Modern Vespa

After some time as a Piaggio owner and on this forum, thank you all for your advice, words of encouragement, etc. My last post was about the bike intermittently starting. Turns out it's a kickstand sensor, and a pain in the dick. -$515 something for part/labor. Given the number of issues I've had with the BV, I've decided to trade it in for a Burgman. Thank you all for your support!

-Cheers.

-Karlsbadd

I had a Burgman and loved it. You can still check in on the forum.

Bob Copeland

You don't need to have a Vespa, Piaggio, scooter or any PTW to participate in this forum.

Stick around.

Exactly. You can always stick around for the fun and games.

Nice having you here either way!

I've owned more Japanese products than Piaggio, but I stick with this forum when I've left others--good people, good advice, crazy characters, and big personalities. It's a big noisy tent worth belonging to.

Thanks, everyone! Maybe I will stick around. Haven't taken ownership of the new bike yet, but I'm test-riding a BMW today (I plan on being underwhelmed) and will know by Monday what and when I take possession of the new 2 wheeler. I know a lot of the advice here is trouble shooting and useful, regardless of what I ride. With any luck, I'll be able to increase my "wrenching" skills.

Very curious to hear people's take on their OTHER rides and why they strayed/stayed.

I've owned a couple of motorcycles, including a BMW R12R. It's a lovely bike, and does many things well. It is very fast and fairly well mannered. And yet, it's still infinitely less fun to ride than any of the many GTSs I have owned.

All that said, even if you choose a motorcycle (of whatever variety) you are still quite welcome here.

Burgman

Oooh Bill Dog, you're so right. I took possession of it yesterday.

Congratulations. A good choice. Nice paint scheme as well.

Yeah. I'm in the exact same boat. I've just lost the energy to deal with the issues that are always popping up. My GTS is 18 years old now so something always goes. My glovebox was the last straw. Letting it go cheap just to get my 1 car garage back.

Happy Trails

w.

We've owned four Burgman 650's since the first in 2006, and loved every one of them. I doubt if I'll ever own another 650, but I might be open to having a 400 at some point, which I now consider the most practical and universally useful of the Burgman series, at least for our purposes and regional geography.

As to our other, non-Piaggio machines, there have been 70 bikes in my lifetime count, and include bikes from 90cc's to 2500cc's, and literally everything in between. I'm trying to think of any of those that I actually disliked, and of course, my opinion of those bikes varies, but I can say that I liked every one of them

In recent years, with several notable exceptions, I'm tending more towards medium and small displacement machines, not because of any difficulty in physically handling larger bikes, but I simply appreciate the relative economy and 'back to basics' fun factor of smaller bikes.

Where in NJ are you? If you're not too far, we could ride sometime. -I feel I should clarify; my bike is an 18. The issues became unpredictable and annoying for me. I'm sitting out half the season. I think if I had a bike as old as yours I'd have a different feeling about it (maybe). The waiting on the parts is the real killer. Anyway, if you want to meet up, I'm in Bergen County.

I think that there will be another one in my future, either over there or over here.

Any long rides planned ?

Hey Bill Dog,
I just got the tags/plates/etc. on it this Tuesday and have taken it into NYC for work 3 times. Starts up every time, no issue. -What a luxury! I'm hoping to do a longer ride in the Hudson Valley of NY this weekend (Sunday), with a guy I met who also has a Burgman, and lives in Brooklyn. He has an executive so we're comparing apples to crab-apples I suppose but I expect to keep up regardless. Are you stateside often??

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