+ Click to Enlarge MEGASCOOTER: This is not your average commuter – it weighs 215kg and is 2.3m long. Pictures: DAVE ABRAHAMS

July 27, 2003
By Dave Abrahams

Suzuki's 650 Burgman is by far the biggest, heaviest and most sophisticated mini-wheeler I've ridden so has sacrificed the virtues that brought about scooters in the first place. Let's create a category and call it a "touring scooter".

It's 215kg dry so is on the porky side of heavy but worse is its crush-hour, car door-scraping 765mm width. Nope, open-road performance and comfort are what this uberscooter is all about.

Between the rails of a sturdy but conventional underbone frame is a 638cc, liquid-cooled parallel twin motor, rotated forwards so its cylinders lie flat, which suckles from electronic fuel-injection and breathes with the assistance of two cams and four valves per cylinder.

The result, damped by balancing shafts, is 41kW at 7000rpm and the superscoot pulls like a steam train from three to eight on the liquid-crystal, bar graph rev counter. It launches so fast that several times I embarrassed riders of middleweight sport bikes at the lights.

The Burgman's conventional centrifugal clutch bites fairly early but the bike can pull away at about 4000rpm on full throttle. Just as well. If it allowed peak-power take-offs the rear wheel could light up. Wouldn't that be something!

The Burgman is belt-driven but is not a normal CVT. Just like a Volvo or Porsche, it offers "power" and "normal" modes on full automatic – and a five sequential "gears" operated by two grey buttons on the left handlebar and adjacent to a yellow auto/manual selector button.

It's the first "tiptronic"-style transmission on two wheels.

"Normal" mode allows 5500rpm. Hit "Power" and another thousand rpm come into play makes an appreciable difference not only to the Burgman's accelerative authority but also is thirst.

Select "Manual" and you get the five-speed sequential "gearbox". The system is seamless except for a dip in revs and a hiccup in power delivery as you hit the Up button, even if you hold the throttle wide open.

Downshifts generate engine braking, which is rare on a scooter. The nose dips and the revs jump up as the bike slows.

It's the fastest scooter I've ridden, topping out after a longish run at a genuine 181km/h with the motor spinning at an indicated 6750rpm. It didn't feel that fast; the Burgman is stable in a straight line on good tar and the slightly kicked-up screen does a very good job of deflecting slipstream.

It's a strange but not uncomfortable feeling to sit relaxed, feet stretched out as if in front of the telly, watching the world go by at 50m a second.

The Burgman rides on bigger wheels than most scooters: a 15" alloy casting in front shod with 120/70 rubber and a 14" hoop inside a 160/60 radial, the largest yet fitted to a scooter, at the back. The motor and transmission are rigidly mounted while the rear wheel hangs from a separate swing-arm, like a motorcycle.

The only other scooter built this way is Yamaha's 500 T-Max, which handles just as well.

The rear suspension uses two very ordinary rear shock-absorbers, adjustable for preload only and mounted on the ends of the swing-arm. The front wheel rides on equally conventional 41mm forks, devoid of adjustment.

It's all relatively unsophisticated but the Burgman is remarkably stable above walking pace, its springing is well-damped and its steering surprisingly quick considering its 1595mm wheelbase. The front tends to dive under heavy braking but the rear is firm and there's no wallowing on long curves, even bumpy ones.

The Burgman uses twin discs with Nissin twin-piston floating callipers at the front and a similar calliper on a 250mm disc on the back. The fronts aren't as powerful as their specifications might indicate but using front and back together hauls the scooter down with suitable aclarity.

Flight deck

The switchgear is by far the most complex I've seen but, after a guided tour by Suzuki SA's Errol Kwan Chai, it made sense. The right handlebar carries the throttle, kill switch, starter button and a switch for the hazard lights. Yes, hazard lights.

Grouped for the left thumb are hooter, power mode selector, up and down shift paddles, auto/manual selector, indicators and high/low beam switch. Never have I been so thankful to be left-handed.

The flight deck is as sophisticated as the drive train, an all-LED display grouped around a big digital speedo. The odometer and trip meter are in the same window, a bar-graph tachometer runs across the top.

Three smaller screens to the left show fuel level, engine coolant temperature and the time while on the right are two rows of warning icons. A row of lights below the speedo identifies power mode, manual shift and gear selection.

It's a fascinating display; for a couple of days I rang the changes just to make everything light up. After that I just left it in auto and let the bike do all the work.

The rest of the bike is standard scooter stuff, jumbo size: two deeply padded seats, a 15-litre fuel tank and four storage compartments. There's a cavernous boot (with light) under the saddle, which is supported by a gas strut. It's lined and big enough for two helmets and a small briefcase.

The bulky leg-shield moulding not only houses the motor's radiator but also a lockable cubby and a cellphone-sized compartment each side of the steering column.

The ignition switch is armour-plated; a transponder on the key slides a hardened steel plate across the key slot to preventing hot-wiring the bike or drilling out the lock.

On the road

The Burger is way beyond mere commuting. It's too big, too heavy and too wide for lane splitting and the seats (adjustable backrest for the driver), serious performance and long range make it far more suited to long weekend rides.

It can also be thrown around; the bike had scratches on both sides of the body panels, inflicted by ex-racer Kwan Chai while going round the outside of some serious sports machines during a track day on Kyalami.

It's a most un-scooterlike scooter and after much soul-searching (and realising one would cost around R84 000 here) Suzuki SA decided not to import them. I know I kept it from you until now, but the test bike was one of two flown in specifically for the Suzuki African Tour.

Despite that, a Cape Town scooter enthusiast who rode the test bike has placed a firm order and the local Suzuki dealer is trying very hard to get one.

Specifications:

Motor: Liquid-cooled four-stroke parallel twin.
Capacity: 638cc
Bore x stroke: 75.5 x 71.3mm.
Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder.
Compression ratio: 11.2:1.
Power: 41.1kW at 7000rpm.
Torque: 62Nm at 5000rpm.
Induction: Electronic fuel-injection with 32mm throttle bodies.
Ignition: Electronic.
Starting: Electric.
Transmission: Five-speed automatic with sequential shift.
Suspension: 41mm conventional cartridge forks at front, swing-arm with two adjustable hydraulic shock-absorbers at rear.
Brakes: Twin 260mm discs with twin-piston floating callipers at front, 250mm disc with twin-piston floating calliper and hand-operated locking mechanism at rear.
Tyres: Front: 120/70 – R15 radial. Rear: 160/70 - 14.
Wheelbase: 1595mm.
Seat height: 740mm.
Dry weight: 215kg.
Fuel capacity: 15 litres.
Price: About R84 000.