silverwing 600 or burgman 650

I know there's going to be some bias here but, If you've driven-ridden both Which one would you buy? Why??

Burgman 650 is still current model--SilverWing is no more. I have owned 2 new SilverWings, near 80,000 miles worth----I have ridden 650 Burgman, other than being way overweight= ok in my book. Purchased new with warranty, should work out. I have heard Silverwing gets better gas mileage.

I have ridden both and I own the Silverwing that says something. The Burgman 650 is great on the interstate but a handful around town. The SWing is OK on freeway and good around town. It is easy to work on and mine gets 55-60 MPG on the road. I tour on mine usually at least once a year.

If you decide on Silverwing shop around, there are still Brand-new 2013 units available so you could save thousands over a Burgie...

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Rode the Burg, own a S'Wing.

How many Suzuki dealers / service centers are there around?

I have had both. The 650 Burgman is a first class performer when touring, but I think the transmission is too complicated; it is very heavy and I would always be worried about something going wrong that I cannot fix. If I had an opportunity to buy a new SW; I would jump to it as it is a very competent maxi scooter and fairly simple to maintain.

I've also had both, the shortest way of saying it is, two years ownership of the big Burgman was enough for me, in contrast to the  Silver Wing I've had now for six years.

The newer version of the 650 Burgman doesn't interest me at all, (and neither does the latest 2017 version of the 400 with it's much reduced under seat storage.)

However thoughts of downsizing from the Silver Wing has been on the cards for quite a while now. The latest option is the new for 2017 Suzuki V-Strom 250 fitted with full touring kit.

I'd quite like to return to Euro touring on a 250 again, I enjoyed my years doing it on various MZ's and the Helix. The V-Strom 'baby adventure bike' weighs in at 69kg less than the Silver Wing, and 100kg less than the lardy Burgman.

I had a 06 Burgman 400. I liked the bike alright until I read that the valves needed to be adjusted every 4,000 miles. I had a bid by a local motorcycle / scooter shop to do it for me and I put it up for sale the very next day. I got rid of it. Every 4,000 miles you get to spend $300 to adjust the values.

The original poster asked about Silverwing vs the 650. The 650 has a reputation of having transmission problems on some of them. $3,000+ to fix. That is more than the scooter is worth.

I like the Honda reliability. The Silverwing is a pretty simple scooter to maintain.

I sold my silverwing about a year and a half ago and looking on craigslist the other night , I noticed my old one is for sale, hadn't driven it too much. Might give him a call and buy it back. Or test drive a burgman. I thought I was done with scooters and just stay with motorcycles, but I do miss having a scooter.

I've owned both the Burgman 650 and two SWs. I prefer the Silverwing because of it's longevity and reliability. The Burgman is a bit faster and has some nice features but the reason I sold mine was the reports of serious transmission failures. These failures are relatively rare, but if it's yours that fails it costs nearly as much as the scooter is worth to repair it. The Burgman's variator isn't a centrifugally operated system as the more common Silverwing, BMW C650, T-Max, and Burgman 400. It's operated by a small electric motor through nylong gears.
One other consideration was the nearest Suzuki dealer, in Grants Pass doesn't do major repairs on B650 transmissions. He told me I'd have to take it to a Burgman dealer in California for that. That was the total deal breaker for me. It would cost North of $3000 for the repair if needed and I'd have to haul it a couple hundred miles to find a dealer to do it if I didn't want to. Seeing you have to strip the bike completely down to the frame and engine to do the job I wouldn't want to take it on.

Of course reports of serious transmission failures on the Burgman 650 weren't as common or indeed inevitable as internet forum gossip made them out to be. But the rumour machine made it seem as if this was a mega expensive transmission time bomb ticking away for every 650 owner who frequented owners forums. 

It's the same rumour machine that saddled the Silver Wing with it's fuel thirsty reputation among UK maxi riders, based on the original magazine road test reports of a few bike journalists flogging them flat out from the model launch in Italy, all the way back to the UK.

That much hyped computer glitch, the Y2K or Millenium Bug in the final months of 1999 when 'experts' predicted a Domesday scenario when computer calendars zeroed themselves to 0000 at New Year didn't happen either.  

I think fuel mileage may be more important to you fellows across the pond. I don't know of many bikers whether scooter or motorcycle around that really care all that much about fuel mileage. Most are more interested in how far you can go on a tank of fuel, not what it cost. We do have a big advantage in the cost of fuel.

Of course you don't care about the price of fuel, as I've said before over there you pay peanuts for it. So I can't see how far you go on a tank of fuel of being of much interest unless you live in a rural state where gas stations are few and far between.

When cruising on the freeways at 70mph plus that tank doesn't last all that long. There seems to be a air resistance point arond 70-75mph with most bikes. My Goldwing's mileage used to drop about seven or eight miles per gallon at those speeds. The scooters don't seem to lose mileage at speed quite as much as that but they do lose a noticeable range at speed. I would prefer a larger tank so I could rely on having a two hundred mile range on the slab*. (American slang for freeway also known as a limited access highway)

Meldrew wrote:

Of course you don't care about the price of fuel, as I've said before over there you pay peanuts for it. So I can't see how far you go on a tank of fuel of being of much interest unless you live in a rural state where gas stations are few and far between.

I care and I don't like the games they play with it, one lady I know well said the Friday afternoon price will be there until 11 pm Monday, then it will change. The other game is the holiday game you can count on a dime a gallon increase a few days before, sometimes a quarter a gallon. The other zone area increases, same brand up in one area, drive 30 to 50 miles and a noticeably different price, same brand. One reason GasBuddy.com is so popular.

One reason for gasoline's price changes is the fact that most regions in the US have to change the formulation of the fuel for winter and summer. That means wasted labor in the refineries changing the mix plus the damnable ethanol and there's probably over fifty cents per gallon of stuff no one wants in the first place.

I might agree to that BUT this is and has been an ongoing situation regardless of the season, AND worsens around the holidays. The real reason? because they can, pay or walk.