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Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:12 pm
by tonyh
Hello all, name's Tony from Northern Ireland.
I'm riding a Honda Shadow at the minute which I use mainly for touring but am interested in a maxi scooter. Was thinking of trading my shadow in against one, but decided to hold on to it and buy a second hand scooter to see how I like them.
Having never ridden one before I've taken a couple of test rides on 3 different scooters... The Honda Forza 300i, Honda Silverwing 600 and a Suzuki Bergman 400.
Each of them had their good and bad points, the Forza was a nice scooter but is new and too pricey. The Silverwing was a bit too heavy and hard to manoevre as I am vertically challenged :roll: and the Suzuki Bergman which I was looking at from a dealer with 3months warranty was a 2004 with 10000miles on it and really liked it and seemed to tick all the boxes.
I've ridden bikes for the last 20years but I know absolutely nothing about the mechanics.
The thing I would like to know though not having any experience on scooters is when accelerating hard on the Bergman it was fine, but when I let off the throttle and was slowing down to 20miles an hour I felt she was chugging a bit and when I slowed right down to do a 360 it felt the same but starting off from zero and accelerating right up to 60mph I had no problem -maybe just the make of scooter or just my imagination. I really did like this machine but is the 'chugging' something I should be looking out for or is it something that all Bergmans have? It wasn't that noticeable so it could have been just my imagination..
Any help or advice appreciated.

Cheers
Tony

Re: Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:27 pm
by pikey
400 is a big single so a bit lumpy at low revs on over run drive belt its turning engine guessing its this you felt .Doing a 360 its best to keep slight throttle and few revs and drag back brake a bit

Re: Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:46 pm
by Bluebottle
Welcome.

The Burgman 400 changed a lot in 2007, worth remembering while reading up on pros and cons.

I don't recognise that chugging, but mine is a later bike. If you aren't used to an auto there is a bit of a surge when the centrifugal clutch lets go and you lose engine braking; you quickly get used to covering the brake and allowing for it.

Like Pikey said, low speed manoeuvres are best done with constant revs - using the back brake to set your speed. You are still slipping your clutch but you are using the brake to control when and how much.

Re: Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:16 pm
by michaelphillips
Bluebottle wrote:Welcome.

The Burgman 400 changed a lot in 2007, worth remembering while reading up on pros and cons.

I don't recognise that chugging, but mine is a later bike. If you aren't used to an auto there is a bit of a surge when the centrifugal clutch lets go and you lose engine braking; you quickly get used to covering the brake and allowing for it.

Like Pikey said, low speed manoeuvres are best done with constant revs - using the back brake to set your speed. You are still slipping your clutch but you are using the brake to control when and how much.
welcome your wise to have a few rides on different scoots be4 deciding, as bluebottle stated if you can get a 2007 above or a k8 if possible then the price for tyres and availability of them etc ... a 2006 model had 13 inch rims where the latter 2007 etc has 14 inch front rims and the model specs including engine was changed in k7 onward specs :D

Re: Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 11:41 pm
by VOZZA
Hi Tony and welcome. icon_wink-.gif Wales.gif

Re: Hello - newbie from Northern Ireland

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:50 am
by johnp
Hi and welcome aboard.