New Member.

Hi,

Just thought i would say a quick hello.

I am Jamie, a new member from the uk.
I have a 2003 Silverwing fitted with heated grips which are a blessing in this weather!!

I am looking to buy a top box but i cannot decide on which size to buy at the minute!!

I look forward to using the site and getting to know people.

Jamie.

Hi JamieB,

Welcome to the forum, enjoy.

Hi Dennis,,

Thankyou for your warm welcome.

Hi Jamie... welcome. I see you have an 03, but it is not the Candy Apple Red that the 03 I had here in the US. Yall must have had a different series. I love that silver color of yours. I have a new Ford vehicle that color.
You are a new member, but have you been riding long?
The top box you will need will be determined by what you are going to put in it. I have a Givi E52. Very big (52L), but holds enough STUFF for my wife and I to make a trip for a few days. Experience will teach you what you need room for and how big of a top box to get.
One last question... is your Swing a 600 or 400. I don't think the 400 is available here, only the 600.

Again, I say welcome.

Welcome from South Texas.

Hi all and thankyou for a warm welcome.

Just trying to understand how to answer peoples messages!!!!!

Take your time... we aren't going anywhere....

BTW ... if YOU have any questions... don't hesitate to ask for help.

Hi all,

I have been riding bikes for 15 years now.

I have owned countless sports bikes and a BMW GS.

Been a big fan of the Silverwing for quite a while and decided to get one at long last.

They are fantastic machines and no more clutches!!!!

Hello, Jamie.

As Gary says, the Givi E52 is big - I have one, too.
If I was starting again I'd buy the E55!

Thankyou Gary and Mike for the advice.

I am thinking of a 48 litre capacity that i can get 2 helmets in at least.

Been looking at Givi, they seem very good quality.

Jamie.

Hi Jamie from the south coast. (UK)

This is a great site, stacks of useful info and good banter too.

Welcome, Jamie

I too have been looking for a top box. I am looking seriously at the Coocase 46L. I am not sure how to put a thread in my message yet. But look at twistedthrottle.com to see this brand. It's not as expensive as Givi. There are cheaper brands also, BestemUSA is another one. Enjoy the forum and your new Swing.

Cathy

Hi JamieB,
And welcome to a great Silver Wing site; the best as far as i'm concerned. For my '05 I purchased a Bestem 929 top box (because of its' relatively cheaper price) and it has served me well. Not real fancy (not lined or reflectorized) or any such stuff but does have an included brake lite that works pretty good. Good Luck!

Hello Jamie,

North West UK is a bit nonspecific as it covers Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire. So whereabouts are you then mate?

As for your query on topboxes, 48 litres may take two helmets but it leaves little or no room for anything else. I have a Givi E52 with is a lot better, and have just bought the E55 for that bit of extra capacity I always seem to need. You could always check out Shad and Kappa boxes.

You'd have to order Bestem and Coocase from the US, the problem here is the licenced bandits at your local Parcel Force depot. They will want Import Duty and V.A.T. paid before they hand your new top box over to you.

Welcome JamieB from sunny Texas. I saw it reflecting off the snow and ice today. By using the search function, you can learn a lot about different subjects. There are also a number of pictorials on service subjects. Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride.

Jamie,

Welcome to the site and just ask away. The only people you need to be careful of are all the ones that responded to this post of yours here. You can create your own folder in the Albums section, at the very top of the main page, to load pics of your bike and rides you go on. We would like to see them.

Morning Jamie.

Welcome to the forum.

I am assuming you live somewhere in the PA post code area of the UK.

Depending upon where you stay then perhaps we can meet up sometime for a coffee E.G The Green Wellie at Tyndrum to exchange notes on the SW etc.

I am a member of The Scottish Motorcycle Club (We have our own web site) and we are very active between March and October.

We head out on runs all over Scotland, and further afield as well, stopping off at the many popular coffee shops / chip shops / visitor centres & garden centres etc two or three times during the day and Tyndrum is one of our regular stops.

I have had many bikes and scooters (Including a Burger 650 & a Tmax 500) over a number of years and I am really happy with the SW as it is a great all rounder and gives that little bit extra excitement as compared to other scoots.

I fitted a Givi Airflow AF214 a couple of months back and find it enhances my enjoyment of the bike quite considerably.

I too am thinking about fitting a top box and have decided to go for the Givi 46Ltr Monolock system which will do me fine.

It is quite a bit cheaper than the Monokey system although they both use the same rack but I think the bottom plates are different.

Although the boxes look the same they have different build qualities i.e the Monolock load limit is around 3 kg whereas the Monokey box has a load limit of around 10 kg.

I had a 46 Ltr Monolock system on my Yamaha XJ 600 Diversion last year and found it to be completely adequate and so I know what to expect of it.

Also, as far as I am concerned, having the under seat storage area on the swing means that the heavier stuff can be stored there rather than in the top box which in turn keeps the centre of gravity lower.

Anyway all the best.

Hi Meldrew,

Thankyou for your message and advice.

Iam in Runcorn in Cheshire.

JamieB wrote:

Hi Meldrew,

Thankyou for your message and advice.

Iam in Runcorn in Cheshire.

Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps then !!

How does someone send a gift to someone in the UK? Do the post people snag those too and force a tax?

Sweendog wrote:

How does someone send a gift to someone in the UK? Do the post people snag those too and force a tax?

If you put "gift" on the Customs Declaration it should be ok, I got a Dennis B GPS mount, and some items from Whitehorse Gear recently no problems at all. I had a fleece windshield for my Schuberth J1 helmet arrive from Germany yesterday, again no problem.

The biggest problem is when you order from somewhere like Aerostich in Minnesota, I paid over £120 duty and tax on one of their Roadcrafter suits over 20 years ago when they were almost unknown here in the UK. Since then I've met a couple of Aerostich wearing Brits who say they had their suits sent to them as "business samples" to avoid duty and tax. Being a cynical old git I'm more inclined to think they got shafted for tax and duty just like me and won't admit it!

A seller in the US sent my Honda Manual as a used book with the value less than a dollar, that worked too.

Only hope HM Customs and Excise ain't monitoring forums!!!!

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to the forum from a Warm(ish) SW UK - Exeter - You'll find many varied views here, not least of which about fitting a top box.

Personally, I haven't got one because most of the time I ride solo, don't need the extra space and think that even a small box adversely affects the way the bike handles. Others here will assuredly tell you otherwise LOL.

Regards.

Waspie wrote:

Only hope HM Customs and Excise ain't monitoring forums!!!!

Just to explain things a bit better, if I was sent an Alabama Thunderpussy t shirt as a gift, it would probably say 't shirt' on the green USPS Customs Declaration sticker along with it's value. I still have the jiffy bag that Dennis sent his GPS mount in, it came by mail, and he declared 'scooter parts' and a value of $10.
Whitehorse Gear used a courier delivery service, it had a value of $60 on the declaration form, there was nothing extra to pay, and I signed for the package.
Mail order from EC countries seems to be fine as we pay the tax of whatever EC country we buy from.

Buying expensive gear from the US seems to be different, your goods seem to spend time in a HM Customs shed in Heathrow en route to you, they may be opened and examined, and they put a red lettered white label on the package stating how much Import Duty and VAT you have to pay before you get your package. Parcel Force are usually the delivery service and they collect the duty and tax.

I've always been dubious of claims that you can get an Aerostich suit into the UK tax free by claiming it's a 'business or trade sample'.

The UPS guys have a card machine for taking your money too!

No escape!!

Jamie,

Welcome to the forum - enjoy the ride.

Death & taxes no one escapes!

It works to a certain extent Meldrew - it really does depend on where its being sent and to whom. I have a friend who runs a very successful brake line business and is always having 'samples' delivered from all over the world, I do seem to remember that one of his colleagues had something personal and completely unconnected with the business sent to him at work and it never even attracted a second glance from C&E!

I on the other hand have been spammed for £57-08 - when Dennis sent me the arm rest kit for Sally - our wonderful Customs & Excise service decided they wanted VaT & import duty - not only that but Parcel Force then charged me £8 'handling charges' - disgusting really and absolutely nobody to challenge about this level of cost. However, I am trying to redress the balance and find out if I can claim the vat back as the said item is for use by a 'disabled person', mind you I ain't holding my breath on that one!

Waspie wrote:

The UPS guys have a card machine for taking your money too!

No escape!!

At least UPS don't sting you like Parcel Farce does...

Skippy, I'm sorry to hear this. I tried to send this so you would not need to pay the postage tarif.

Dennis you sure added a lot of value to those materials...

Hi Sweendog, The word "Value" has a bunch of diffrent meanings. Yes, I add good value to every thing I make. The extra cost was added by the Post Office in the UK.

DennisB wrote:

Skippy, I'm sorry to hear this. I tried to send this so you would not need to pay the postage tarif.

Dennis, not to worry in the slightest, I knew when I placed the order that it would probably come.

Years ago I ordered an Airbrush for work at a fantastic price from a supplier in the US, hey presto a couple of weeks later a very grumpy postman rang my door bell demanding cash before he would hand it over! At the time I was a bit taken aback. later I realised that my bargain wasn't such a bargain after all and probably cost me just as much as if I'd ordered it down town!

I've kept all the receipts etc. and intend to approach the local VAT office to see if I can't get some sort of refund on the basis of 'Disabled User' - over in the UK there is not VAT charged on items produced and purchased for disabled folks like me However, I am lead to believe that I'm probably going to have to fill in a rather long and boring form......

Hello JamieB,

Welcome from another NW England rider. I'm on the Fylde Coast in between Blackpool and Fleetwood. Only just got my Silverwing but I also have a Burgman 400 in the garage, (as well as a couple of other bikes).
The Silverwing came with a large Honda topbox, great for the touring I want to do in Europe.
The Burgman has a Givi Monolock topbox rack and over time I have accumulated three Givi topboxes of different capacities. What I do is have things like wetgear etc in a stuffsac, then just throw it in whichever box I decide to use. The one I use most of all is the middle sized one, about 35 litres. With having that space under the seat you may find a topbox surplus to requirements. (I just carry a load of junk with me all the time - just in case I need it!)
Cheers,

Hey Skippy, Airbrush is one of the things I took coarses in college. Did OK and worked for my instructor after the second coarse at one of the aerospace companies out in California. Airbrush is fun to work with. Do you still air brush?

I really admire the airbrush work that I saw when I visited the States. Truly awesome.

The one that remains embedded in my mind is a large panel van that had a magnificent native American in full regalia.

You guys and gals that have the skill to cary out such work I take my hat off to you.

Dennis,

Very little these days, I'm working very hard to build up my product manufacturing base.

I've been commissioned to build a one off large steel BBQ for a local pub and am desperate to a. get it right & b. get it done, so I get paid lol!

I've just invested in 220 meters of steel in various profiles and done a deal with a wreckers yard to recycle some of their scrap. This isn't perhaps the best time in the world to launch a new venture but I figure if we can get it going and build it up now, when we eventually come out of the recession we will be that much stronger having survived in lean times.

I keep wondering about parting with the bikes, I don't seem to ride either of them much these days and the cash I'd raise selling them would get me a very nice plasma cutter amongst other things! Plus it would clear some space in my workshop......

Dennis,

Like the new avatar, but I don't remember Harry's beard be so white. Did you touch it up to look like your own?

That's the way that picture came. That white beard does kinda remined me of my own. Love that old movie.