Maxsym 600 review and burgman 400 comparison

[Rocketman122]

2014 ms 600 30000km.
Im a realist. I say it as it is . Will not downplay anything

Pros
-decent suspension. If you ride 2up it will feel comfortable
-great design of dashboard. Looks modern
-quite strong for a single 565cc thumper engine
-braking power is good. Even replacing pads should be quite a simple task as they can be swapped out fast. Though ill take mine apart for a thorough clean and regrease of key areas. No vibrations as some have complained about
-standing/open acceleration is fine. Top end ia very adequate. I tested it to 150kph(I Didnt care to push it more) with little effort. Im not a speed junky and drive calm regularly at 110kph by dash indicated
-seating position is quite low. Useful to wide range of heights

Negatives.
-handling not as good as b400. Rides "clumsy"
-brutal/harsh/rough on how it accelerates(not the power but how it delivers it) very rough and jerky drive
Francesco on yt made videos and noted it as well
Ill replace with sliders and see if that cures it. Its not elegant in its linearity of power. Like an old american carb car vs a japanese car with sensors thats tweaked for smoothness.
--under seat space is storage is good. I haven't tried 2 ff helmets under the seat because I carry tools with me. I do have a 48L rear box. The b400 clearly has much more underseat space. but the ms is no slouch vs tmax/gp800 which both have very little extra space

-dashlights, specifically turn signal indicators are not legible during the day. Nope. Bad.
- hands to handlebar to elbow angle is too high. Im 183cm. My elbows are too low and hands too high
-backrest is large but too high. Either should be higher or lower
-as much as its a large scooter my shins are up against glove box with legs extended . Didnt make.proper use of space imo
-cheap quality plastics vs japanese. Very noticeable
-rust on exhuast from only 30000km.
-front fascia design is meh. Rear is designed quite nicely. This is opposite of the burgman 400(b400) which really has a beautiful front and boring rear(2007-2017). But looks is a personal thing
-Headlights could be stronger. I think ill have to adjust mine up more. Id like to add a 7" lightbar to front face somehow
-windhshield has easy tendency to fade and yellow.
-b400 has foot rests for pillion rider. Ms600 has fold out pegs. Lady does not like the pegs
-large maintenance (cvt) is done every 18000km vs b400 24000km.
-a lot more info and support on forums for b400 vs ms 600
I think the b400 is a more refined scoot vs the ms600. The quality in build is very obvious. Parts availability for b400 is much cheaper and easily available. The burgmans have been out for many years and have had time to tweak it. Considering the ms is a Taiwanese scooter, its surprising parts are so high. So you pay upfront less with the ms600 but parts will cost more for maintenance parts . Belt rollers filters pulleys (when needeed)etc.
b400 has terrible rear suspension.. very stiff vs ms600. I have a b400 thats at home . Will get an engine rebuild. Slowly ordering parts . Throttle body stva unit is huge design flaw. Hard to find just that part

My ms600 ia black matte color. Not a fan of matte paint. Matte finishes are harder.to maintain and look tired over a short time. Glossy paint can be revived with polishing.
Would have preferred anything glossy over matte but 3 months searching for either a ms600 or b400 and those b400 owners think theyre 50000mile burgs are some limited edition rolls and ask ridiculous prices. Theyre still on those classifieds boards.
Seat cushion is softer on ms600. Fabric quality on b400 is a tad better. Not a fan of the.rough textured feel of ms600. If and when it tears will re-upholster it with some carbon fiber vinyl

Would I recommend a maxsym 600? no. I think a b400 is a better buy but they have many known issues as well. Find one with low miles and youll be fine.
I will keep my ms600 and maintain it till the engine dies and if the body is in good physical shape will either find a donor engine from a crash or will rebuild it.

Apologies for my grammar mistake or sounding grumpy about the ms600. Its an ok scoot. 6/10. Not great but thats what i bought and will make it work. B400 is a 7.3/10 imo. It has a lot of known issues. Btw I do all my own maintenance work.

Please stay safe and healthy. Ride with your mind and keep that macho ego in check

[Tartan Cobbler]

Nice honest review, thankyou...... do you know if many updates have been made to improve on your cons since your 2014 model?

[Stibbs]

7.3 for the burger? Surely a 7.4 would be fairer?

[Rocketman122]

The 2014 I bought is their first gen 565cc scooter. The engine from what I understand is from.their quad bike. So it had time to be tweaked. The maxsym 400cc has been out since 2011. If there are things that were tweaked I am.not aware. Like the b400 which was supposed to be tweaked from 2010 but I dont know how true. Visually they are the same. Possibly mechanical tweaks
After ill open the cvt ill.see if theres something wrong. I do think i hear a very slight belt squeal at which may mean belt.or contra spring is off. Ill update. Something thats a must is to always open.the clutch and asses seals and bearings and.regrease with hi temp.

The burgman is not an 8+ it has a lot of known issues. Stva unit. Handlebar switches get gunked up easily. Clutch vibrations . Starter wiring and coupler are weak points.. chassis rust. Ground wire corrosion. Pickup unit (crankshaft position.sensor) . Luckily i went through it all so it should be good moving ahead hahaha

[Data]

Yeah, I think the engine for the 600cc unit came originally from a snowmobile. It may have been then fitted to some quad bikes but I haven't heard that one. Some of the early ones did have an issue with piston, rings and cylinders over heating and using a lot of oil. Cylinder heads were also affected too on some bikes. Sym cured the issue and some were recalled for new top ends. It turned out to be a production problem I believe that affected a few bikes around the world. Sym in typical fashion came good on everything for owners. Good bikes, good manufacturer!

[Rocketman122]

I have some (deep frequency not high pitched) squealing sounds that may seem like belt or clutch pads slipping. I'll opener up but I'm curious if maybe the clutch springs or the contra spring needs replacing. Waiting for 55mm bolt to check inside clutch but will check belt and plates. Check bell and pads for glazing and may need some scuffing down with sandpaper

[Turnip-47]

Thanks for the comparison, very useful, it answers a lot of the points I was curious about. Your report was well written and to the point.

[13Brads]

Good read, thank you.

[Rocketman122]

updating the post after having put 22000km on it

some oddities about the bike but overall ok scooter. quality is not the best. this 2014 600cc was the first year it came out. I almost always dont buy first gen to any product. there are many problems that take 1-2 years to fix, but the maxsym 400cc has been out for a few years since the 600 and shares many parts and design and they were able to fix most of the issues.

-suspension is softer than burgman but not as soft as say a joyride . its decent. 6/10

-instrument cluster-bad quality. looks nice though. not legible in sunlight. you cant tell AT ALL when the turn signals are on. there is a very faint clicking sound to remind you but very faint. the needles on speedometer and rpm seem to have sniffed some cocaine. its eratic and jumps up and down. the gas guage is not linear at all and not accurate. also, which seems to happen in winter only...when turning ighnition switch on, the needles swoop through the range but will not settle back to 0. it can be at 30/40kph and when you run the bike itll show you doing 160-170 or so. after turning ignition on an off a few times it will reset itself. very buggy. the chrome dials are annoying and will blind you in very sunny days. 2/10

-quality on parts compared to japanese makers is not as good. brittle, badly designed, and thin tabs will snap off easily vs the suzuki which has flex and will take abuse. 2/10

-known issues that exist. fuel pump and mesh "sock" filter are badly designed. there is no replaceable fuel filter. you take out the fuel pump assembly in the gas tank and take the sock off (gently so you dont snap the body clips) and clean it. there is no inline fuel filter. idiots. I may have to mod one inline. it also has a know vapor lock issue. I had a geyzer of fuel shoot out my fill tank one day. very scary.
the fuel injector will benefit from a cleaning. not terribly difficult once you do it once. it is said the spark plug boot also has its weakness and needs to be looked after. not sure though 4/10

-braking is good. hard to find aftermarket rotors. sym parts are more expensive than japanese parts. im shaking my head at that. from what I understand the rear and front rotors are the same sizes and can be used f/b and its the same for the 400/600. big plus. 7/10

-badly designed cvt box. oem belt slap in housing slowly deteriorates and will rip before its time. and EXTREMELY expensive.
huge fail. -10/10

-seat is ok. imo, the back support is much too high. also as a 183cm guy, my shins touch the front glove boxes on each side. so you cant extend feet. 6/10. burgman 400 was way better. I could extend my feet out almost straight

-working on the maxsym is easier and designed more smartly than b400. the b400 has tons of extra bits that was not deisgned well. especially opening the cvt housing. tons of different sized bolts. the maxsym has all 13 bolts the same and 1 main long one in the center. air filter is easy to get to as well. easy peasey. 7/10

-steering and handling isnt bad. not great. feels clumsy and hard to man handle it. its clumsy. 4/10

-harshness with performance I had was related to dirty injector and fuel filter. smotther but not smooth vs other bikes Ive had. also I replaced the rollers and did a thorough work on cvt. so better. its still feels like its on cocaine in low speeds. it feels very comfortable at 110-120kph. its running around 4700rpm 6/10

-under seat storage is not great. not bad but not great. you can get 1.5 helmets in. a rear box is needed. the burgman had the largest under seat space of any scooter...period. 5/10

-headlights are decent. they are halogen in projector beam housing. there is a flap that opens or closes for high beams. im curious if they will accept hid bulbs. 5/10

overall 6.5/10

Im already planning my next bike to buy. swt600/burgman 650(cvt repair scares me) burgman 400 and possibly another maxsym 600 if I can find one for a decent price. I already know most of its flaws..except the cvt belt slap issue.

[Data]

Good read Rocketman. Interesting observations. Thanks!