[3cav]

G'day to everyone and a Happy New Year, I am from Australia and I am very interested in getting a 650 Burgman, (if anyone is interested I have posted my bio on the "who we are" subject forum.
In South Australia where I live there is not one 650 Burgman in any of the bike shops, there is one 250 but I can't make a true comparison with it to the 650. Any questions I have about the 650 I ask are either met with blank stares or some made up crapp that makes no sense.
Can someone out there in "Burgy Land" what type of final drive system does it utilise. The Suzuki site says it is shaft drive, one sales person told me it was belt drive and another told me it was "a series of gears" whatever the hell that means. I have also read the discussion you had about the V belt and if it needs changing at certain service intervals, am I correct in assuming that it basically remains in service unless it actually breaks or fails somehow. Also what is the range of tyres like for the 650 are there different manufacturers and different compounds available. It's bloody hard to by a bike without seeing a real one, I havn't even seen one on the road although I have heard there are 3 or 4 getting round the place somewhere. Any advice or answers to the above would be appreciated, regards.

 

[roy_ryall]

The 650 does use a set of connecting gears from the CVT to the rear wheel. There is some debate about what Suzuki means by "shaft drive". Some say it is a error, some say it refers the the connecting shaft between the drive gears and the rear wheel. I only know of one tire for the 650, the Bridgestone. The Suzuki 650 is the on MC to use that size tire to my knowledge, so would be surprized if there will be another made. I changed the rear tire when it got to the wear bars at about 7,300 miles. The front should make it to around 10,000 miles.

The 650 is a very nice bike. If you want a bike in the size range of the 650, I do not know of a better bike. If you decide to get one, I am sure you will not be disappointed.

 

[allwalk]

The final drive is as Roy stated a set of 5 gears located on the left side of the swingarm. As far as tires are concerned we do have two options available to us. They are Bridegstone which come on the machine and Pirelli offer a tire the same size as well. The CVT belt is still an unanswered question, as the machine was new in '03 and I have not yet heard of anyone having problems with it or reaching the mileage required to have it changed.

 

[aehansen]

Pirelli also makes tires for the 650, available in the USA as of 12-03 (see Oneida Suzuki for description) Apparently prices for the Bridgestone OEM are coming down as well.