Suzuki Burgman Street EX: Old wine, slightly newer wineskin

The Suzuki Burgman Street remains one of the most popular 125cc scooters on the market, and with good reason. It is not only reliable and practical, but also a good-looking scooter from a reputed name. To further widen its appeal, Suzuki has launched the new EX variant, which gets some notable changes over the rest of the range. Let us take a look at what those are.

Apart from the new badging, you will be able to tell it is the new Burgman EX by looking at the rear wheel which has a 12-inch rear wheel, in place of the 10-incher on the rest of the Burgman (and Access/Avenis) range. This not only changes some riding characteristics, but also helps the scooter’s aesthetics. While the Burgman with the 10-inch rear wheel appeared too small and skinny at the back, this new EX seems much more proportionate. The larger rear tyre has also led to some minor differences in dimensions and weight. The EX weighs 1kg more (at 111kg) and has a 25mm longer wheelbase, although it is 5mm narrower than the standard Burgman.

Start riding and the first thing you notice is that this new scooter feels firmer at the rear than the rest of the Burgman range. While Suzuki says it has not made any changes to the suspension set-up, the scooter does feel firmer than we recall and that i’s probably been done to deal with the extra unsprung mass of the bigger wheel and tyre. The ride is not jarring by any stretch, but it is less forgiving than we would like, especially if you ride on poor roads. What is good is that the ride improves as speeds rise and larger riders or those that regularly travel two-up, probably will not find this to be as much of an issue.

While the larger wheel may have compromised the ride to a certain extent, what it has helped is the handling. The Burgman Street EX feels more composed around corners, and it has lost the slightly skittish feeling of the standard version. Braking has improved too, with the EX taking over 2 metres less than the standard Burgman to come to a halt from 60kph.

However, the EX’s performance remains more or less on par with the run-of-the-mill Burgman. It continues to be powered by the same 124cc, two-valve, single-cylinder engine that does duty in the rest of the range. The EX puts out 0.1hp less (8.6hp) at a slightly lower RPM, while the torque is the same, at 10Nm.

In our performance tests, the EX took 7.01sec to reach 60kph compared to the 7.03sec of the 10-inch Burgman. In roll-on acceleration, the EX is considerably quicker in the 20-50kph run, taking 3.76sec compared to the 4.2sec of the standard Burgman.

Performance is not a big improvement, and fuel economy too is quite similar. Suzuki has equipped the Burgman Street EX with its new SEP-alpha tech, which, in conjunction with the new auto start/stop feature, makes the EX a more refined experience compared to the rest of the range. The auto start/stop system works seamlessly, as it shuts the scooter down within a few seconds of coming to a halt, and starts it up instantly as soon as you twist the throttle.

What is also nice is that you get the option to switch off the system, should you choose. However, the start-stop button replaces the engine kill switch on the rest of the Burgman range.

In our fuel efficiency test, the EX returned 62.6kpl on the highway, with that figure dropping slightly to 60kpl in the city.

Apart from the new fuel saving tech, the EX also gets a silent starter feature that is not available on the rest of the Burgman range yet. Other features the EX carries forward are an LCD display, Bluetooth connectivity, a USB port in the glovebox and an LED headlamp.

Priced at ₹1.12 lakh, the Burgman Street EX costs a substantial ₹22,400 more than the standard Burgman and ₹19,000 more than the Ride Connect version. At this price, it does come across as being expensive for what it offers. Sure, it does get some more features and the start-stop system works smoothly in traffic, but the performance remains near-identical and so does the overall design, barring the rear wheel.

Unless you really want the quietness of the silent start system and the convenience of the start-stop technology, you would see more value in opting for one of the other variants from the line-up and saving yourself some cash.