "tale", seemed that way from your comment. ...
as a 650 rider for a few years and a twisties lover, it rang very true......R1 mind you....that's some serious metal to chase down. Short straights useful, the Burgman in powermode does very well then runs out of top end. R1 would not have space to get much into triple digits.

 

[Chérie]

YW not yet have any idea what Burgie 650 can do, hopefully he will have opportunity to do so, after we then have same discussion.

3 year ago riding a 50 km long twisty mountain pass was past by sport bike about 10 km in, because he do this with arrogance I push power button and crank throttle, no never pass him but be able to stay close enough behind (this rider very capable and good), when we get to end of road he force to stop at cross road, he stop longer than require to check out the '' THING '' that stay behind him, after he drive off in other direction shaking head in disbelief.

Even if me know this road I push my personal driver limit several time during this and scare myself good a few time , would probably never do this again, but convince more than ever that 650 Burgie in hand of more capable rider have much more to offer in performance and surprise. The Burgie ECVT is just incredible and presently have no equal in any other bike , Burgie 650 engine very responsive and flexible, also believe that a professional performance engine tuner could get much more from this 638cc engine.

 

[bikersmurff]

Thank you all for the vote of confidence. And yes I was pushing it to my limits and I dare say the the bikes .But for a bike of its size and weight it is very forgiving .As they say it is easier to ride a small cc bike to its potential than it is a large cc bike

 

[MacDoc]

Yeah - that is one thing I would say as well - very forgiving...I bottomed the suspension on a big swooping sweeper on The James Bay Road where the frost heaves will knock your teeth loose.

That was near on 150 kph and the Burgman stayed right on line and stable despite my abuse.

he stop longer than require to check out the '' THING '' that stay behind him, after he drive off in other direction shaking head in disbelief.

Similar thing to me on a short bit of twist....stayed tight to a couple of sport bikes till we hit the straight road to the coffee shop.

When we pulled in they came over and were shocked to find a scoot...I was shocked to find I was hanging on to the tail of VFR800.
He could not pull away.

Surprise for both of us.
My first time in Pennsylvania twists on 144 was where my eye opener was....I could not beleive how well the 650 handled and how easy to stick with the sports bikes.
I did not buy it with that kind of twisties performance expected.

Generally when my son had his SV650s I could hang with him but once on his FZ8 he just had too much horsepower .....and he's gotten better and I've gotten too mellow to push.

Did have some fun against an admittedly overloaded Ducati - he was quite surprised ....no way he was catching me on that part of 144....it was built for the Burgman to shine.

••

Now up against good riders on full SS ...I've not been able to stay with them tho in part that was straight out acceleration as they were hitting plus 200 and I don't take the bike past 150 very often.

But I don't have the track background these guys had or BikerSmurf. The Burgman might have more but I don't.
I'm mostly in tourist mode these days.....but on occasion

 

[Otisco Kid]

Three things about my GW 1800 that I remember are:
1. Almsot no shifting..power band was pretty good between 19-95mph.
2. Developed a bad habit of using the hand brake only since it activated rear and front brakes. Forgot that once when borrowing my son's cruiser!
3. Compared to my current cruiser the GW felt like a sport bike!
I am seriously thinking about becoming a Burgman owner and this thread alleviated my "scooter fears".

 

[MacDoc]

This might help as well....from another poster here...

The Burgman 650 is a cross between a scooter, Goldwing and bullet bike. It's fast, comfortable and very manuverable. Braking is outstanding. Storage is terrific. I've owned many, many bikes of all brands and models, but the Burgman 650 is the best two wheeled vehicle I've ever owned. I bought my wife and 2002 for an anniversary present. At the time, I was riding a J1500 kawasaki Indian look alike, which I have since given my oldest son. I loved that bike, but must say that I love the Burgman even more. Now, my wife and I ride together, hassel free, with greater ease than any bikes we've had in the past. The seating and storage can't be beat. You can ride all day without paralyzing your crotch or hands. Gas milage, on the highway, is about 50 mpg, with 47 in the city. Manuverablity, in the city or on the highway is terrific. Acceleration, especially if you hit the power button, is excellent. You can easily put a muscle car down off the line and even do well against cruzers and smaller bullet bikes

 

[Just Me]

I know a fellow who CLAIMS to have ridden the Dragon and averaged 45mph with his 2002 Gold Wing. I have never been there and have no idea if it is possible or not. I rode with him several sunday afternoons locally and I could catch up with him in the corners. In the straits he would pull away from me. He accepts me riding the scooter much better then most of the others in the group. I have never heard one nasty thing about my scoot coming from him and he seems to enjoy it when he is leading and suddenly get a hair in his butt and takes off in a twisty only to discover I followed him. We will slow down and wait for the others to catch up on the other side.

 

[peelbrow]

These are very important points: Ride within your limits.

If you ALWAYS remember to do that, and make allowances for "what ifs" you will be very safe.

 

[MacDoc]

This guy is famous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nrMQ3QwyPo

He's local and knows it the ride perfectly.

 

[Fatjock]

Thank you all for the vote of confidence. And yes I was pushing it to my limits and I dare say the the bikes .But for a bike of its size and weight it is very forgiving .As they say it is easier to ride a small cc bike to its potential than it is a large cc bike

More fun too!

I find that I generally ride my 400 harder and faster than the 650's, because it's just so much fun to do it!