Burgman 650 or Silverwing

I've had several rides on the Burgman 650 now and have decided to keep the Silverwing and sell the Burgman. My main concern is the transmission problems they seem to have. Some do, some don't. Another reason is that it just isn't as comfortable on a 50+ mile ride as the Silverwing, but I think the main reason is the Burgman is a nightmare to work on. Just adding oil requires pulling plastic and to check the oil you have to lay on the ground with a flashlight to look into the sightglass. With the Silverwing an oil check is a moment's job. Being a long way from a spring chicken, when I get down to see the oil it nearly takes a hoist to get me back up. Ain't arthritis wonderful? There many good things about the Burgman but even though the Silverwing lacks some of the bells and whistles it's nearly bulletproof and easy to work on. So the Burgman went on Craigslist yesterday. Interesting bike, I'm glad I had a month or so to try one out but not for me.
I'll probably get another Goldwing 1800 to share my garage with the Silverwing. The Silverwing is just too handy around town to get rid of.

I agree with you completely...wise decision.

An interesting post exavid, thanks.

I'm about to change from a '57 Burger 650 to a new S'wing600. The Burger has been a great ride (I've owned 2 over 6 years) but I've heard of catastrophic (terminal) failures of the transmission. Best to move on before I fall victim to that.

I never liked the Burger's digital speedometer - you have to "read" it, rather than glance at a pointer- but I'm concerned about the handlebar mounted mirrors on the Swing. Mike O says I'll get used to them.

Apart from that, I can't wait. Tomorrow's the big day!

I didn't care much for the mirrors when I had a 650 Burgman, the low position meant I could be dazzled by the headlights of traffic behind me, so I'd have to fold them in, and in heavy rain the mirrors would channel water droplets down onto my boots.

The Silver Wing mirrors give you a great view of your shoulders until you fit mirror extenders, a popular mod which solves the problem, and there's plenty of info on here about them.

I bet you won't like the stock screen much either on the ride home.

It took a little while for me to get used to the Silverwing mirrors after the fixed ones on the X9 but I did get used to them.
As Meldrew suggests, mirror-extenders make all the difference.
I found a site which sells Brugman 400 mirrors which stick out further so I might buy a pair for my birthday.

MikeO wrote:

I found a site which sells Brugman 400 mirrors which stick out further so I might buy a pair for my birthday.

A word of caution Mike. When I wanted different mirrors for my X10 there was a problem because the threads were right hand and left hand (not both the same!). In the end I bought some Yamaha mirrors and some right and left hand thread adaptors.

I don't know about the SWing threads. It could be OK.

Laurie

Thanks Laurie; I shall check first.
The reason I looked at them was because someone, probably here, said he'd done the swap.
I'm fairly sure Silverwing mirror-threads are both right-handed as are the Burger400 ones.

Any Honda mirror will work with Silverwing, 8mm right han thread....if that was the question.

I take delivery of new bike this week---not SilverWing, not Burgman 650(wouldn't worry about the sometime trans problems....buying used is the problem I see here.....no knowledge of maint. history....and repairs can often exced value of scooter!)

Now to point, 60 days from being 74---active, daily rider since 1955---probably could afford anything I want...maybe? But old...where are your skills?? And riding ability? I think many of the trike riders you see were not very skilled young and now old, big mama on back....scary.

My garage will have new Suzuki TU250, cheap, simple to work on......and my nose willl be close once again to tip of shield=no buffeting. AND once again the pleasure of gas/clutch/rear brake coordination fof the slow stuff. But no centerstand!!=dumb, period. Stay tuned. I will keep my 2011 Burgman as the bottom seems to fallen out of the big scooter market here..it has 24,000 miles and recent waranty work on drive line (Suzuki paid as bike was left over and still in 12 month warranty.)AND I think old body needs proper motorcycle seating position.....low bars, footrests under you, right foot covering rear brake, etc. Just did 5 day run to Key West and back----body ok, but buffeting terrible. Scooter. 2200 miles.

Performance of TU---probably back in Helix/Reflex area.---But my maint costs will be lower----$15 chain, instead of $200 belt and rollers every 15,000 miles. Chain and sprockets on my Suzuki GS500E went 43,000 miles.

I will add no electronic junk----maybe plug in for my heated bib, windshield, luggage rack, throttle stop(for nose wipe time.)

David,

We're glad your staying in the SWing family but even if you decided to keep the B650 and sell the Swing, you would still be more than welcome here. I kind of wish they made a Swing with just a bit bigger engine (650-700), tires like the B650, and an adjustable windshield. That is all I would need want different, considering they would improve the suspension a bit more with the larger tires.

I know a small % of B650's get the CVT trouble but I read that if you don't have the maintenance plan it can cost up to $3,000 to fix. I'm surprised though that it wasn't just as comfortable as the Swing on longer rides. It seems the ones on the Burgman site say it is more comfortable than the SWing.

MikeO,

You may want to try the Reflex mirrors. They stick out further and are black too like the Swing mirrors. I'm surprised they didn't just use those mirrors when they built the SWing.

Colin B,

Tell us how you like the Swing when you get it? I like to read posts that compare the 2 bikes.

Thanks Jeff; I'll have a look.

MikeO wrote:

Thanks Laurie; I shall check first.
The reason I looked at them was because someone, probably here, said he'd done the swap.
I'm fairly sure Silverwing mirror-threads are both right-handed as are the Burger400 ones.

Bob T, Cornish bob can't remember his user name now!!! Fitted Burgman 400 mirrors to his 07 Silver Wing. I rode it when I was looking at buying a Wing.

Thanks Doug; I think it was his reference that set me on track.

Trevena?

MikeO wrote:

Thanks Doug; I think it was his reference that set me on track.

Trevena?

That be he!!

Bob, Cornishman on this forum hasn't visited here since July last year. He also used to be a regular on the Muppets forum but hasn't been there since December last year. Bob was also on another forum Waspie and I used to be members of back in the day, I hope he's OK health wise.

Ups and downs, I think; he sometimes posts on Facebook.

I got tired of looking at my shoulders when I got my first Silverwing a couple years ago. This time I put some extenders on and that sure solved the problem. They move each mirror outboard about two inches and raise it about 1". They mount very solidly and match the color of the master and mirror shank. An inexpensive solution over buying new mirrors.

MikeO wrote:

I'm fairly sure Silverwing mirror-threads are both right-handed as are the Burger400 ones.

Mike I have the Burger400 mirrors on my Silver Wing. I can tell you they are as long as the Silver Wing mirrors with extenders. When I put the Burger400 mirrors I thought I would put the extenders on them, but after removing the Wing mirrors W/extenders and holding them up to the Burger400 mirrors they were the same. I like the 400 mirrors but I have kept the Wing mirrors W/extenders in case the 400 ones start to rust. I hope this helps some.

Colin B wrote:

I never liked the Burger's digital speedometer - you have to "read" it, rather than glance at a pointer-

There's nothing I hate more about the Swing than the speedo. I'm such a nit that I can't just look at it without doing a math problem to figure out my actual speed. It annoys the crap out of me that it's not accurate. And the last thing I want when I'm out riding is to do MATH!

Many thanks Roger.
You're convincing me it's the way to go!
I always keep the original parts, just in case.

At least it's more accurate than the Burgman 650. You can install a speedometer corrector if you want accuracy. The old Yellow Box worked well but there are more compact correctors out there today like this one:
http://www.motomummy.com/chain-kits-with-steel-front-and-rear-sprocket/12-oclocklabs-speedodrd/?gclid=CI-p6dHgmLYCFSRxQgodSV4ALw

You can also use the thing to convert your bike from KPH to MPH and vice versa.

FWIW, my wife's '07 speedo seems a bit off (reads a bit fast), but my '12 seems dead on accurate (GPS-checked). I don't know exactly what the change is - we both have the OEM-sized tires, we have about the same mileage, etc. Obviously something changed sometime in that time period.

Speedos in the UK over-read as a matter of course, allowing a margin of error to help prevent drivers and riders exceeding the speed-limits, i.e. if we stick to the indicated speed we will be riding just under the limit.

Speedos here in the US are also designed to read higher than actual speed obstensively to prevent drivers from speeding. I prefer to know my actual speed and drive right to the limit. Sometimes beyond a bit. I really don't like to be tricked by my own equipment. To me an instrument should be calibrated to read accurately to the limit of it's capability.