:beer: is for girls you pick up on the The Silver Wing! Don't think that Canada is the only place where girls say that its to cold to ride on the back of one of those things because you can pick a girl up in August in Miami after it has been raining all night and girls are still going to say that its to cold to ride on the back of one of those things!

I've thought about a nice long roadtrip but I'd need a week or two - we are on the most easterly point of the continent - as we are an island jutting out into the Atlantic, we actually have our own timezone in Newfoundland (seriously)!!

To get to the border I'd have to drive 10 hours across the province, 6 hrs on a ferry, 7 more hours across the province of Nova Scotia and then another 4-5 hour ferry to Maine. Would be a good trip but a long haul . . . here's the province's Tourism site (lots of info):

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/About/LocationMaps.aspx

Its near where the Titanic went down and the "Perfect Storm" movie supposedly happened. This is a picture of an iceberg just outside of St. John's harbour, capital city, in April or May one year.

I'm coming late to this discussion, but you folks have convinced me--I need the J Costa variator! Jeff, I really appreciate the pictorial you posted on the Scootertrap site. I figure with that I can probably tackle the job myself. But I have a couple of questions:

I notice you list your S-Wing as a 2007, same as mine. In your terrific how-to pictorial, you give the torque on that crucial bolt as 76 ft/lbs. Is that the right torque for the '07?

The "variator tool"-- is its purpose to keep the variator outer plate from turning as you torque down that bolt? It looks in your picture like it just has a couple of pins that go into a couple of holes to hold the plate steady, while allowing you access to the center bolt. If that's all there is to it, I think I could come up with something that would do the trick and save the $40. What do you think?

Thanks again for your great pictorials on various tasks!

darrwin,

Thanks for the compliment on my pictorial and I hope it helps.

For your 1st question about the torque for the bolt... yes it is 76ftlbs for torque.

For your 2nd question about the tool..you can make your own and many do. The tool just holds the plate steady so you can torque the bolt down. I bought it since I usually spend more time at the store trying to make something then just buying the tool. But they are easy to make. The tool is a bit difficult to use to torque down the bolt. I think they could've thought the design out a bit better.

But good luck on doing the work. I was also going to change my pins and was thinking of appling a "dry lubricant" to the bell housing, where the pins rotate against, to maybe lessen the friction. I will make another post about this though.

As with all the full fairing bikes I have had, the faster you go the smoother the bike seems.I have been 160mph on my old ninja 750 and it was smooth as silk.

Hey All,
I thought someone (a J.Costa owner) once remarked that they were getting tired of replacing the J.Costa pins too often and were going to go back to stock. Did I misread this somewhere????

Darrwin,
Go to Leroy Beal's website and see his home-made tool:
http://www.leroybeal.net/motorcycles/silverwing/articles/drivepulleytool/drivepulleytool.html
I made a "tool" out of a 1 by 4 with two 1/4" bolts. I can send you a photo if you would like it.
>> Dennis

DickO,

That might have been me saying that. If I buy my next set it will be my 3rd set in about 1 1/2 years. That is one reason I made the previous post about the dry lubricant. I was thinking it may reduce the friction and do a few things.. lower rpm's, reduce the wear of the pins, and maybe increase the mileage. I'm still thinking about this but am waiting for more responses.

Dennis responded and made good points but I'm always wanting to tinker with stuff. My pins are lasting about 8,500-9,000 miles, which is about 9 months or so. And since the pins are $65 a set it can get a bit expensive. The thing that makes me want to replace the pins with new pins is because the J. Costa is really nice. I'm going to go to the Burgmanusa site since that is where I read about using the dry lubricant on the ramps for the rollers, and how it seemed to help the ones who did this.

Dennis,
Hey thanks! I was envisioning a homemade tool almost identical to the one shown. It's great to know that my idea isn't so crazy after all.

Scootertrap was out of stock on the J. Costa, but promised one soon. Unless it shows up within the next week, the switch will have to wait a month until I get back from Australia. Whenever, I'll let you folks know how the job went, what the change feels like, and any new insights or tips that might be useful.

About dry lubricant: I haven't even seen inside my variator unit yet, so I'm just speculating here. Could it be that a certain amount of friction is necessary to make things work properly? Might there be a danger in making things TOO slick? Assuming that's really not an issue, what sort of lubricant would you suggest?

Another question: My '07 Silverwing only has about 3k miles on it (only short commutes until I retired last June). Do you think it would be worthwhile to change my drive belt while I have the thing opened up--or is it way too soon to contemplate that?

Darrwin:
The lubricant would help reduce friction (and wear) on the ends of the weights where they press against the outer piece of the variator. This occurs in order to make it a smaller diameter for enhanced acceleration. There is no need for friction along this interface. I think a bit of graphite lubricant might help, but I would make sure that the material in the weights in compatible with whatever sort of lubricant you use.

Darrwin:

3000 miles is way too early, the book recommends replacement at 16K and some riders have waited much longer than that. I chickened out and replaced mine right at 16K when the bright yellow "V" light came on.

With all this talk about the JCosta I am seriously considering the upgrade. I have been battling a vibration in the rear of the bike. I have an appointment at the dealer tomorrow to have the tire remounted, if that turnes out to be the issue I may put off the JCosta for a month or two. I pledged to myself to not do any mods this year and just ride the dam thing, oh well?!

Hi Dennis,

I just installed a J-Costa Variator yesterday and found the 2 holes in the outside stock honda variator plate are threaded with the same threads as all the cover screws. This comes in handy.

DennisB :D