[KongBurgman]

Greetings from Hong Kong.
After my CVT failure, finally back in the saddle again.
Total cost for the complete rebuild came to $17,000 HKD or about $2200 USD.
The smoothness now is amazing. Before I had a vibration anytime above 50 MPH.

Now while riding its as if its an electric cycle. The power delivery is so silky smooth. It also seems like there is more torque now.. maybe its just because its been about 2 months since in the saddle.

I ordered 2 Ram mounts, one for my GPS and the other for my Extreme HD cam. The driving situation here is rather dangerous with all the traffic and taxi's and buses. I have heard quite a few horror stories about being taken down by one of these idiots and the rider being charged for the accident. In order to have some sort of proof in the event of an accident or me getting off my scoot and whooping some ass:banghead:.. I thought a cam would be cool.

 

[MJR]

Congrats and welcome back. Curious what year your bike is and what the actual failed parts were.

 

[Liamjs]

Congratulations! It looks great. Glad she is working so as well.

 

[KongBurgman]

She is a 2005 with 45,000 miles. If you search this forum you will find my thread. "Catastrophic CVT failure" .. shows pictures etc ok.

 

[jimshorts]

Do your electronics hit the windscreen when you turn the handlebars? From the photos, it looks like they would.

 

[KongBurgman]

No.. not even close to hitting the screen.

 

[Cdeptola1]

Congrats and good luck. I Like all your electronic gadgetry.

 

[ChipDoc]

Congratulations on getting her back on the road and it's great to hear you're so pleased with the result!

 

[TheReaper]

I saw the pics , $2,200 U.S. is a great deal . Good luck !

TheReaper!

 

[bikerdoc]

Greetings from Hong Kong... The driving situation here is rather dangerous with all the traffic and taxi's and buses. I have heard quite a few horror stories about being taken down by one of these idiots and the rider being charged for the accident. In order to have some sort of proof in the event of an accident or me getting off my scoot and whooping some ass:banghead:.. I thought a cam would be cool.

HK has nothing on the mainland, cause IMO HK traffic is 100 times better than the mainland drivers (which is a misnomer, since few can drive) over here. Even my 7 weeks riding a CB500X in Thailand at the beginning of 2014, was a real revelation, with Thai road driving skills and etiquette far ahead of the mainland Chinese IMO. During the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival which occurred while I was riding all over NW Thailand (15000km in 7 weeks), there were hundreds of cars from mainland China, easy to pick out from the Thai vehicles, since most were driving as part of tour group in convoy. At night it was even easier to pick out the odd Chinese driven car, since those would be the ones that had, just had, to drive with the headlights on high/full beam no matter what (a major problem here in the mainland). Thankfully this only occurred for a week or so before they all had to return to their cages back in China.

The irony is that Thailand has the second highest global road fatality rate, which is surprising based on just how much better the driving behaviour was that I observed. I assume that is likely related to the lack of use of both seat/safety belts in vehicles and the poor use of helmets for two wheelers, as well as the rates of higher vehicle ownership in Thailand.

Based on my 12 years in mainland China, as the percentage of vehicle ownership per capita increases, that mainland China will be near the top of the global road fatality list before too long, if not the top. Mind you that will likely by one of the statistics that gets smudged erroneously... IMO.

YMMV.

 

[westnash]

How many 650 CVT failures do we have on the board now? I thought this was an urban myth or something from the far past. You got out lucky at $2200. Maybe it made sense to pay that where you are but I think in USA it would be much more than the value of the machine.

 

[MJR]

How many 650 CVT failures do we have on the board now? I thought this was an urban myth or something from the far past. You got out lucky at $2200. Maybe it made sense to pay that where you are but I think in USA it would be much more than the value of the machine.

More than most would admit. My first bike '03 failed (26K), I bought a used '06 that had problems (54K), and a '03 parts bike that failed (20K). Though there isn't always a common reason from a rider/use standpoint. $2,200 is pretty close to buying a new unit here minus labor.

 

[TheReaper]

If you are concerned with the financial part of owning a 650 Burg here in the U.S. , you are better off buying a decent low mileage one for 3K or so and then just drive the p out of . Then if she blows she blows , sell it or part it out and find another one again in that 3K range . Unless you can fix it yourself and you have the time to do it , it just doesn't make economic sense to pay to have one fixed . LaDude was right when he said they were disposable bikes . All that said , I love my 650 in spite of the potential blow ups .

TheReaper!

 

[Dave_J]

(from a 400 rider) How many 650 CVT failures do we have on the board now? I thought this was an urban myth or something from the far past. You got out lucky at $2200. Maybe it made sense to pay that where you are but I think in USA it would be much more than the value of the machine.

How many 400's have had Belt and or clutch bell failures on the board now? I thought it was a myth that the 400's never fail.

I'd be on my third belt and possibly my second clutch and who knows how many sliders/rollers if I had a 400. How much to have my local dealer do these replacements?

Guess I am very lucky. At 52,000 miles I have only had brake pads, oil/filters and tire replacements. No bearings, CVT belts,..... What was I thinking?

 

[ashby102]

Wouldn't it be nice if some young inspired mechanic would open a shop specializing in 650 CVT repairs? I imagine that after you did a few you could knock them out much quicker than a guy who only does one every couple of years. And being the same basic design for so many years there would be a lot of work out there. Wish I was younger with such a noble idea . Mark

 

[MJR]

Wouldn't it be nice if some young inspired mechanic would open a shop specializing in 650 CVT repairs? I imagine that after you did a few you could knock them out much quicker than a guy who only does one every couple of years. And being the same basic design for so many years there would be a lot of work out there. Wish I was younger with such a noble idea . Mark

I don't have a shop but a garage and have rebuilt one for a local member in addition to doing two for myself.

 

[ChipDoc]

Wouldn't it be nice if some young inspired mechanic would open a shop specializing in 650 CVT repairs? I imagine that after you did a few you could knock them out much quicker than a guy who only does one every couple of years. And being the same basic design for so many years there would be a lot of work out there. Wish I was younger with such a noble idea . Mark

I've got a friend who's actually DONE this - only he's done it with the old Kawasaki Concours C10. He's even created a new gearing system and set it up for manufacture - the Shoodaben 7th Gear Mod - to set up the Concours as it "Should have been" done at the factory. He's also got a carburetor mod which will prevent hydrolock - a common issue with the old Connies.

https://sites.google.com/site/shoodabenengineering/

He currently earns his primary living from this business and people all over the freakin' world send him their carbs (4 of them on the Concours) and swap out their gearing for his upgraded model. Just goes to show that it's still possible to earn a good living from a good idea.

 

[westnash]

Wouldn't it be nice if some young inspired mechanic would open a shop specializing in 650 CVT repairs? I imagine that after you did a few you could knock them out much quicker than a guy who only does one every couple of years. And being the same basic design for so many years there would be a lot of work out there. Wish I was younger with such a noble idea . Mark

One problem is that the Burgmans are scattered all over the country and unless the owner will do the install there is not enough volume. There are many independents who specialize in Gold Wings and Harleys but there are a lot more of them, especially in an area like So Cal.

 

[ErikDK]

Interesting. The Shoodaben 7th Gear Mod does the same that I have achieved on the Burgman by intefering with the speed signal to the CVT control part of the ECU, namely pull the revs down where they should have been.