Maxi Scooters - Your choice for most practical

This is sort of a continuation of my Burg-curious thread. Looking for opinions on who offers a rock-solid maxi or super-maxi scooter, with great MPGs, freeway capable, ample storage, comfortable for tall riders.

Seems like under 50MPG would be non-practical. Over 60MPG would be fantastic. Old enough to get used for a good price.

Now I have started looking at the popular Asian made scooters:

Honda - Reflex and Silverwing
Yamaha - Majesty and T-Max
Suzuki - Burgman 400 and 650
Kymco - Xciting 250 and 500

Would like to hear about yours and why you like it. Please list your MPGs, how much you can carry, how much time repairing, etc. Haven't heard much about Kymco, but I do hear they make a damn good scooter.

Not interested in Italian scoots.

Multiple choice allowed in poll.

I had a Burgman 400 for a while.

• 70 mpg on the backroads, 55 mpg on the highway
• cruises at any legal speed without difficulty, even 2-up
• ample space under the seat for groceries, etc
• OEM Bridgstone tires lasted over 10k miles

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a all-around good scoot.

Had an '03 Silverwing and it was great. Had a Texas sidecar attached to it for while but the stress ended up causing a mount failure leaving a hole in the bike's frame. Got it welded up and enjoyed it as a solo for quite a while. The cvt tranny is a bit jerky at real low speeds but very comfortable at cruising speed. At 5'8" the bike fit me well....

If'n I was going to go back to the scooter/automatic route I'd seriously look at the Burgmann this time around. Never ridden one but sat on them and it seems it would be a bit more comfortable to tour on.

With new automatic motorcycles coming out I'd consider one of those too as I do like throwing a leg over rather than the step through.


Scott in Shoreview
'85 Voyager Hack
'79 Suzuki GS550

Had a burgman 650 for 2 years with 7000 miles when I sold it. The CVT was the main reason for selling. Some of the CVT parts are made by plastic for the first few years and will need to be replaced after 15000 miles. Parts are cheap, but labor will kill you.
MPG is 50 above doesn't matter how you ride it. Storage space is more than my sport car. Comfor and wicky fast, did 125 miles/h almost every other day at night after work on an empty hwy.
So many times that I wish I never had sold it. I heard the later year model fixed the CVT problem and weak front suspension issues.
Will buy again when they have burgman 800 in few years.

I have owned a 650 burger, a Tmax and a wing.
I live in a mountain town. The big burger was fine for cruising with lots of storage but I hated how heavy and unbalanced it was for moving around when parked. The wing was great, a really underrated bike. I have put a top case on my max and find it just as practical as the others. 6 or 7 bags of groceries(between under the seat and case) no problem. It is so well balanced though, a dream to drive around the town and so easy move around parking lots and the driveway and such......

My wife has a Kymco People S 250 and last year we had a loaner Xciting 500 for a few weeks. I'm afraid the only category where I could give the Xciting high marks would be price. It's way overweight, cornering clearance is poor and storage isn't the best. We like the larger 16" wheels of the People. You may also want to check out the Piaggio BV 250 or 500 or the Aprilia Scarabeo 500.

I have a friend with a Scarabeo and he drools over the Silverwing, FWIW.

I always found with my Vespa 250 that the maintenance was a bear. The CVT belt and weights are supposed to be changed every 9,000 miles. The Burgman 650 has lots of disadvantages related to it's sheer bulk, but the transmission is maintenance free for the life of the scooter according to Suzuki. The 400 needs a new belt every 15,000 miles (once a year for my kind of mileage).
For looks I like the T-Max, but trhats not a practical consideration.

BTW, Burgman 650 is really boring me after 2 year.... lacking soul.

That's why I would probably consider the Burg 400 or even the Reflex. Small enough to be more "fun". I was never scared riding the Reflex on the freeway, even though it topped out at just over 80 (indicated).

I think that the mammoth size of the Super-Maxi's kinda takes away from the fun factor...?

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Also - looks like the S'Wing is popular - but 50+/- MPGs makes it no better than my PC800. But I do like that Honda reliability.

And not one vote for the Xciting yet - hmmmm. I thought they were supposed to be great bikes.

Burgman 400. Excellent mpg, good mix of town and country capabilities, reliable.

I have a Silverwing and a SYS HD200.

For around town I find the smaller scoot to be much more fun to ride. If I'm going more than about 20 miles away I will usually take the Silverwing and then, on interstate or longer rides, the bigger scoot will be more fun for me. Of course either one alone could "do it all" for me but I'm fortunate to be able to have both.

I'm sure you have heard "It's more fun to go fast on a slow bike than to go slow on a fast bike." IMO, That really holds true for scoots.

(BTW, my first move to scoots was from a PC800 to a Silverwing. I found the mileage on the SWing worse than the PC800. At interstate speeds I don't get anywhere near 50mpg)

super size scooters are in the between real motorcycle and scooter. It's hard to find a fine line. The problem that I had was .. while I was out with scooter guys.. they said.. it's not a scooter (too fast for the group). On the other hand, when I was out with bikes, they looked at me like .. what the heck you ride a scooter (even couldn't catch up with some standard small bikes).

PC800 was one of my dream bike. I had a chance to ride for 30 mins.. that's wicky smooth machine. Too bad that they D/C it.

Can't agree more !!

It was the best damn scooter ever built that's NOT a scooter!

I had a Honda reflex (16K miles) and a Burgman 650 (27K miles) both used for daily commuting, about 70% freeway.

The Reflex got 65mpg and was definitely maxed out on the freeway. It doesn't have enough brakes for 2-up riding. The quality of my Reflex was so-so: It had a bad alternator which ultimately caused it to die in the far left lane of a rush-hour freeway. A few other minor problems.

The Burg gets 45mpg and is completely comfortable on the freeway, even 2-up. I took my daughter to school a couple mornings a week, did a few weekend trips to the wine country, etc. The Burg has had no mechanical problems whatsoever.

The Burgman is definitely bigger and heavier but for all the extra weight still surprisingly nimble. 12' u-turns are pretty easy, and splitting through urban traffic is no problem. The only obvious problem with the larger scoot is the gas mileage.

So where I come down on the size issue is like this: if you have a bunch of freeway in your commute, or you fancy riding 2-up, the 650 is definitely worth it. If not, the burg 400 or the TMax might be a better choice.

If you're in the SF Bay Area, and beyond the burg-curious stage, mine is for sale, $3500. Resale on scooters, not so good. But I no longer have much of a commute and the adv bug has bitten...

-Scott

Did some search, PC800s are in 3k range. I guess it's collectable.

They are getting harder to find, but the type of rider than generally owns a PC800 tends to keep it in good shape, so there are some pretty cherry PCs out there. They are rock-solid too.

If you could just put floorboards on them...

I have owned two scooters a Honda Helix and a Honda Silver Wing. 21,000 miles on my Silver Wing and Only scheduled Maintenance. I for one have no Experience with the other scoots but others speak highly of the Burgmans

I have had my Silverwing since 2002, and still love it.

While from all of the above I'd probably get the Xciting 500, considering
you're concerned with MPG figures you should stay clear of it (250 too),
since they're rather thirsty, especially the older carb version.

Even the newer 500Ri (FI) sips more fuel then my 650cc Kawasaki.
Can't help with other choices though.

They're as reliable as it gets, but there's more comfy rides out there
and most of the mentioned have more under-seat storage.