First Road Trip

I am really stoked. I bought my 2008 Silverwing last year with just under 10K on it. It is overall in great shape, with a few scratches on the Tupperware. I had a cruiser and Helix before this, but wanted more top end.

The Silverwing is the best bike I have ever owned. I'm really sad I couldn't buy one brand new...

Anyway, going from Salt Lake City to Yosemite National Park over Memorial weekend. I'll be with some bullet bikes, some BMWs and one Honda VTX 1300. 7 of us in total. I'll be the odd one out with the scooter, but I see nothing but positives. I'll be able to hang with all those bikes (as long as they don't decide to really go aggressive). But I don't need saddle bags or a backpack. I have a Givi Tunnel bag and the rest will fit under the seat.

This is my first long ride in a LONG time and I am really stoked! I am worried about the range, my longest distance between fill-ups is 160 miles. Any gotchas about touring on a Silverwing I should know? I have been reading a lot of the comments on here and most people just seem to have glowing praise for the Silverwing (maybe a little biased )

tmn72tx,

You don't have to worry about them being aggressive. I rode with a group that have "real" motorcycles. The first time I went with them I got some sideways glances. After we hit the highway I didn't get anymore glances except a couple that looked like they were wondering what I had "under the hood" so to speak. That was before I converted mine to a trike. At that time I was getting 50 mpg, give or take an mpg or two. Now I'm getting 46 mpg according to my last trip I took on it. And it will still do Interstate speeds without breathing hard. So don't worry about them. Some of them might have a bit more "pickup" than the SWing but you'll surely be able to keep up.

Thank you for the response, Dale! I'm also glad to hear what you are getting for MPG. With a 4 gallon tank, I think I'm going to be okay on that long stretch, assuming I get around the 50 MPG that you used to get.
I hope all is well out there in MN!

You should be fine. The most I got on one tank was 222 miles! And it was low; showed NO bars on gas gauge too! I usually average 53-58 MPG but am not an aggressive rider. Most bikes are searching for fuel before 200 miles so you should hang right with them. Enjoy your trip and don't forget the pictures!!!

Hello tmn72tx. Consider the Silverwing a gentleman's touring class scooter. 5,000 RPMs is the magic number for fuel economy. Between 4 & 5000 is the optimal fuel economy. Over 5 and the economy diminishes. 

That said, you'll be just fine keeping up with the "real" bikes and probably be getting ~48 mpg because you'll be cruising at 6000 rpm or more at freeway speeds. 


Don't worry, be happy... It is what it is. Enjoy the ride.

It will be interesting to hear back from you about how your tour went. The mix of high speed desert and mountains travel will prove an excellent road test of your Silverwing. Please let us know how it goes.

Tim

Thank you Glenn and Tim! I will be documenting with some photos. I'll post them when I get back. I really appreciate the comments. I have had a few pre-ride jitters and that really helps!

Most of the group are hauling their bikes out to the starting point in CA, but I wanted to ride the ~500 miles. So the first leg will be solo, then I'll ride with the group. I may wuss out on the way home and have them tow me home, otherwise that final day will be about 11 hours of riding.

Thanks all!

Trevor N

Have faith bud, the Silverwing is a 'wolf in sheeps clothing' :Happy Holiday: if you're concerned about fuel you could get one or two Coleman cans for emergency use & keep them under the saddle, other than that, go with the flow & enjoy the ride

tmn72tx wrote:

Any gotchas about touring on a Silverwing I should know? I have been reading a lot of the comments on here and most people just seem to have glowing praise for the Silverwing (maybe a little biased )

Just enjoy the ride. Often times riding solo or with a single partner is better than groups. In fact, I don't like riding with groups.

My wife and I rode our 2002 Silver Wings to Alaska, 7,600 miles round-trip. We made the trip without changing rear tires and stopped for gas every 150-175 miles. Stay off the slab and you'll be a lot happier. We prefer the major two-lane roads. 53 mpg is no problem on the two-lane. It'll drop into the mid-40's on the slab and your tire life will suffer.

We're going to Alaska again this year on our new SW's. They are a superb touring machine. Too bad Honda missed out on the US market with them, thru lack of marketing. They get more attention where ever we go than any other motorcycle we have ever owned or ridden. People you wouldn't even expect would be interested in motorcycles walk up and start talking to us about them - "how heavy is it, what's the gas mileage, how many cc is it, where'd you get it, how much does it cost, I used to have a ........... but sold it and not riding anymore but I'd really like one of these!"

Just be happy you're riding one of the best lightweight tourers ever built, and enjoy it. And don't worry about keeping up the big boys in your group. Any time we've ever ridden with a group and they start the aggressive riding antics we peel off and go do our own thing.  We like to ride, and don't have time to be picking up somebody out of the ditch that lost it in a corner. In group riding it's likely at least some of them can't stay in the saddle more than 2-3 hours at a time anyway. The first clue is that they're hauling their bikes to the starting line. Motorcycles were meant to be ridden, not be trailer queens.

We averaged 650 miles on day on our Alaska trip four years ago, and 650 miles wasn't even a long day.

Chris Olson wrote:

Quote :

< Snip > The first clue is that they're hauling their bikes to the starting line. Motorcycles were meant to be ridden, not be trailer queens.

You are so correct, sir. 

The "T"-word is not held in high regard on this forum.

Tim

[quote="tmn72tx"]I am really stoked. I bought my 2008 Silverwing last year with just under 10K on it. It is overall in great shape, with a few scratches on the Tupperware. I had a cruiser and Helix before this, but wanted more top end.

The Silverwing is the best bike I have ever owned. I'm really sad I couldn't buy one brand new...



A 2008 with under 10k miles and a few scratches for character! That's probably as good as brand new.

Be happy and enjoy the ride. Charge the "real" bikes for storage space and you could make money.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

The "T"-word is not held in high regard on this forum.
Tim

We've been to the largest trailer and RV rally on earth - Sturgis - several times. It's not pretty. The area in the Black Hills is really beautiful. But we've seen more bikes get dropped, damaged, dinged up being hauled on trailers to that place than we've ever seen being ridden.

To Trevor - have fun on your ride and be careful riding with a group like that!

My wife and I are going to Canada this weekend on our new SW's. We're pulling out in the morning, riding up the North Shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay.

tmn72tx, My best advise would be, if you have not rode very far yet...get yourself a comfortable cushion like sheep skin or Air Hawk for your bottom....tou will be glad you did. Have miles of smiles.

Warning----riding in a group with "trailerBikers"  who trailer their bikes to starting point can be dangerous----they may lack skill.

Have a good time Tmn, you'll be amazed how competent the sw is... but not half as amazed as the rest of the crew will be :-)
Unless they are really (and I mean really, really, really) winding it on through the tight twisty bits you'll be with them all the way. In fact they might end up a little flustered about that damned scooter in their mirrors lol. That's becoming one of my favourite games :-)
Fuel range shouldn't be a major issue, most groups want a coffee / cake / smoke break every 100 to 150 miles anyway.

Chris Olson wrote:

< Snip > My wife and I rode our 2002 Silver Wings to Alaska, 7,600 miles round-trip. We made the trip without changing rear tires and stopped for gas every 150-175 miles. Stay off the slab and you'll be a lot happier. We prefer the major two-lane roads. 53 mpg is no problem on the two-lane. < >

We're going to Alaska again this year on our new SW's. They are a superb touring machine. < >

We averaged 650 miles on day on our Alaska trip four years ago, and 650 miles wasn't even a long day.

Alaska is on my bucket list. I'm curious what route(s) and how long you took to get there (or at least to Dawson Creek) which avoids slab riding. 

It takes me two days of slab riding to get to Mpls vicinity. So where do I go from there?

When I hitchhiked up there in the early 1970's the Hwy was mud and gravel. I can't see a Silverwing on that road unless the Hwy is tarmac by now.

Tim

Cosmic Jumper---want easy ride to AK? Try Hyder AK---day/day and a half from Seattle---all pavement except maybe last 3/4 mile----Many options getting back home---I prefer Canada, some beatuful sights...but for me a little more expense than US.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

Alaska is on my bucket list. I'm curious what route(s) and how long you took to get there (or at least to Dawson Creek) which avoids slab riding. 

It takes me two days of slab riding to get to Mpls vicinity. So where do I go from there?

Tim,
From MSP head north to Baudette and cross the border at Warroad and go to Winnipeg. From Winnipeg take 16 (the Yellowhead) to Saskatoon. You'll hit slab from Saskatoon all the way to Clairemont. But it's grade-access slab, not like here in the US. It's just a divided highway and the speed limit on it is 100 (62 mph).

Once you get to Dawson you'll hit the Alaskan Highway and she's blacktop all the way to Fairbanks. Be prepared to see some of the most beautiful sites on earth. There's always construction going on on that road, so you'll hit stretches of gravel where they're working on the road. But no big deal.

We rode the Dalton to Deadhorse. Once you get to Coldfoot it's 240 miles of gravel to Deadhorse. Once you get to Deadhorse there's absolutely nothing there but mud. The gravel road on the Haul Road is not really all that bad unless it rains. They put some crap on it to keep the dust down and it's just about like blacktop. But when it gets wet it turns slick as ice. All you can do is pull over and wait it out - and make sure you got camping gear and supplies for at least 3-4 days.

This is the northern-most point that can be reached by road on the North American continent. We been there and gone, had a good time. But we won't do the Dalton again. The one picture is the gas station in Deadhorse.

Allow yourself a month if you're going to Deadhorse by motorcycle. You can get hung up there for a week at a time if it starts raining and don't quit.

Otherwise from MSP allow two weeks. Three weeks if you want to hit some of the sites like Denali et al.

Hey all! Thank you for all the notes and feedback! My longest stretch was 167 miles between fill ups, and I was fighting a fierce headwind the entire time. I got there and put 3.9 gallons in the tank.

I found that I need to adjust my backrest on my seat. Day 1 I was good for a while, but then back pain kicked in after about 400 miles in the saddle. Day 2 it got worse. Day 3 was pretty bad and I was about to swear off all motorcycles and day 4, it felt much better. I was trying to watch my posture, but I'm missing the two screws in the seat to adjust the cushion. I'll be buying those.

My back tire looked pretty good when we started and I thought I was still good for about 2000 miles. I was almost to the threads when we finished. It disappeared much quicker than expected.

The Silverwing was a champ. The tunnel bag worked great, and I loved having so much storage. It was so easy to ride on the twisty roads and the last time I did this, it was on a regular motorcycle shifting all the time. I was always in the best gear on the Silverwing. The ride was so beautiful and I had no issues keeping up with the group, other than my back killing me.

The entire group was happy to have me riding along and I was just one of the herd. They were planning routes to make sure we could to lots of corners, and the Silverwing was a champ. I love how quiet it is as we rode through the national parks (none of us had loud pipes).

We rode 8 hours a day for 4 days. Pretty good times!

My back tire looked pretty good when we started and I thought I was still good for about 2000 miles. I was almost to the threads when we finished. It disappeared much quicker than expected. <<>> You are not alone I've it more than a few times, people saying I saw good tread when I left, but they ride on to arrive with a bald tire at a rally or worse BFE.

Yep tyres soon get chewed up touring. If in doubt always change before you go, and keep the part worn for further use later.
Glad you enjoyed the trip... but we all knew you would.

steve_h80 wrote:

Yep tyres soon get chewed up touring. If in doubt always change before you go, and keep the part worn for further use later.
Glad you enjoyed the trip... but we all knew you would.

the set I took off this S'Wing are in a cool dry dark basement AND more than likely as with all my 1500 tires held for just in case will get recycled without further use.

If you are not the leader in a group ride, you will always undergo much more stress on your bike and yourself. Group riding is fun, but since you never duplicate the exact pace of the leader, you will put much more stress on your tires, brakes, transmission, and your physical and mental body to stay at a reasonable distance from the person ahead of you. Gas mileage will also suffer a little. The leader is the only one who can ride at his complete leisure. A shifting bike increases this stress even more. Chris, you said, "I was always in the best gear on the Silverwing." That's a statement to remember about this bike. A SWing has a definite comfort advantage in group rides.

It sounds like a great time, sorry about the back pain.

I wear a kidney belt (some may call it a corset) if I go on a long journey on my Silverwing.

Even though I re-positioned the backrest, I find the feet forward position tends to put strain on the lower back and the kidney belt gives support.

I also have a Tourtecs air cushion (similar but much cheaper than the Airhawk cushion) with just enough air to feel the seat beneath.

I've been wearing a kidney belt for lower back support for many years now, although they can be a bit of a faff when they're yet another layer to undo under a rain suit and riding gear when you have a full bladder!

Kidney belt--maybe a good idea, and cheaper than other seat choices. I might try it.

I just checked and found that there is a Harley Davidson kidney belt that is on the Harley site for $25. That's my surprise of the day: That's a Harley product with a Harley name on it that is not $100 more than any other similar product!

I used to use a kidney belt. I'm now wondering what happened to it, chances are SWMBO appropriated it for some nefarious purpose.
Along with ear plugs and cycling shorts under my riding pants it was one of the great mile munching tools.

question,

I'm curious about the tire tread wear factor discussed here.
What is the typical mileage use if only used on two lane roads and gentle riding style?

Tire brands wear at different rates. Riding style and road surface affect wear.
I might get 5k from a tire you might get 8k from same tire.

IRC tires from newer SW OEM tire seem to last for most. Front gets a little noisy after a few miles but doesn't affect grip. Fronts last much longer than rear sometimes twice as long. Gentle style and IRC should last over 10k.  Cheaper at dealer than on line sites. THAT'S odd but true. Some dealers will mount them cheaper if you buy them there too.

There is another thread going on tire wear now.( Low rear tire mileage) OR search tires.