Silver Wing questions

: Hi guys i am new to the forum. I recently bought a used sw with 70k on it (km)
[14:00:45] Elie : Run great for the most part but since its my first sw im not relly sure on how it supposed to do on gas
[14:02:02] Elie : I am easy on the throttle but for some reason i only get arounD 200k per reservoire which comes down to 30mpg which it sounds very low compared to what most people are posting (45 to 55 mpg)
[14:03:23] Elie : Can anyone tell me where to start? Plugs can make that big of a difference? Also the bike seems to run high rpm (higher than normal) at 62mph around 5500
[14:04:34] Elie : Also the big does not seem to start rolling from dead start until hitting 3000 rpm
[14:05:02] Elie : Could it be rollers? Clutch worn out?

Elie, I moved your post out of the New Member area so you might get more help/info. When you get time, please post an introduction to yourself in the New Member area. Welcome.

First welcome to the board from o-HI-o. 2nd it sounds like the drive train needs a good going over, my go to thought when buying used is if it's not recorded on paper it's not been done and needs it. With that in mind what kind of records came with the S'Wing when you bought it?

Thanks Ghm!
No records came with it unfortunately!
Bike runs good very powerful!
Only did an oil change thats about it its been two weeks.
It is common here in my country for people to mess with the rollers. I heard something about taking some out which gives it better take off or something. I know its stupid. Why mess with the original!
I would like some direction on what to start with
Hint the bike tends to always feels like its in low gear like almost i have to press the gas even in down hill

Hello, welcome to the forum.

Like OldWingGuy says, it sounds as if the Drive Pulley and Driven Pulley needs to be serviced. You can start by returning the variator to original —either reinstalling all the original rollers or by replacing them with Dr Pulley sliding weights. If you find that Dr Pulley sliding weights are already in the variator, be sure that they are installed correctly. Of course you’ve cleaned the variator when you had it apart.

Then replace the belt with a new Honda belt. Don’t trust an aftermarket belt. Yet.

The next part is more difficult. You’ll need to disassemble the Driven Pulley to insure that it is expanding and contracting smoothly. It is only a 24mm nut which hold the Driven Pulley assembly onto the shaft, but special tools are required to disassemble it once it is removed. 

Do Not attempt to disassemble the Driven Pulley without a tool to compress and hold the large torque spring.

Here is a YouTube of the legendary Stefano Bonacasa servicing the Driven Pulley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82MUIwzfCPo

However it could be that the previous owner (PO) had a belt shred and there are still strands of the old belt stuck in the Driven Pulley. That would cause the DP to not expand properly and, effectively, hold it in a “low gear”. If that’s the case then you could probably use a piece of wood to wedge the DP pulley sheaves apart and pull out the belt strands.

Let us know how you get on with this. We all benefit from shared information.

Yep sounds like i need to find me someone who knows this stuff. I dont have the tools to do that kind of work. Thanks for all the help!

Welcome aboard the board Elie.

Elie wrote:

Yep sounds like i need to find me someone who knows this stuff. I dont have the tools to do that kind of work. Thanks for all the help!

A service manual will be your friend along with this board help, tools, there are work around's for some a search here will show these. A friend that knows and is willing to help is a friend indeed, a GOOD one Good luck.

oldwingguy wrote:

Elie wrote:

Yep sounds like i need to find me someone who knows this stuff. I dont have the tools to do that kind of work. Thanks for all the help!

A service manual will be your friend along with this board help, tools, there are work around's for some a search here will show these. A friend that knows and is willing to help is a friend indeed, a GOOD one Good luck.

Elie, I guess my first question is are YOU personally willing and able to learn about maintaining and servicing your SWing? If no, then someone else will have to do the work on it. That means someone who is a "wrencher" and handy with tools or a dealer (this option can get expensive pretty fast).

If it's a friend or maybe someone in the neighbourhood that is good with MC maintenance, oldwingguy's suggestion of picking up a manual is a very good one. If the dealer is going to do the work, you still might want to pick up a Factory Service Manual as each scooter is a little different from one to the next and having a FSM handy for the tech to reference can't hurt.

Elie.
There is nothing complicated in the cvt drive train. If you have a socket set and somewhere to sit and work on the bike for a few hours its surprisingly easy.
A service manual helps, as does U-tube and this forum.
Them only special tools you will need is a torque wrench, a long bar for tight nuts and a piece of wood with some holes in it to hold the front pulley - all that will make sense once you've looked at a utube or two.

There really isn't that much to do on a Silver Wing, the oil and filter changes are straightforward enough, as long as you don't strip the corners off that useless tappit cover sump plug using the wrong type of Metric socket. Changing the final drive oil is simple enough if you use a syringe to refill it.

Bleeding the brakes is straightforward enough as long as you go them in the right sequence, coolant changes are easy enough too.

I'm saying that as someone who only plays with the oily bits out of necessity. Why I was tempted to buy an expensive FSM from the States now escapes me, I'd rather look at cookery books. During my first years of Silver Wing ownership JeffR's Maintenance Pictorials were a valuable reference source.

I fitted a set of NGK Iridium spark plugs simply because on a visit to a motorcycle accessories store in Germany, their Summer Sale was on and I picked up a set of plugs and a tool set for getting at the deep seated spark plugs very cheaply. So back at home having the right tools to change the deep seated plugs was pretty straightforward. Then I could basically forget about changing plugs afterwards.

My last belt change I booked the Silver Wing into a local bike dealership a couple of miles from my home. They completed the job while I wandered into York for a coffee and a bacon sandwich.

So as long as you're not a compulsive tinkerer or get suckered in thinking you need a lot of the unnecessary go faster and springy stuff, there's nothing much else to do if you keep your Silver Wing stock. Apart from keeping it clean especially after riding on salted roads, checking tyre pressures regularly, keeping the battery charged, and the odd spray of this and that.

Why make unnecessary work for yourself.

My initial thought is that the previous owner changed the rollers to Dr Pulley sliders. Possibility to 21gram. The stock ones are 28gram rollers. There is a difference between rollers and sliders. The lower the weight the higher the gripping rpm of your clutch. 26 & 24 gram sliders will increase the starting rpm, but lower the cruising rpm by about 500. They give an increased power off the line.

Hi Elie, welcome to the forum. I bought my 2001 SW with no history so you have to get to ‘know your bike’. You will need to get some tools and get stuck in.

If you can use a socket-set and a torque-wrench it’s not too difficult to have a look at the drive assemblies to find out what the problem might be.

Fuel consumption? I was a bit surprised how badly my SW uses fuel but it’s old and it has a very small fuel tank. I reckon I am getting about 30-35mpg. My SW also likes a regular oil change new spark plugs and a new air filter so that she can give her best performance.

Loosemarbles wrote:

Fuel consumption? I was a bit surprised how badly my SW uses fuel but it’s old and it has a very small fuel tank. I reckon I am getting about 30-35mpg. My SW also likes a regular oil change new spark plugs and a new air filter so that she can give her best performance.

The poor fuel consumption on early Silver Wings was always mentioned in magazine road tests back then and it's thirsty reputation followed it around for years. I used to have the old Twist n'Go magazine where journos riding (flogging) them back to the UK from the Honda press launch in Europe were complaining of almost running empty at around 130 miles or so.

Fuel consumption did improve on the 2008 onwards models, from the odd fuel calculations I used to do on the 2010 Silver Wing I had, I used to average 65-68 mpg and have gone 170 miles or more on a tank quite a few times before filling up.

Old Limey who used to be on here had a go at wringing 200 miles out of a tank full of fuel on one of the later models he rode just to see if it could be done, and he achieved it too.

I wouldn't say the Silver Wing has a very small fuel tank either, it's 16 litres or 4.4 Imp gallons, that's a litre more than the fuel tank on the lardass 650 Burgman carries.

In comparison my 2018 Forza 300 does have a small fuel tank it's 11.5 litres. Although 200 miles from a full tank is possible, so far I've erred on the side of caution and filled up around 190 miles with the reserve light flashing.

I think folks are misleading themselves thinking Dr Pulleys will magically achieve better mpg most likely based on the old taxi-driver logic that the slower the engine revs the better mpg.
Best mpg is obtained when the engine is working at its most efficient at any given speed and Honda's designers are usually good at working this out.
Slightly lower weight dr pulley sliders therefore shouldn't make a difference, but they do because if you can accelerate faster you will, I doubt even Mother Teresa could avoid that temptation, therefore more fuel is used.

Elie you might be getting confused as USA and UK gallons are different. For an early sw you should be hitting reserve at 120 to 140 miles depending on speed and terrain (flat or hilly country).

Thanks everyone for all the inputs!
Yes i am aware of the difference between mpg and km per liter. You are right i am hitting 120mile when bliking light comes on. I do ride mountain roads also highways

I am handy mechanically i can do most of the work myself oil change air filter plugs and all that. Its the other stuff that i need assistance with since i dont have tools like the toold to hold the roller case to take off the 17 bolt amd so on.... anyways i appreciate all the help i ve made great conclusion from the guys on here. Im happy with my sw its fun driving thats for sure

Meldrew wrote:

... snipped ... Fuel consumption did improve on the 2008 onwards models, from the odd fuel calculations I used to do on the 2010 Silver Wing I had, I used to average 65-68 mpg and have gone 170 miles or more on a tank quite a few times before filling up.

Old Limey who used to be on here had a go at wringing 200 miles out of a tank full of fuel on one of the later models he rode just to see if it could be done, and he achieved it too.

I wouldn't say the Silver Wing has a very small fuel tank either, it's 16 litres or 4.4 Imp gallons, that's a litre more than the fuel tank on the lardass 650 Burgman carries.  

My 2005 made 350+ km per tank regularly if I let it go that long.  I never took it beyond 350km although I believe I could have for perhaps another 25-30 km.  At the point of the low fuel light flashing, I regularly made 295-300 km.  And it took between 12.3-12.5 L of fuel to refill.  This was based on 80% secondary highways, 20% city riding.

Before I sold it, I hand calculated the last 5 tanks.  Consistently coming up with between 3.95 to 4.1L/100 kms. (about US60 mpg)  As the ads says, your experience may be different.

Well Elie, if you could borrow some tools and maybe get a friend to help you could at least go in and have a look. It's not as scary as you might think. Check out Stefano Bonacasa's videos and look up the threads on this forum for help.

Enjoy the SW.

Really, directing the OP from Lebanon to a Honda dealer in PEI?
Comments deleted.

Sorry I got my wires crossed, wrong poster, wrong continent and country. But hey if he likes lobster or a church supper.

One thing to remember too Elie is when you change the oil and filter USE A 6 POINT SOCKET on the drain plug. a 12 point socket will more than likely strip the hex off the plug and you'll be in trouble. I didn't have a 6 point only a 12 point the first time I changed mine and stripped the head and had to use Vise Grips to get it off then back on. After that I ordered 3 plugs and a 6 point socket. I still have the second plug in the scoot and the other two in my tool box in the garage. Murphy's Law comes into play here. If you have a spare nothing will break or go wrong. So far, So good.

Elie, I revived a 04 Silver Wing and only get 45 to 48 MPG around 150 Miles to a fill up but fill before the light comes on always.

From 2008 on the fuel mileage improved on the Wings. My 2012 seldom drops into the 40's and on the road is usually 55-58 MPG, although I have seen 62 a couple of times... Then again, I don't ride it like a sport bike; more like an old guy out for a cruise!!!