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Knock, knock! Anybody home?
I found this forum after linking from the scooterdiva website, and I was amazed to see zero postings! I've been suffering from withdrawal since Friday, when the BurgmanUSA forum went down, and it may or may not be up tomorrow, so I thought I might find some kindred souls over here.
I'll go ahead and introduce myself, just in case anybody notices.
I've been riding since Feb. 05. First purchased a Yamaha Vino 125 and went through the MSF safety course on it. I have absolutely no interest in learning how to ride a motorcycle, so I was glad when they said I could do the course on a scooter, but I didn't care much for the Zuma they set me up with at first. Its throttle was way too squirrelly, and I messed up my test, so had to come back the next weekend. But with my Vino, I passed with flying colors.
My husband bought a Majesty 400 a week or two after I bought the Vino, and kept urging me to think about a bigger scooter so that I could "keep up" with him. He has these dreams of these long trips down the highway and picnics on scenic roads. I finally tried his Majesty, and except for the seat height (exactly the same as the Vino, but the bike's twice the weight), I thought that I could handle a bigger bike. The Majesty comes in only blue and gray (at least in this country), so I decided to try the new Burgman Type S our dealer had in. The Type S comes only in red. Gave myself a day to think about it because I really loved my Vino but couldn't afford to have both.
I rode the Burgman back to work in the rain and home afterward, but it was really pouring the next day. The following day, the two of us set out for a nice ride around the lake near our house. While turning left on the lake road, I went a little wide on my turn. No problem, I thought. I just leaned it over a bit like I did on the Vino, to recover the turn. That's when I hit the mud and pine needles. Before I knew what was going on, I was off the road and heading through some ivy and assorted muddy bushes. The Burgman headed down a steep hill, I fell off, and the bike did a 180 and slammed backward into a small tree.
I ended up with only a bruised shoulder thanks to wearing both armored jacket and pants (and full face helmet), but my bike was thrashed. It had to be winched up the hill, and then I spent nearly two weeks waiting to hear whether it was totalled because the model was so new that Suzuki didn't have all the part numbers in their database yet. Sigh. It was nearly totalled, and most of the parts had to come from Japan, so I was without it for nearly two months.
I climbed onto my husband's Majesty and rode it around the neighborhood so that I wouldn't be so freaked out, but then he traded it in for a "real motorcycle." I finally got my bike back nearly two weeks ago and have ridden it as much as the rain allows lately. I must admit I was a little tentative at first, but I've gotten used to it now. I'm having a lot of fun, although I retain a healthy respect for the machine.
So I hope to stimulate a bit of action here. If we get some sunshine, we'll be taking pics of the bike.
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Patty Masserman
Current scooter: 2005 Suzuki Burgman 400 Type S (The Phoenix)
First scooter: 2005 Yamaha Vino 125 (2-05 thru 3-05)
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