Silver Wing vs Gold Wing ??

Can someone please enlighten me. I have read through a lot of posts on this forum about owners of Silver Wings comparing it with Goldwings. How can one compare a scooter with a Goldwing when they're two different categories altogether. The only reason I can come up with is that previous or present owners of Goldwings also bought Silverwings but really how can one compare the two? Comparing them is like giving reasons why a new buyer should buy one and not the other, surely a buyer for a scooter would not consider buying a Goldwing and vice versa.

I've often wondered about this myself, the Gold Wing seems to get mentioned as much as the Burgman. I think a lot of former Gold Wing owners find it a bit too heavy as they get older, whether they'll admit to it or not. Then they're drawn to the Silver Wing because it has a Wing in the name. They then proceed to tart the Silver Wing up with all the junk they had on their Gold Wings to try and clone it into a mini one. With chrome tat like those ridiculously fat handlebar grips, cruise controls, extra lights, more chrome tat, beverage holders, air horns that play "The Yellow Rose of Texas, more chrome tat.

Obviously on the Silver Wing there's less room on the rear seat for obligatory big lass that's usually sat on the back of a Gold Wing.

As a former GW owner both the SW and the B650 are referred to by some as mini GW's. This acronym is used because of the comparable on board storage, particularly with a large top box and it's touring comfort. Most motorcycles don't offer as much storage and touring comfort as the big Maxiscooters do. Meldrew, with your soft panniers, top box and underseat storage, you exceed the storage of a GW.  As for emulating the features seen on GW's, that's really not a GW thing but simply called farkling and one can find these on nearly all makes and models of motorcycles. Folks simply love their 2 wheeled machines and seem to have an open pocketbook to spend on them. I guess the GW is the gold standard for touring comfort and these scooters come close to stacking up against them.

I agree that for touring comfort the Gold Wing is the daddy and has been for years., but I'm not so sure that the cloning is just farkling by old men with money in their wallets. When I first started riding maxi scooters I went to a couple of Helix rallies in Germany in the late Nineties, and some owners gone down the 'mini' Wing road adding chrome rails and garnishes, light bars, painted murals, back rests and sound systems to their Helix's. Their riders adding to the Wing image by wearing black leather waistcoats with big Honda wing logos embroidered on the back.

I owned Goldwings from 1987 on up except for the 1800, S'wing isn't nor never will be a Goldwing out of the box for comfort and OEM accessories BUT it does allow me to enjoy two wheeling without shifting for more saddle time in my waning years. Honda dependability was a factor good mileage a + easier to work on another +. I have no intention of adding bling and audio as weeks on the road are over as are having a corider. We tripped untrailered the light fantastic to and through all the lower 48, all 4 corners and 4 corners, a couple Canadian Providences but it's over, the memories will go on but not on a G'wing. It was a great ride and I feel fortunate that I have such a beautiful country / county to finish the riding.

I've never owned a Goldwing but I did ride by one in a parking lot one time.

I bought my SWing from my sister in FL for two reasons.

The first was because I didn't have anything to ride seeing as I gave my 1974 Honda CB 750 import to my son once my wife's health started to really go downhill and couldn't ride, much less walk very good anymore.

The second reason came after she passed away and the SWing came up for sale to me. It was a good excuse for a vacation, to see sisters and brother in law in FL and to be able to ride once again. Once I told her I'd buy it she wouldn't sell it to anyone else even tho some offered more than she wanted me to pay for it. I paid off her loan for $1223 and gave her $500 cash to boot. My son came with me and we trailered the SWing back to MN.

I've had various other "real" motorcycles in the past and liked them all. The only way I can compare the SWing to them, for me anyhow, is to say that they all had only two wheels and went down the road very nicely and funly. And Yes, I just made up the word "Funly".

OH, to have that 1974 CB750 engine in a scooter! I had a brand new one in 74 and my wife and I went on our first motorcycle vacation totaling 6,551 miles. What a Wife, what a bike and what an experience. We rode 951 miles on our last day!

Our memories are what will sustain us when we are down and grow older. The Moody Blues said that: "Thinking is the best way to travel," in one of their songs and it's amazing how I can shift my minds eye from Great motorcycle road trips to fantastic scuba trips to great hunting trips to breathtaking hundred mile stares from Mount Whitney to Death Valley, from pledging my College Fraternity (Sigma Chi) to basic training in 1966 to watching my 2 Son's and My daughter being born to seeing myself deteriorate from a young virile man to a shell of what I once was but being fortunate that I am still in the vertical position, breathing and still able to LOVE so many people and especially the LORD.

Life is good:)

Sam:)

I think part of the "blurring" is due to Honda as well. First they marketed the Silver Wing as a "touring scooter" and two they took the name and affixed it (from an old mc to a scooter). A lot of people figure since it says "wing" and is smaller than a Goldwing... Well you get the point.

I have both so doesn't much matter to me. But at my age when the time comes to thin the herd the small wing will win.

I wanted Goldwing comfort and convenience.
But I can't flatfoot a Goldwing.
And because I ride single I don't need 1800cc
And I don't like manual transmission.
ENTER THE SILVERWING
For less than half the price of a GW I can (and have) optioned out a Silverwing to do virtually
everything a GW does.
It simply makes financial and logistical sense.
Its comfortable, easy to handle and practical.
I was proud of my mini GW.
I've moved on to a different bike now, but parts of my miniGW are in the for sale section if interested.

I agree Porkie. My wife and I rode our CB 750 to FL one time and it was a fantastic trip. We were still young enough to really enjoy it. The Honda held both of us and our gear just fine. Her health was still pretty good back then. Two years later we took my 1980 Yamaha 850 Special to FL but her health started to go down hill a bit by then and she was sore once we got back home. After that about all we did was take shorter rides (200-300 miles round trip) for lunch or dinner. All that came to an end once it became too hard for her to even get on the bike much less enjoy riding. The memories are priceless!

Meldrew wrote:

When I first started riding maxi scooters I went to a couple of Helix rallies in Germany in the late Nineties, and some owners gone down the 'mini' Wing road adding chrome rails and garnishes, light bars, painted murals, back rests and sound systems to their Helix's. Their riders adding to the Wing image by wearing black leather waistcoats with big Honda wing logos embroidered on the back.

Now that's funny.....really funny. I got a big chuckle out of that Meldrew. Thanks, I needed that. The garish chrome rails I've seen on scooters is perhaps the most hideous thing I have seen on SW's and I had felt the same way about the overchromed Goldwings too. The manly men wearing the black leather waistcoats is what gave me a chuckle.

I've owned and ridden all models of Goldwing. For years it was the exemplar of a touring motorcycle. it's becoming a bit dated now and the BMW 1600GT Exclusive is a contender that might just beat the GW out since Honda isn't showing much interest in a serious update for the big road bike. I never bought a new GW but it seems every used one I did buy needed de-chroming. I sold lots of parts off them. Trailer hitches, chrome farkles, Heel and toe shifters, air deflectors, and a few plastic items. I made a nice bundle selling all that kind of stuff off my bikes. I like 'em pretty much stock. On my SWs, B650 and C650GT all were pretty stock looking, just the way I like 'em. Sadly no extra parts to sell off any of the big scooters I've had.

Farkling is a part of motorcycle/scooter ownership and is not limited to any one brand. Look at Harleys! A few years back I owned a Kawasaki KLR 650 and on the forums farkling is an art form! This rack, these panniers, this tank bag etc. Even Silver Wings, look at some that have been on this forum. To single out Goldwings is ludicrous, perhaps GW owners just have more dosh? LOL Personally I prefer more the "stock" look and items added for the most part serve a need (like GPS mounts etc.).

Part of the fun of going to a bike/car show is to see what others have done to their ride!!! For me anyway...

I bought a basically stock 2005 Goldwing 3 years ago. the only add on it had was an aux audio input cable.

It is still a basically stock 2005 Goldwing with an aux audio cable. I did buy a set of custom luggage - Oh the shame. I added more stuff to our Silverwings.

GHM-PM wrote:

To single out Goldwings is ludicrous, perhaps GW owners just have more dosh?

Not really, I've often shared the car deck of a North Sea ferry where there's been up to a couple of dozen Gold Wing riders going to or coming back from a Gold Wing Treffen or Wing Ding on the European mainland.

They're all look more or less the same, chrome bling everywhere, teddy bears looking through the windscreen or looking back at you. Americana of all descriptions painted on the panels, whip aerials, pennants, flags, and those spiral electrical leads plugged into all manner of things, the previously mentioned big lass sitting on the back stuffing her face with Toblerone, the guitar intro from 'Money for Nothing' blasting from CD speakers etc.

That's their thing and they do it very well, I've no idea what US Gold Wing riders are like. On my visits to the the USA and I was in Las Vegas just last week, the vast majority of riders are riding Harley's and prematurely deafening themselves.

That's their thing and they do it very well, I've no idea what US Gold Wing riders are like.

Meldrew they are like everyone else and it varies from one end of the spectrum to the other from lone wolves to social groupies riding plain Janes to OMG blingarama, what I take from it is as long as they are not asking me to support them so they can do that I'm good with it. Me with a near bone stock 05 S'wing and enjoying it, but then enjoyed my G'wings as well, doing what the situation dictates these days.

Yeah it pretty well runs the gamut over here. I like 'em stock as do most of the guys I ride with but there are a plenty with more chrome than a Detroit nightmare and of course the Teddy bears. I've never understood the thing with stuffed animals in cars or on bikes. Hobo is an exception since he travels to various GW affairs but strapping a kid's toy on a bike is an enigma to me.
I have a Harley rider down the street from my place that I've been thinking of putting a round through his engine. I've never heard such a racket even from a Harley before. Ear splitting and he likes to run through the street in low gear so everyone gets full benefit. I wouldn't shed if I heard he collided head on with a semi at 70mp. It's hard to understand why anyone would be so inconsiderate.

Hey....I used to tie a Barbie & Ken doll on my Silver Wing. That is what a real man does as they ride through a Hell's Angel Harley meeting.

I just put NRA stickers on my bikes.

I ride with a bunch of H-D riders with the American Legion riders and they have no problem with both my Wings. Even tho it sounds like a WWII airport when they all fire up! I don't understand it either; but each to his or her own. Me? I don't want to piss off all my neighbors if I leave in the wee morning hours and both my Wings are QUIET!

You gotta love this forum.

I had a couple of Wings, an 85 GL 1200 Aspencade LTD (the all gold model, never could wrap my brain around the gold color...hideous). And I had a 95 GL 1500 Aspencade that I later added a Tow Pac Instatrike because of the poor road conditions at my cabin in the woods. I too didn't care for all the farkeling and bling and felt less was more. When I added the fake trike kit/ training wheels it changed it from a motorcycle to an oversized ATV with 4 wheels as the original drive wheel was still installed. It made for a horrible ride as I couldn't dodge the pot holes in the road, obsorbed more road vibration and was an armful to steer without a rake kit modification. For me, the joy of motorcycling was lost by triking it and it had to go. The good though was that I took a 3500 Wing and sold for 9500 as a trike.