I have just swapped my Vstrom 1000cc bike for a new Burgman 400Z ABS. Believe me, power is not a problem for these modern 400's. But of course it won't quite romp up the road like your XT or my DL, but they are not slow and when you've learned how to master the auto tranny for best move off speed etc you can make them dance really well. If you intend a lot of two up work over big distances then, as others have said, you may want to consider a six fiddy version. But in all honesty, two up performance isn't bad at all and cruising at 70+ with a passenger is a complete doddle with no stress at all on the engine. It's designed to do that and more. I guess it will depend on your touring all up weight as to how well it will go though. Best bit for me was discovering that the 400 engines on these babies are incredibly fuel efficient. I'm getting overall between 70-72mpg all the time in mixed riding. On a run I can easily get 75mpg plus! I don't spare the horse either. I really find it hard to believe how little fuel is being used. Anyway, there are loads of good scooters out there. Take some time and check them out. A new Burgman 400 can be had for as little as £4,995 on the net, but the limited edition model like mine is around £6k at full retail and £5.5k on the net. It has heated grips, handguards, passenger backrest and ABS along with a special colour scheme. Keep in touch and let us know what you decide. Good luck.

I'm bound to say 'Honda Silverwing' although they aren't the most economical maxi around and it's a 600cc bike.


It'll do the 'two-up, touring' business for sure; a couple of years ago there was an article in one of the bike magazines about a chap who organized and lead m/c tours in Europe, usually on a BMW 1200RT or somewthing who, as the result of an 'off', couldn't manage the BM at the start of the season so bought a second-hand Silverwing and did the first tours on that...with his wife on the back and all their luggage.
He had no trouble keeping up with the crotch-rockets and big cruisers, even in the Alps.
In fact his wife preferred it to the BM because the back seat is higher than the front so she could see where she was going......and keep an eye on the speedo!

That's Peter and Gloria Avard, they do a couple of Maxi scooter Tours each year, a few East Kent IAM members go on their trips and enjoy them
http://msltours.co.uk/blog.html
I've never used them

Dave Weller wrote:That's Peter and Gloria Avard, they do a couple of Maxi scooter Tours each year, a few East Kent IAM members go on their trips and enjoy them
http://msltours.co.uk/blog.html
I've never used them

I Have,twice some years ago,good laugh,like the time where the hotel manager said "park all your motorbike round the back" so we did.All of them inside the hotel,ask Sam their daughter who works for Hein G. In Maidstone Dave W.

Waldorf wrote:I'm bound to say 'Honda Silverwing' although they aren't the most economical maxi around and it's a 600cc bike.

+1

In fact his wife preferred it because the back seat is higher than the front so she could see where she was going......and keep an eye on the speedo!

I've got one like that - I just tell her it reads 15% more than we're doing!

The Nexus can be reliable... I'll be selling mine soon as I get its MOT done. The wife is fine sitting on the pillion (5'2, 55kgsish) for about 2 hours but then needs to give her butt a break, you can only get 1 full face helmet underneath the seat but as with any bike you can add panniers, tunnel bag and top box.

Best mpg I got out of it was 75mpg worst was about 55mpg I think from a tank of fuel... however if you are going at 'normal' motorway speeds you can see it drop to like 35-40mpg.

Re the reliability, mine had a new regulator at around 18K miles, new stator at 24K miles, I had a chaffed wire fault at around 12k miles, I only recently changed the head race bearings at 26K miles... and just got an MOT failure on fork seals at 29K miles which I am sorting out this weekend hopefully

A Front tyre will last about 12-14k miles rear will last around 6k-9k miles, belts will last about 8K miles service intervals are every 6K miles...

It is a very nice ride at easily copes with realistic motorway speeds... in fact I wish I didn't have to sell mine... but I just bought a TMax and need to get some money back into my pocket

I've got one like that - I just tell her it reads 15% more than we're doing!

In fairness to Gloria, Peter wrote that she navigated and checked the schedules in 'co-pilot' role so he could concentrate on riding, expecially on twisty bits. Her being able to see the dials over his shoulder made it much easier.

xtjim wrote:I Live in North Lincolnshire, so looking for local dealers mabee get some test rides. I should get about £1800 for my XT so thats a nice deposit on some thing new not 100% sure on scoot prices yet but i thing i would only want to spend aroud £5K ish. After having 600cc and above bikes for quite a few years i thing my head (and bulk) would need some thing bigger than a 400 but its a differnet ball game so like you say i need a few test rides.

Where in N. Lincs are you? I would have recommended you go to the Scooter shop in Cleethorpes a couple of weeks ago but they have "binned" Piaggio. If you want to do any touring, has to be the GP 800 or now the rebadged Aprillia 850. The Burgman 650 a close second.
Ginge.

poldark wrote:

xtjim wrote:What about a Gilera Nexus 500 are they any good?

They don't have the best reputation for reliability, but you maybe lucky, though it wouldn't be considered palatial for a pillion, not an especially touring focused scoot. They're short on storage and more sit-on than in, by all means try one but wouldn't be top of many people's list.

I love mine even though I now have to rebuild the engine. They are reliable if the maintenance side of things has been kept up. The only known issues I know of are regulator/rectifiers sometimes go down (the same on all piaggio group bikes) although I believe this has been addressed on the later bikes. On the 500 master engine the oil pump drive gears on some of the early bike broke up as the first batch were made from crappy ABS plastic this again has been addressed & there is an uprated part available with the gear now being made from nylon. It is quite a serious fault but if you catch it early enough the engine can be saved. Not all early master engined scoots had a problem I've seen lots of early X9 500s with 60-70000miles on the clock on eBay. Like I said if the bike has been well serviced (fully stamped up book) you'll be fine. The nexus is a great bike, I find it very comfortable although not quite as comfy as my old X9 but it does handle better than the X9, handles better than most scooters I've ridden & has the best brakes of any bike I've ever owned. Fuel consumption is good for such a large bike. When going down to my parents in Somerset (183miles door to door) I can do the journey on one tank of fuel (£18) at 80mph. Tyres are a bit expensive as they're an odd size but general servicing & parts are cheap apart from the mirrors on MK1s. For touring the X9 is a better bike as it has lots of storage but both bikes have great weather protection & have adjustable screens. Both bikes are quite heavy but I found this a plus as it just makes them feel more sure footed & stable. The 500 is not the most powerful scoot & yes there were a couple of reliability issues, I dare say the T-max would leave a nexus for dust but it costs a great deal more. Like most things you pays your money you takes your choice. Just make sure you do all the relevant checks & see if you can try a few out.

By the way welcome to here.