Vito,

You should order it from www.scootertrap.com yourself and install it yourself. The very first post of this topic is a step-by-step pictorial on how to install it. It would be cheaper to buy the tools than to pay the shop to do the work. Matt, the owner of scootertrap gives great customer service for all the things he sells. You can cut out the middleman, the dealer, and get it yourself. It is a very simple task to do if you have the tools. If you need help then just get back to me.

I thought I'd chime in on the J Costa, I just popped on on the bike and the guy at Scooter Trap who sold it to me gave me some good advice, don't go to Honda, find a scooter store, so I did. When I called Honda they weren't sure how long it would take (this a is a large dealer) to install and were talking up to two hours, the scooter place said it would be 30 minutes and it was. I walked over to the Dunkin Donuts across the raod while they put it in and when I got back the three mechanics were standing around grinning at the bike. I asked if they'd put it in yet since I had only been gone a little while and they had it an and all three had given it a test ride. They couldn't believe a scooter could take off like that.

I road the old version for about 2000 miles before switching to the Costa (mostly because of what I read here). I'd say the difference is like going from a prop to a turbine engine. This thing just winds up and goes. The top end is past my personal limits so I can't say how fast it'll go, I'm not interested, I just like the smooth ride and predictable acceleration.

I think if Honda sold the bikes side by side they'd sell more with the J Costa than without. Just my opinion.

Dan

kiggs,

I don't think the J. Costa improves the top end at all but then again the SWing doesn't need to go any faster. With the stock screen I have had mine up to 104 mph actual (gps) and with the XL Clearview I had it to 102 mph actual. That is plenty fast for me. But it really improves the acceleration and smooths it out. Another thing you will notice is the additional engine braking, which is great when coming down steep hills or mountains. Hope you like it.

Additional engine braking is a reallygood thing but I don't thing you'll be going down to many steep hills or mountains at Daytona Bike Week!

104 mph actual on a Silver Wing? That had to be scary!

Jeff:
How did you measure your top speed? Do you have GPS on your bike? Like you, I have the Givi windshield and J Costa, but I also have a K&N air filter and the Leo Vince exhaust. I have a long, slightly downhill (

Pete,

104 mph wasn't scary at all. The SWing is very smooth and stable and had no problem maintaining that speed. As for the mountains, I live in California and not Florida so I ride in the mountains all the time.

Scooterist,

yes I have a GPS on my bike and that is what I used to get the speed. I just assume that the GPS speed is accurate enough to consider it an actual speed. The SWing seems that it gets smoother the faster you go. When I did this I was on a level interstate with no wind. Bernardo has everything you have on your SWing, and also the power commander, and I think he posted a top speed of 105 mph.

Jeff: I seem to have lost the rest of my message above.

I was able to pretty much wind my bike out over that long stretch and it indicated a speed of 112 mph, which would be approximately 106 if the speedometer reads 5% faster that actual. I think that was pretty much all the bike has. It felt very stable and smooth.

You guys are killing me with all the J. Costa talk!! :At Wit's End:

I was waiting til spring before ordering and then the Canadian dollar nose-dived dramatically (after rising dramatically). What would have been less than $280 is now going to cost $350 or more!! And that's not counting S&H, customs, brokerage fees and taxes!!

I'll just wait til a night out :beer: when my credit card is a little more accessible.

I love these emoticons!! :bounce1:

Captain

If you need help rationalizing the purchase of the J Costa, then bear with me. While cost is always a factor that we must consider, in this case, since you were all ready prepared to spend $280.00 for the purchase of the J Costa, the additional cost at this point is only $70.00. Why, that is less than four 12 packs of premium beer! And a mere pittance when you consider the increased enjoyment your Swing will provide. So promise you will drink less premium beer and also promise that you will ride the bike a little extra so you can pay back the extra $70.00. And in a couple of months you won't even remember that it cost $70.00. Have fun!

Actually Scootist - I rarely drink (all Canadian beer is premium beer :yoyo: ), its just one of those "Damn, if I had just . . . ! things".

I suspect I'll be ordering one of them fangled things soon. Snow is almost all gone here and I've just done the pre-season check.

I'm kinda surprised that Honda didn't have a more efficient variator design from the get go . . . of course, a 750 version with the option of a J. Costa for the same performance increase would be nice!!

Captain

and 16-inch wheels...

. . . and a factory supercharger kit (yes, I'm stretching but why stop now)!!

:beer: is for girls you pick up on the The Silver Wing! Don't think that Canada is the only place where girls say that its to cold to ride on the back of one of those things because you can pick a girl up in August in Miami after it has been raining all night and girls are still going to say that its to cold to ride on the back of one of those things!

I've thought about a nice long roadtrip but I'd need a week or two - we are on the most easterly point of the continent - as we are an island jutting out into the Atlantic, we actually have our own timezone in Newfoundland (seriously)!!

To get to the border I'd have to drive 10 hours across the province, 6 hrs on a ferry, 7 more hours across the province of Nova Scotia and then another 4-5 hour ferry to Maine. Would be a good trip but a long haul . . . here's the province's Tourism site (lots of info):

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/About/LocationMaps.aspx

Its near where the Titanic went down and the "Perfect Storm" movie supposedly happened. This is a picture of an iceberg just outside of St. John's harbour, capital city, in April or May one year.

I'm coming late to this discussion, but you folks have convinced me--I need the J Costa variator! Jeff, I really appreciate the pictorial you posted on the Scootertrap site. I figure with that I can probably tackle the job myself. But I have a couple of questions:

I notice you list your S-Wing as a 2007, same as mine. In your terrific how-to pictorial, you give the torque on that crucial bolt as 76 ft/lbs. Is that the right torque for the '07?

The "variator tool"-- is its purpose to keep the variator outer plate from turning as you torque down that bolt? It looks in your picture like it just has a couple of pins that go into a couple of holes to hold the plate steady, while allowing you access to the center bolt. If that's all there is to it, I think I could come up with something that would do the trick and save the $40. What do you think?

Thanks again for your great pictorials on various tasks!

darrwin,

Thanks for the compliment on my pictorial and I hope it helps.

For your 1st question about the torque for the bolt... yes it is 76ftlbs for torque.

For your 2nd question about the tool..you can make your own and many do. The tool just holds the plate steady so you can torque the bolt down. I bought it since I usually spend more time at the store trying to make something then just buying the tool. But they are easy to make. The tool is a bit difficult to use to torque down the bolt. I think they could've thought the design out a bit better.

But good luck on doing the work. I was also going to change my pins and was thinking of appling a "dry lubricant" to the bell housing, where the pins rotate against, to maybe lessen the friction. I will make another post about this though.

As with all the full fairing bikes I have had, the faster you go the smoother the bike seems.I have been 160mph on my old ninja 750 and it was smooth as silk.

Hey All,
I thought someone (a J.Costa owner) once remarked that they were getting tired of replacing the J.Costa pins too often and were going to go back to stock. Did I misread this somewhere????

Darrwin,
Go to Leroy Beal's website and see his home-made tool:
http://www.leroybeal.net/motorcycles/silverwing/articles/drivepulleytool/drivepulleytool.html
I made a "tool" out of a 1 by 4 with two 1/4" bolts. I can send you a photo if you would like it.
>> Dennis

DickO,

That might have been me saying that. If I buy my next set it will be my 3rd set in about 1 1/2 years. That is one reason I made the previous post about the dry lubricant. I was thinking it may reduce the friction and do a few things.. lower rpm's, reduce the wear of the pins, and maybe increase the mileage. I'm still thinking about this but am waiting for more responses.

Dennis responded and made good points but I'm always wanting to tinker with stuff. My pins are lasting about 8,500-9,000 miles, which is about 9 months or so. And since the pins are $65 a set it can get a bit expensive. The thing that makes me want to replace the pins with new pins is because the J. Costa is really nice. I'm going to go to the Burgmanusa site since that is where I read about using the dry lubricant on the ramps for the rollers, and how it seemed to help the ones who did this.

Dennis,
Hey thanks! I was envisioning a homemade tool almost identical to the one shown. It's great to know that my idea isn't so crazy after all.

Scootertrap was out of stock on the J. Costa, but promised one soon. Unless it shows up within the next week, the switch will have to wait a month until I get back from Australia. Whenever, I'll let you folks know how the job went, what the change feels like, and any new insights or tips that might be useful.

About dry lubricant: I haven't even seen inside my variator unit yet, so I'm just speculating here. Could it be that a certain amount of friction is necessary to make things work properly? Might there be a danger in making things TOO slick? Assuming that's really not an issue, what sort of lubricant would you suggest?

Another question: My '07 Silverwing only has about 3k miles on it (only short commutes until I retired last June). Do you think it would be worthwhile to change my drive belt while I have the thing opened up--or is it way too soon to contemplate that?

Darrwin:
The lubricant would help reduce friction (and wear) on the ends of the weights where they press against the outer piece of the variator. This occurs in order to make it a smaller diameter for enhanced acceleration. There is no need for friction along this interface. I think a bit of graphite lubricant might help, but I would make sure that the material in the weights in compatible with whatever sort of lubricant you use.

Darrwin:

3000 miles is way too early, the book recommends replacement at 16K and some riders have waited much longer than that. I chickened out and replaced mine right at 16K when the bright yellow "V" light came on.

With all this talk about the JCosta I am seriously considering the upgrade. I have been battling a vibration in the rear of the bike. I have an appointment at the dealer tomorrow to have the tire remounted, if that turnes out to be the issue I may put off the JCosta for a month or two. I pledged to myself to not do any mods this year and just ride the dam thing, oh well?!

Hi Dennis,

I just installed a J-Costa Variator yesterday and found the 2 holes in the outside stock honda variator plate are threaded with the same threads as all the cover screws. This comes in handy.

DennisB :D