another newbie

Hello, I'm the owner of a new-used '07 SW that had 1685 miles on it, and it was only a day's drive from where I live in the mountains-high desert of Easter Sierra Nevada. I've put almost 1000 miles on it in two weeks. I'm coming off 40 years of riding beemers, so I have a learning curve for the scooter. I bought a Honda because of their bullet proof cars. And I'm both liking and not liking the SW. Pretty, powerful and has good storage. But, the noisy drive train, the tendency to shimmy, especially at low speeds is a bit unnerving. Any comments on how to "fix" or deal with these issues, I'd appreciate. I'm looking forward to others experience and solutions. No bike is ever perfect. I've read that others are really disappointed with the fuel economy. I ride pretty moderately at 69 years old. I gain and lose 3000 feet each time I go to town and I do about 55-70 mph, and I am getting 55-59 mpg. I don't know if SW's vary that much in their mileage or are just very sensitive to speed and aggressive riding. So, hoping learn from you all and perhaps see some of you on the road. I'm leaving on the scooter for two weeks and three thousand miles.

Hi Hawk, welcome to the world of Silverwinging. Sounds like you love the miles... I've put 6600 miles on my '04 in 7 weeks. Is your SWing stock or are there any modifications? As far as mileage goes, I'm trying to find my way above 40mpg riding the way I do, fast and far, average 75mph, but that was with a large windshield. Still trying to figure out other mileage tips. The Silver Wing does have smaller wheels just like most other scooters, so handling might be a bit of an adjustment from a Beemer.

redtailhawk wrote:

Hello, I'm the owner of a new-used '07 SW that had 1685 miles on it

Welcome to the friendliest Silverwing forum and Silverwing world.

redtailhawk wrote:

But, the noisy drive train

Could you provide more details

- sound description
- what speed does it appear
- does it get louder at certain speeds

If it is indeed the drive train, then it may be worth put on center stand and taking off the black covers and aluminum cover and running to see where the sound may be coming from.

redtailhawk wrote:

the tendency to shimmy, especially at low speeds is a bit unnerving.

I know it has low miles ... my first thought would be to put the Silverwing on the center stand and carefully check the tires.

redtailhawk wrote:

I gain and lose 3000 feet each time I go to town and I do about 55-70 mph, and I am getting 55-59 mpg. I don't know if SW's vary that much in their mileage or are just very sensitive to speed and aggressive riding.

Aggressive riding and RPMs do effect the MPG.

Dr Pulley Sliders ( http://www.buggypartsnw.com/home?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=386&category_id=32&keyword=dr+pulley+sliders ) help lower the RPMs by .4K - .5K from the original OEM rollers.

Hi Hawk. I enjoyed your intro and share a few things with you. My very first bike was a brand spankin new, black, toaster tank, 73 r60/5 BMW. Have been a Beemer enthusiast ever since even though out of my 20 plus bikes, that was my only BMW. And who wins Motorcyclist "MOTY", ? the new S1000RR. I'd give about a weeks pay to ride one lap around Laguna Seca on that mini bike.
I too was taken by the somewhat odd feel.....handling of the Silverwing. After one year, I love the convenience, and have gotten used to it's unique feel. About the shimmy.....is this a bar shake when you roll off the throttle? At around 30 to 40mph? Mine did also until my recent tire change, and firmed up the rear end shock pre-load. Several have replaced their fork springs with aftermarket pieces with excellent results.
Your ride into town sounds like a motorcyclist's dream come true.Take care....Jeff.

Hammy, Guru and Jeff, thanks very much for the contacts and the information. It's helpful. Some stuff, I can see are just the nature of the beast and I'll get used to them as you have. But, I will check out the suggestions you've made. ..I don't know if this is the proper forum to continue, but, I'm still learning my way around. ...When I learn how, I'll post a few pictures of where I ride. It is pretty spectacular.

From what I've read here, I think the drive train noise is probably the variator, and I understand that there is a fix by putting in another, aftermarket unit.
Jeff, I'll consider new shock springs in the front. Is there a manual out for these scooters?

Guru, the tires are brand new. The previous owner said that they had about ten miles on them. The shimmy is worst at about2-5 mph in a tight turn, as in making a "U" on a street. It's worse if I'm trying to do a "U" on a steep grade. It will also start to induce a shimmy at 30-40 if I take a hand off the bar. Putting pressure on the bar with both hands settles it down again.

The scoot is stock. Thanks again. Hawk

Not sure if adding handlebar weights would help with the vibration? I'm sure there's other stuff but I'm not a gearhead, just a hop on and ride kinda guy! JeffR and Dennis and Bill and many others are the big brains here!

Welcome redtailhawk,

Every once in awhile I get a chirp or a vibration and I just pull in the front brake and I run it up to 4,000 rpms for about 4-5 seconds. This will get the belt to "de-glaze" the clutch pads. I live in the S.F. bay area and sometimes if I'm going really slow for awhile I need to do this. Also, you might want to think about giving it a bit more aggressive throttle when taking off and not working your way up to the speed limit slowly. Sometimes taking off too slow can create a certain "shudder" with the Swing.

Maybe you can try this and see if it helps.

redtailhawk welcome to the forum.

I used to have a front end shimmy at low speeds before my tire change.
My solution to front end shimmy,when I got my new tires I went to Harbor Freight and got a wheel balancer s/p for $69 and balanced my own tires. Now I can lock my throttle lock and ride with no hands without any shimmy at any speed. Not a lot of money and you know they are done rite.

Guru, the tires are brand new. The previous owner said that they had about ten miles on them. The shimmy is worst at about2-5 mph in a tight turn, as in making a "U" on a street. It's worse if I'm trying to do a "U" on a steep grade. It will also start to induce a shimmy at 30-40 if I take a hand off the bar. Putting pressure on the bar with both hands settles it down again.

Hawk, it sounds like the problem you have is from the soft springs in the fork.

The slow speed maneuvering allows the weight to transfer from one side of the fork to the other, and with the soft stock springs the weight transfer to the outside allows one fork leg to compress more than the other. If you note some of the signatures of other riders, you will see HyperPro Springs listed - generally considered to be an improvement over stock.

The wobble around 25-35 mph is common. When I first experienced it, I googled it and found it is typical of most motorcycles to some degree (and at different speeds depending upon the bike). Lucky for us Silverwing owners, ours is a low speed wobble. When I changed out my tires the wobble went away, but it has since come back (with about 3000 miles on tires). Firming up the rear springs to 4 or 5 helps a lot. Others say that the HyperPro springs cure the problem. Some say bar-end weights cure it. I cannot speak from experience as I have replacement grips and no bar end weights. My solution is to firm up the rear springs and to keep at least one hand on the grips at speeds of 40-25 mph.

I think that Honda has designed this scoot to be a casual cruiser - moderate acceleration, lower average cruising speed, cushier ride. It does a great job at all of that, but shows it's weaknesses when pushed hard. None of the weaknesses are dreadful, and each is curable by liberal applications of money.

Congratulations on the Silverwing, and welcome to the forum.

Philip

redtailhawk

Welcome to the forum - Enjoy the ride.

redtailhawk wrote:

...the tendency to shimmy, especially at low speeds is a bit unnerving. Any comments on how to "fix" or deal with these issues, I'd appreciate.

I had a bit of a low speed shimmy, too. It seemed to get worse if the tire pressure was low, so that's one thing to check (and even if it's okay, try changing it up and see if it makes a difference).

My front fork seals also went out on mine and leaked some of the fork oil, and it seemed a lot better after I replaced them, so you might also check those. Now, I also put in Hyperpro springs at the same time, so I don't really know which made the most difference.