Bought a Silverwing this weekend!

Howdy folks,
I bought a 2004 Silverwing (non ABS) this past weekend and drove it home ~140 miles. (Thanks to my good wife for going with me to drive the car back!)

It has around 15.5k miles ... so probably due for a belt soon. Coolant is at the low mark ... but kept steady @ 3 bars on the temp gauge all the way home. Probably time for a coolant flush anyway, so I'll plan that... and I guess check the water pump?

Only downside so far is a pretty significant front end vibration starting around 74mph. I can't tell if it was the windscreen flapping (which it did ) ... or something else -- would love some input on that !

I have a CRF250L... that I really love ... but wanted something comfortable for tooling around town with my wife, and potentially a road trip or two here and there. This is my first non-enduro bike ... and so far, I think it's awesome.

I have a service manual on order to arrive this week -- look forward to learning from y'all and helping out when I'm able!

God bless!
JT

1st welcome aboard the board fro o-HI-o.

Me treat it like it's had nothing done unless written proof was provided. Fluids, all filters, new belt, check brake pads rotors, brake fluid flush. What windshield? There's a lot of good info here to go with the new manual.

Welcome Jesse. I can imagine the fun you're having after coming off that dirt-bike.

Welcome Jesse! Check the tires too, they may be overdue for replacement also. I bought a Kawasaki KLR 650 some years ago and drove it over 200 miles home! Found out in a hurry what needed to be replaced ASAP. Mirrors and grips were first!

Appreciate the greetings and info guys! Pads and rotors look good (didn't mic them, but no grooving, thick pads). I failed to mention it has 2 new tires... Pirellis. (PO said about 300mi on them ... they look good enough for that to be believable). Brake fluid flush is one thing I need to pay closer attention to.... thanks for that too.

The ride is definitely different than the dirt bike! Comfort and stability... gotta love it.

Happy Monday!
JT

oldwingguy wrote:

... snipped ... treat it like it's had nothing done unless written proof was provided. Fluids, all filters, new belt, check brake pads rotors, brake fluid flush.

Welcome aboard this board. Good list by oldwingguy.

Welcome Jesse,
And check the tires for fine cracks and I'm betting you will fins some if the tires are original. Change them anyway. Maybe the vibration is the front wheel in need of balancing?

Be safe and enjoy the ride.
Mike

Welcome.  Many happy S-miles are ahead for you.  

Vibration could be a tire issue or balance.  Most dealers can't balance a SW wheel are there weights on it?
Tire age is easy to check.
Look for this on sidewall either side.  16 week made  12 year made.  Even a new tire could be 2-3 years old before it's sold.

I did see 1 weight on the tire. Pressure was low, so I aired up. I'll check the tire date soon to be sure.

Had a nice ride after work today... loving it! (And my wife loves it too )

Welcome Jesse to the Best SWing site on the net.
Just my 2 cents. I use Ride On tire sealant and balancer in my tires. I'm not endorsing them or anything, it's just what I use.

Nice looking SWing!

Hi Jesse T,

Welcome on the best SW site on the net. You'll find here knowledge and friends.

I've been using Dynabeads to balance all my wheels for years and it's by far the best. You will make more mileage on your tire compare to any other balancing system. Why ? Simple, each time you stop and go the beads are balancing your wheel properly at each time. So your wheels are always perfect. These beads are ceramic made. When changing your tire simply transfer them in the new one... You pay one time for the beads.

Michel
Granby, Qc.

Hi Jesse, I have the same 04 SW and love it. Never had the the vibration. The 3 bars on the coolant indicator is normal. Im on my second SW both O4s.

Enjoy the ride.

Ride On and Dynabeads -- I need to look into that. Of course, it's rained torrential most of the time since my purchase!

Glad to hear success stories on the 04 model specifically

You folks are really great - appreciate all the support and welcome!

JT

I'm enjoying some light reading -- hope to get coolant flush done this weekend... in between rides

I checked the final drive level today.... warmed it up, put on center stand, and removed the check/fill bolt -- nothing came out. So... I decided to change it out ... drained and refilled -- yay!

Also decided to check the belt -- it looked good (no cracks or fraying) and measured about 1-1/8 inch using the method in the service manual. There was some evidence of the belt hitting the bottom of the case at some point... but I watched the belt while I had the case off (through a variety of rpms) and couldn't replicate a situation where the belt would move that far.

Decided to go ahead and change out the coolant. I drained .... then flushed out the system with a gallon of distilled water ... used air hose to blow the rest out fully. Refilled with "Toyota Pink" coolant 50/50 since that is what I usually have (to go with my wife's RAV4, daughter's Prius, and my ES300h).

The air cleaner on the belt housing was not there -- so I'll Morgan one of those soon. I'll get an engine air filter while I'm at it ... it was fairly clean, but might as well start off fresh.

Hope you all have a good Memorial Day weekend !!

JT

Enjoy then.  Belt rubbing on case is normal seems they all do it.  How much belt dust was in there it's a good indicator of belt wear?  Drive needs to be loaded to get belt at extremes to rub in there.  It's easy to replace but you need a tool to hold front pulley cheap and easy to make one.   Torque wrench also.

There wasn't a lot of dust in there ... to the untrained eye. I wiped it out with a shop towel and then blew compressed air.

It looked like it wouldn't be too hard to make a homemade 'spanner' to hold the flywheel/fan -- I'll probably work on that when I check the belt next time.

Thanks Mech!
JT