Owned and sold 2000 by Tim Pestridge

Suzuki Burgman 400

I had always dreamt of the perfect machine for me; two wheels, able to carry me distances in comfort, carry luggage as part of a built-in design, return good mpg yet remain swift enough for quick getaways, stylish & smart with decent protection from bad weather. I thought I had seen it in the shape of the Burgman 400, especially after riding a loaned Yamaha Majesty 250 which proved very capable, if a little underpowered on motorways. Surely the 400 was my dream machine?

Looking back, it was the only time I'd ever considered buying a new machine, after owning over 50 motorbikes all bought on the secondhand market. But this thing captured my imagination, and I ordered a silver one from GT Motorcycles, Torbay. A week later I waved off my Yamaha TRX 850 on the back of a pick-up and was left with one very long, very silver twist-n-go cross-breed. I stood for a long time just admiring it's sleek frontal lines and pretending I couldn't see it's not-so-pretty back end.

Neither scooter, nor motorbike, the Burgman proved a worthy design, able to cruise past bigger bikes on the motorways, user-friendly enough to encourage hopping on for short trips to load up it's under-seat storage with shopping. It was perfect. Almost.

The main trouble was that it was neither fair nor foul, a kind of jack-of-all-trades that didn't quite any mark. Once the honeymoon period was over I began to find the Burgman too long for making the most of it's scooter qualities in town, it being quite a bit longer than it's successor above, the Honda VFR 750. So manageability isn't it's hot topic. On the open-road it was sluggish compared to a motorbike with gears, and I missed the cog-swapping ability of my previous bikes. The Burgman's single gear means there is a lag between opening the throttle wide and in the engine really getting into it's gate. You just can't drop down 2 gears to power past other vehicles, and I missed that.

The pillion seat is set too far back to be useable safely, but a GIVI seat rest (pictured) improves that. I began suffering back-ache from the Burgman's riding position, (this is a personal opinion, we are all different shapes) and found the stretch to the bars a bit too much. I just couldn't get comfy, and the lack of anything to grip with your knees meant many a wobbly moment in motorway crosswinds. My 750 motorbike seemed much easier to ride over a twisty stretch of A road than this. In fact, it was one blustery trip from Bristol to Exeter with a poor friend clinging on for dear life that burst the Burgman's dream-bike bubble, as I fought the bike sideways down the M5. I was overtaken easily by an old Morris Minor, and the humiliation proved too much.

So, the bottom line is this. If you want a feet-forward bigger-than-normal scooter to keep you dry when it rains which goes faster than your average scooter, this is it. The Burgman is all about function and less about motorbiking. It will never be considered a motorbike by the masses of UK motorcyclists, and that won't change. But having owned one and ridden several thousand miles on it, I would take this bike seriously. As did the two bikers on SV650's struggling against the headwind on the M4 I caught up as I cruised past sat bolt upright without a care. It's one serious bike/scooter.