| The Burgman 400 is the white van of powered two wheelers. But that doesn't mean it can't be improved so here's some uncalled for advice. - Before you do anything else fit a Malossi CVT kit. This alone would have chopped 2 seconds off the kart track time by getting rid of that too high geared feeling of lugging out of corners. - There's a real shortage of tuning gear but a Leo Vinci 4Road silencer helps a little bit. - Whip the forks out and go one grade higher on the fork oil. 10W seems about right. 15W is too high. - Run the tyres a bit over inflated to get rid of some of the lack of precision and get rid of some of the white lining. 27-39 seems to work - Replace the mirror stalks with some threaded rod or short bolts with the tops hacksawed off. - Take a dremel to the screen and cut a nice big NACA duct low down. Cuts some of the helmet buffeting by bleeding air behind the screen - You can never have enough storage space and you really don't want to take pillions so strap an old Rickman topbox on the pillion seat. Attach a bit of foam to the front as a backrest. - For the summer some liberated estate agent sign will make easy leg guards and keep the wind off your knees. For the winter a Tucano Urbano lapcover is essential. - Triumph Tiger handguards and heated grips - EBC HH pads work well - Hoop tyres work fine and last well - Ride it like you stole it because nobody else will Here's one I made earlier  This was taking it all a bit far  They can be ridden with gusto  You get prizes for the most ridiculous thing you've bungeed on the back. A turkey. A christmas tree. A bicycle. A micro scoot when commuting. I did say it was the white van of motorcycling. It's also taken us two up to Glastonbury with rucksacks, tent, sleeping bags, wellies and a couple of gallons of cider picked up on the way. It did wallow a bit though. And amazingly it beat a GSXR1000 between Elsenham and Thaxted. And the best bit is that it's really hard to get people to try riding one, but they always come back with a big grin. The perfect urban assault commuter. Did I mention it's cheap to run? Tyres are 11k-9k miles and < £40 each. Tank is 12.5L and I get 110m on the motorway at 90mph, 130m in town and 150m on A roads treating the throttle like a two position switch. With current petrol prices and the gauge deep in the red that's a tenner for 11.5L. Insurance is cheap. Oil change is 2.5L every 3500 miles. The valves are screw and locknut (sadly changed to shims on the K7). Speedo seems to be dead on accurate. It will hold 93 on the flat, 100 downhill or with a bit of slipstreaming. Top speed is limited by the rev limiter (9300rpm) and drops as the rubber belt wears. When it starts to kick in at 92mph it's time to change the belt. Typically 15k to 20k miles. The last one I had ended up with an engine that had done 75K miles dispatching and was using oil. Oil consumption is minimal until at least 35k miles when sustained flat out riding tends to burn it up. Avoid anything before the K3 as the rear wheel design is suspect, they either stick to the splines or strip the splines. Stock exhausts destroy themselves in 10k miles of London roads as something comes loose inside. The stainless Leo Vince seems to last forever. Front bearings are typical crap Suzuki with minimal seals. Same with all the Suzuki alloy on wheels and engine. A winter's salt and no cleaning destroys the finish. Just try not to look at it or cover it in waxoyl. I have to say I love this thing because it's so silly but also so effective. It's that sweet spot between a small scooter and the mini-Gold Wing of the Burger 650. Especially for 15 miles of A10 into London and then 15 miles of London traffic. Even for things like trips by plane, you can guarantee the time it takes to get to the airport round the M25. Luggage is bungied on the back, when you park up, all the bike gear goes under the seat. If you go to a race meeting with mates, you can get two helmets under the seat, 2 on the strap hooks and one in the top box. You still need a GSXR750 in the garage as well though. [Copied from the PB forum. Best Comment] Fair play to you, looks like you're having maximum fun from two wheels. |
[ << Westminster Parking - An analysis ] [ 500 Internal Server Error >> ]
[ 04-Apr-09 8:52pm ] [ motorcycles
] 