Indiana (Purdue Area)

The Burgman 400 weighs a little less than the Majesty for one thing and I suspect the center of gravity to be a little different, perhaps a tad higher. Any of those things as well as tire sizes could account for the twitchy feel you experienced on the B 400. Tire size and aspect ratio have a fair amount to do with that too. On the other hand, the 650 weighs 80 pounds more, has the parallel side by side engine which would add weight in a pretty sound place to make it pretty stable. With fuel it would be about 550 pounds versus the B 400's 437 and the Yamaha YP400's approx 467 pounds.

I like the ride of the majesty that I've owned for a year but am going to try the 650 with it's higher power and more weight...and I don't want a manual transmission though you could buy a good Honda Shadow
Spirit road bike as a 750 cc or some good Yamaha road bikes for what the Burgman 650 costs.

It will probably be too expensive to change after a year to the 650 but I'm fairly certain that had I ridden one first I would have as a big guy opted for the heavier bike with 650 ccs. The parallel twin also only does 4000 rpm reportedly at 65 mph and the Maj 400 does the same speed but at just above 5000 rpms. Might last longer as a parallel twin engine in concept?

I still love my Majesty and save the above exploration hope to own it for years...after all, it's blue!

Lance

Lance, I realized that I never actually answered your question regarding twitchiness. Instead, I jumped onto a new topic which was the ease of leaning the bike. My last post basically stated that the Maj offers a much more fluid-feeling lean.

Separately, I also felt the Burgman 400 to be less planted, therefore used the word "twitchy". Less planted would have been more accurate. I wish I could be more scientific in my description, but it was a short back-to-back ride on both bikes on the same road within the same 10 mins.

I rode the Burgman first, got it up to 40 mph and said to myself "ok this is what a 400 scooter feels like". Then I rode the Maj, got it up to 40 and immediately felt more secure/planted/stable.

I purposely went to the dealer that day to test drive both so I could control for all the other conditions in a comparison. Both were used, Burg had 9k and the Maj had 3k. They were both serviced so I considered them to be almost as comparable as if they were new.

Try finding a dealer that will let you test drive both new ones! I had to twist this guys arm pretty hard and I wore my nice shoes to let him know I was a serious potential buyer

Hope this helps!

(btw...I ended up getting my Maj from another store because this was a Suzuki dealership)

Thanks for the reply. I just traded my Majesty yp400 in on a new Burgman AN650 yesterday and love the new one. Why? Weighs more, more powerful, auto transmission that has no double cogged v belts but more of a gear drive with centrifugal clutch, overdrive on highway, either manual or auto shifting at your option, more leg room, weighs about 80#'s more, bigger 15/14" tires, radial tires. I'd been on a ride with 125 other bikes over the weekend and did fine but the dealer when I went back for some air filters yesterday started a discussion with me and I told him I'd originally wanted a two cylinder engine so it would loaf a little more over it's life and wanted at least 500 cc's. My Maj. was a year old and I'd put 5300 miles on it having fun.

He showed me a white Burgman 650 they had and it is what I would have bought a year ago had I known they existed. NOT cheap but for what I wanted perfect. There are some differences. The B650 slows like a big road bike, the engine downshifts and slows your speed, and it is very, very quick when you open the throttle. The mirrors are at least six inches wider on each side in placement and it is super easy to see behind now with the B650. The B650 has a built in cigarette adapter power outlet, tons of choices and the same amount of storage space though it's more accessible.

When I drove it home I immediately noticed the difference after asking what radial versus bias belted tires would be like. The dealer said it would handle better with radials. He was right, the bike is far more responsive with the radials and corners easier if you can believe that. At 65 mph the B650 is doing 3850 rpm and the Maj. was around 5300 to illustrate the difference that might effect engine life. The radial tires are bigger..the back one is very wide, and the front one is a 15" one which is where many road bikes start. The ability to maneuver the bike is better than my Maj. was, perhaps tires, perhaps more leg and arm room for me.

It is closer to a road bike than the Majesty was and has a bigger, more solid feel at about any speed. It should as it weighs in at about 550#'s with fuel. Great on the highway and legs tuck in behind the front fairing quite well.. I'll take some multi day long trips much more comfortably whereas I wouldn't with the Maj. I also stayed off the interstates with the Maj but easily go on them with the B 650 due to size and weight better.

The good news is that the dealer gave me very high trade in value for the now two model year old Majesty.

What did I give up on the exchange? First of all, the Burgman is about $2,000 more expensive in cost and more than many road bikes like the Honda Shadow Spirit 750 and so on but it's an auto transmissiosns. Secondly, the mileage of the Maj. was 50/60 city/highway and this one with larger engine will be more like 40/50. Still good but power costs. I think from 33 to 44 hp when going from the 395 cc Maj. engine to the 638 cc on the majest. Both are great bikes but I agree, Maj. over B400 which is too light in weight.

Lance