Future SW rider

Howdy folks, I'm Dan and I love bikes/scooters. Recently I sold my Goldwing trike and Honda Reflex and hope to soon get a Silverwing. I previously rode Burgman Maxiscooters, a 400 and 650. I had moved up the food chain to the Goldwing but the bike was too hard to handle on the dirt road to my house so I triked it for stability. Oh it was stable but very boring to ride as the dynamics and joy of leaning the bike in the twisties was lost. I picked up a Reflex and re-discovered the joy of riding again and just how fun scooters are to ride. No more land yachts for me as I return to my former love with Maxiscooters. Hopefully, I'll be joining your ranks soon. I've got one picked out and just need to finish up all my horse trading and get the details worked out.

Welcome, and good luck.

   

 Silver Wing... the only way to fly...  Wow, I could never sale my Reflex, still love to ride it around town and short trips when I can.

Magoo Triker

Welcome Home.

You will love your SWing!

Magoo Triker wrote:

 Silver Wing... the only way to fly...  Wow, I could never sale my Reflex, still love to ride it around town and short trips when I can.

Magoo Triker

It was a hard decision to sell it as the Reflex was such a joy to ride. I took the assets from selling both bikes and bought my wife a new car for our 30th Anniversary. Since we can only have one bike in the stable I'd like to get something more powerful than the Reflex as the Swing looks like the right bike for me. Hopefully I'll have one soon as it feels kinda weird not having bike now.

I always dreamed of a Goldwing, so I rented one for a day and drove it 280 miles around AZ for a day, then I got off the Goldwing and got back on the Siverwing and was shocked at the difference.

It was like switching from a big Escalade to a Corvette.

I rediscovered how nimble the Silverwing is, especially at low speeds. I was surprised at how small it felt after spending all day sprawled across the Goldwing.

Don't get me wrong, if I win the lotto I will still buy a Goldwing because there is nothing better at eating up the miles across the interstates. For the type of riding that I love (twisties) the Silverwing is more fun and it is more than good enough for the interstates... I hope.

On Monday I start a 2000 mile romp through AZ and California which will include quite a bit of Interstate 10 driving, so I am about to find out if my assumptions are correct.

Az Kicker wrote:

I always dreamed of a Goldwing, so I rented one for a day and drove it 280 miles around AZ for a day, then I got off the Goldwing and got back on the Siverwing and was shocked at the difference.

It was like switching from a big Escalade to a Corvette.

I rediscovered how nimble the Silverwing is, especially at low speeds. I was surprised at how small it felt after spending all day sprawled across the Goldwing.  

Don't get me wrong, if I win the lotto I will still buy a Goldwing because there is nothing better at eating up the miles across the interstates. For the type of riding that I love (twisties) the Silverwing is more fun and it is more than good enough for the interstates... I hope.

On Monday I start a 2000 mile romp through AZ and California which will include quite a bit of Interstate 10 driving, so I am about to find out if my assumptions are correct.

You were a brave soul to rent a GW after riding a Swing. Of course the new GL 1800's are more sport bike like in handling compared to the older and larger GL 1500 like I had. As for long distance comfort there's nothing like a GW. I think the Silverwing is like a Swiss Army Knife as it does many things quite well. I rode one last summer through the Northern Cascades in Washington, a loaner from a buddy on a 500 mile day ride. He rode his Goldwing and we traded off several times. The SW had no problem keeping up with his 1500cc big bike. I've ridden Burgmans, both the 400 and 650 on long rides of 3000 miles and they were comfortable and very capable at high speed interstate travel. I think the Silverwing is comparable as you should have no problems. I've been enjoying reading about the fellow who rides every year from Florida to Alaska. When he first began these rides he rode a 2002 Silverwing and rode it year after year putting on over 150,000 trouble free miles on his Swing. That's really amazing. Here's his link. http://www.alaskabikerun.com/1948.html

AZ Kicker.
Will you be in the Santa Barbara Ca. any time on your trip?
I would enjoy showing you around talking to you.  
And if on my days off Wed and Thursday showing you some great places to eat.

johnd wrote:

AZ Kicker.
Will you be in the Santa Barbara Ca. any time on your trip?

Sorry John, this time we are scooting up the west side of the mountains to visit National Parks.

We do, however, want to make our next visit to CA a PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) adventure. At that point Santa Barbara might well be our base camp.. one day trip from there to San Diego and back, 2 days to San Francisco and back. Is that even a reasonable idea?

Once we schedule a date, I'll let you know!

Sorry to say, but there is no way you will be able to ride from Santa Barbara to San Diego and back in one day. From S.B to S.D will be a LONG day. Traffic and no view most of the way until you get down to Ocean Side. USMS Camp Penelton Marine area.
You only see the ocean for about 45 min.

And  from here to S.F and back in one day. Same thing.
It is a long day from here up Hi way 1 to S.F but fantastic both ways.
Over 380 miles apx. and you MUST stop along the way because of picture taking and parks.
The way back South is better than North, because your are right next to the water (pacific) most of the way back

Last year I did the trip, cutting off part of the Hiway 1, going North and when I arrived in Laffayett, which is close to Oakland after fighting traffic for 2 hr. my arms ached for 2 days.
It was a 10 hr. day.
In my opinion and I have lived here 25 years, S.D is OK but from here, you have many more beautiful roads to travel.

johnd wrote:

In my opinion and I have lived here 25 years, S.D is OK but  from here, you have many more beautiful roads to travel.

I agree. We visited our son in SD a couple of years ago and trailered our Burgman 400 out west. We rode the interstate up to San Clemente and rode the coast highway north through Laguna and Newport Beach up to my old stomping grounds in Huntington Beach. My how these places have changed since 1968. I kinda screwed up and forgot that darkness falls sooner on the west coast and the fog rolls in late afternoon. The fog got really thick and was hard to see the road especially around Camp Pendleton. The fog chilled the air as we were really cold riding back to San Diego. The weather in San Diego is the greatest but there are prettier places to ride in Ca. However, we really enjoyed our ride up in the mountains thru Ramona to Julian who makes some of the worlds best apple pie. The twisties up to Julian are to die for....tons of fun.

Two years ago I rode with 11 big boys up to Julian, and then over to Palm Springs, Palm Springs mountains and Indio.
 You are so right about the pies in Julian. When you walk, down the beautiful small town, you smell fresh pie every where, and the road up to and past was fantastic.
 I was planning to do it again this year with a ride over to Death Valley but the ride got canceled. 

johnd wrote:

Two years ago I rode with 11 big boys up to Julian, and then over to Palm Springs, Palm Springs mountains and Indio.
 You are so right about the pies in Julian. When you walk, down the beautiful small town, you smell fresh pie every where, and the road up to and past was fantastic.
 I was planning to do it again this year with a ride over to Death Valley but the ride got canceled. 

Sorry that your ride got canceled John as Julian is a pretty cool place to ride to and only 60 miles from SD. I previously lived in Santa Cruz and moved to Texas in 1980. You've got some lovely riding out your way John. We plan to get back to California next summer to visit our son and new grand baby in SD and drive up the coast and hang out in Napa Valley and taste some wine and then up to Portland to our other daughter and new grand baby too. And hopefully have time to visit friends in Seattle too.

I have been looking at a trip from AZ to the Pacific Coast Highway all the way up to Eureka and a trip to the coastal redwoods. While it looks doable in a week, the trip would be a killer and not really feasible. I have figured to sight-see properly and do it right; at least 10 days to 2 weeks would be the ticket. But my son and his friend can only get off college for a week at a time. This trip is on the back burner for now... Unless someone else can set one up?

I love my SW. Welcome! Living in Houston, TX you find a great number of Harley, Hells Angels want-to-be running around. Nothing like seeing your local dentist dressed up like the Village People on the weekend....

I love the surprised look on some when my SW takes off from a red light and keeps up with the big boys. I have a red 2010 SW that I use for cruising around Kingwood, a community northeast of Houston.

Welcome to the forum!

Hello mate, It's nice to see you've finally outed yourself with your first post after nearly two years membership on here. Nice references to cruising, the big boys, and the Village People too!     

DanB - When you get your SWing let us know how it compares to a Burgman 650.

I bought a 2005 SW today over near Ft. Worth. It's the dark grey color and has about 7k on it. Got a chance to test ride it and also took my wife for a ride too. She enjoyed the seat much better than the super wide one on the Burgman 650. She used to complain how the seating on the 650 spread her hips as she was all stoved up after a ride. Can't wait to start the mods.

Congratulations, Dan! Looks like a nice Silver Wing; enjoy.

DanB wrote:

Can't wait to start the mods.

So many mods - so little time!