hello from west central ohio

i am retiring at the end of march an am considering a honda silverwing.was wandering if there any one that has done some 2 up touring on there scooter.im in no hurry to get anywhere so im not interested in an iron butt award.my wife retired from honda an she says it will be a honda .i currently own a 83 goldwing but after having a knee replacement an heart attack ,well im looking for a little lighter bike.any info would be greatly appreciated.

You may like to look through some of the posts in Rides and Stories. A lot of good stories solo and two up.
https://www.silverwing600.com/f10-rides-and-stories

rocky69

I haven't done any 2 up touring on my Swing, husband rides a BMW. But I will say they are a lot of fun. I have had mine for just over 2 years and I am 45 miles short of putting 30,000 miles on it (all me). I bought it with 3,700 miles on it. I should be able to ride another 45 miles before I heve to put it up for the winter. It's suppose to be mild this week. Near 60 on Thanksgiving. Good luck in yor search.

Maybe your wife would be interested in getting her license and driving her own scooter. It would solve your problem and open up a new world for her.

I bought a Honda Shadow in 2002 when I returned to riding. I also worried about riding two-up with my wife because I have rust in both knees. She sat on the Shadow, both feet flat on the ground and announced "This isn't that bad, I think that I would like to learn how to ride a bike."

We talked about it and she asked me to find her something cheap to learn on. She said "That way, if I drop it, I won't feel bad." I found an 84 Elite 125 scooter on Craigslist for $450, brought it home, put a drive belt and tires on it and she got her wish. At the same time, we registered her for the motorcycle safety course at AD Farrow Harley Davidson in Delaware, Ohio. There was a six week backlog for the four day classes.

The only two-wheeler she had ridden before getting the Elite was a bicycle. She spent the first two weeks riding the Elite in the yard and getting acclimated with the location and operation of the controls. She got comfortable with how much throttle was required for a start. I realized that there were so many things that were second nature to me because it seems like I had been doing them forever and they were all new to her.

The next two weeks, we drove around in a residential neighborhood near us. It had 25 mph speed limits and lots of stop signs. Some of the intersections were flat, uphill, downhill and others sloping one direction or the other. She generally put her left foot down at a stop because the Elite had a rear brake pedal. Making a right turn from a stop, where the bike has to transition from leaning to the left to leaning to the right, took her a while to master.

About this time, I bought Cardo radio's so that we could talk while riding. They worked great. The final two weeks we started riding farm roads and back roads near our house. She was usually in the lead and chose where we rode. We managed to end up on a gravel road one day and it spooked her. I advised her to just go slow, no big changes in direction, throttle or brakes. She did fine.

The day finally arrived for her 4 day motorcycle class. Thursday and Friday were classroom only with about 25 students. She says that they were good classes. Some of the things that they discussed, she hadn't even considered.

Saturday was the first day on the road course. She came home frustrated. She asked me, "Why would anyone want to have to contend with a clutch and gearshift when they didn't have to?" She spent 8 hours on a 500cc Buell Blast. It is probably a little bit big for the first motorcycle you ever try to ride. The course was mostly stop and go, low speed riding and her left hand was cramping from holding in the clutch most of the day.

On Sunday, I checked out the bike that she was assigned to and it had been fitted with a lower seat for short riders. She is 5'-8" so she looked like she was riding a mini-bike. Once I pointed it out, the instructor commented that she should have picked a bike with a standard seat. He asked her to run it over to the garage and have them put a standard seat on it. The seat change was a big improvement. My wife said that they told them to pick out a bike but they didn't tell them what they should be looking for.

She also said that she never knew what gear she was in. I looked at the footpegs. The bike must have been dropped as the left footpeg was bent back and with her foot on the peg, she couldn't reach the shift lever.

She completed the course and got her mc endorsement on that Buell. She said that the experience with the Buell convinced her that it was probably the last motorcycle that she would ever ride. A few weeks after she got her mc endorsement, we found her a 2005 Honda Reflex and she loves it. We have explored many of the backroads in Ohio.

I still have the Shadow but I got the Silverwing this fall and now that I have gotten used to it, I have decided to sell the Shadow in the spring.

I wrote this because I never would have thought that my wife would be interested in riding. Now it is she that says "Do you want to go for a ride?"

Ride safe!

Welcome Rocky

Hi mate, I've done a bit of 2 up touring in Northern Germany with Mrs M riding pillion. She says the passenger seat and foot pegs of the Silver Wing are more comfortable than the wider seat and foot boards of the 650 Burgman we had before. I have a Givi E55 top box with a fitted back rest and that adds to her passenger comfort and holds her handbag too.

I've noticed when she's getting on and off the Silver Wing you don't notice the shift in weight like on the heavier Burgman, and losing those extra kilos makes it a lot better to ride two up.

Except for her voice in my ear over the intercom, I forget that my wife is sitting behind me while riding the Silverwing. Every now and again, she'll think that she's riding a horse, and she will try to steer me with her knees away from the centerline, etc.

We take 2-3 hour jaunts though southern Ohio and eastern Indiana on a regular basis. We stop every hour or so for a stretch, and a sip of something.

I doubt she'll ever want to pilot her own scoot, but you never know...

rjdoles,

Love your story reminds me of how I started riding my own bike. I too am around 5'8". Use to be 5'10" but shrank. I was on a Honda Shadow in my MSF course didn't like it at all. Didn't pass but took a scooter course and passed that. I have been having fun ever since.

Was down in Southern Ohio last July. Great roads and scenery.

Cathy

CathyN ... I had a 250 Honda NightHawk in the MSF course ... I absolutely HATED shifting!! Thank heavens my x-son-in-law had showed me how to shift a bike on his Harley. I would have had NO clue how to do the foot shift thing in class ... 1 up, 3 down or some such nonsense!!

I learned to shift on their bike, but couldn't WAIT to get rid of the clutch!! When I passed my MSF course, my next stop was the dealer that was holding onto my scooter (I wouldn't pick it up until I had my MC endorsement!)

Went from original 50cc piece of crap that showed me I did like to ride on two wheels, up to the 150cc Keeway that I've been riding for the past 4 years, and now up to the 600cc Swin, which I LOVE!! ♥

I learned to ride on an SL350 , bought the bike first then worried about
getting a M/c license.
Used to take it to the quarry and do hill climbs
I was young so I was totally oblivious to the risks
Came off the bike a few times but those were fun days