Ya only got a nickle!

[quickgrayfox]

New member here with the same tired ol' conundrum.

Been off of motorcycles (Suzuki 850) for over 30 years and off of scooters (while in Norway) for over 20 years and now I'm about to get my cycle license and ride with my son.

I've been looking for/at Burgman and Kymco scooters to fill the bill - something with the ability to handle the interstate at times but hopefully just cruise back roads.  It's gonna have to be able to handle 200 to 300 miles a day as well since I'm 60 miles away from the Blue Ridge Pkwy.  But it's possible that I'd need to drive 240 miles on the Interstate as well.

I'm thinking that 240 mi on the interstate rules out 300 and 400 cc scoots leaving just the Burgman 650 or the Xciting 500.  Can anyone here offer up their years of experience regarding the reliability of the Xciting 500?  Certainly the price beats the competition and I really don't give a hoot about heated hand grips or seats (however, the movable Burg windscreen is nice).  As Stig said somewhere on the forum, there are a lot of Kymcos out there without problems.

Long story short - How reliable is the Xciting 500 compared to the  Bergman 650?  And does anyone out there think that I can get away with a smaller scoot given the possible 240 mi interstate run?

[CROSSBOLT]

Downtown 300i and the People GTi300 will run Interstate quite well. Many on here have attested to that. We prefer not to do much travelling on the Eisenhower Interstate system over finding skinny roads as they are more scenic and mostly less congested. I have been on I-40 several times out of necessity (I thought) and cruised 65-70 effortlessly. I wanna ride US 129, The Dragon's Tail at the south end of the Smokies! But I will ride skinny roads to get there.

Karl

[quickgrayfox]

Unfortunately - Rt. 81 would entail 75 mph the entire 240 miles.  If I had my choice I would prefer either a 300 or 400 cc scoot - but unless some people can chime in with any other information, I don't believe a DT300 would like to be driven 3 hours at a true 75-80 mph.  It's not top speed that I see as the problem but rather the duration of the ride at that speed.

I do believe that either the DT300 or the Burg 400 would be more fun on the twistys!

[xsel777]

I am extremely happy with my xc500. It had the dreaded cold start issue, but eventually it was found to be the stator. Now I don't even have to trickle charge.
A sports clutch is what you will want to get some higher speeds and a sports variator to lower the rpm at the higher speeds.
It pulls like train all the way through the range.
Cost to performance, it can't be beat.

The Burgie 650,is  a big brute, and while far more sophisticated, there is that belt that practically costs the price of the bike to replace.


 Sent from my Samsung Note 3 with Tapatalk

[Stig / Major Tom]

Three hours at 75 -80 MPH ?

In the scooter world - I think I would trust only a $12,000 Burgman 650 to survive those kind of repeated runs in decent health.
But, before I'd drop that kind of money on any scooter - I'd be looking at motorcycles. Where you can get more cc's for a lot less $ - and not have the late-life death rattle of those big Burgmans. When that massively complicated CVT goes - most folks scrap the scooter for parts.

If you don't expect to ride anything for 50,000+ miles - Yeah, you could take that $12K and look at the 650/Burg and/or gently used bikes of all kinds & sizes.

A 500 Kymco - even if it does not develop the refusal to start issue - ......at 75 - 80 MPH for 3 hours, repeatedly?!
I can't see it staying healthy for very long.

If you could knock 10MPH off of those runs - the Burgman 400 and maybe even the Kymco 300's might suffice.

If you could do mostly secondary highways at 55 - 65 mph any 300 - 400 scooter would keep you quite happy.

If you have been off of two wheels for some time - you might want to start small and see if it is really for you, again.

Guys are really happy with their Kymco 300's and the Burgman 400's.

Stig

[willembop]

I like my Xciting 500 for running around the local area, but it is not very comfortable on interstate highways. Oh, it will get up to highway speed alright, but in doing so it is right near the top of its RPM range and feels pretty frenetic. Also, its smallish wheels don't make for very confident handling at high speeds. If I'm going any distance on interstates I take a motorcycle. My old 700 Sabre V4 just purrs at interstate speeds and is much better in the wind. Even a Burgman is not competent at highway speeds compared to most motorcycles.

[quickgrayfox]

Thanks for the input Stig and everyone.  As usual it appears I want my cake and eat it too.  The interstate runs would only happen occasionally - but from what I hear from the replies - it shouldn't happen on anything but a motorcycle at those speeds when what I really want in life is just run the back roads.

According to one of the routing programs there is, in fact a back way that adds about 40 miles and 2.5 hours to the trip.  This may be everything I need to know and allow me to downsize my planning back to the 300 to 400 cc scoots.

Thanks for all your experience - that's why I'm here - to learn.

[Doc Wheezer]

I owned a 2009 xciting 500 with abs.  It would do 75mph but was running at over 7500 rpm., on the other hand my Burgman 650 twin turns a smooth 4600 rpm at 75mph.  Also the price of a new belt and installation on a Burgman 650 is around $3500 makes it very expensive to repair, if not a throwaway bike.
Now, if you can find one, the Kymco MYROAD 700 has a very simple drive design, twin cylinders much lower RPM at cruise speed and smoother running than a big single.
It may be something to consider, seeing as how this is a KYMCO forum after all.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I owned a 2009 xciting 500 with abs.  It would do 75mph but was running at over 7500 rpm., on the other hand my Burgman 650 twin turns 4600 rpm at 75mph.  Also the price of a new belt and installation around $3500 does make it very expensive to repair, if not a throwaway bike.
Now, if you can find one, the Kymco MYROAD 700 has a very simple drive design, twin cylinders much lower RPM at cruise speed and smoother running than a big single.
It may be something to think about.

GOOD POINT Doc....
And may find the 700 at knock down prices due to lack of sales.
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

I have to agree that the more displacement and the lower the revs equate to longer engine life. Period. Just because a small one WILL do freeway speeds does NOT mean it will do them forever!

Karl