Rough on acceleration (0-3 or so mph, then smooth)

Issue as above- I just want to be sure it’s rather normal/ expected as the scoot otherwise runs great. I did change to the 26 g sliders and new belt (I believe it still did it prior to the change as well)- everything torqued properly and used the OEM Honda tool to hold the variator while torquing it to spec- after 3 or so mph, it’s smooth and accelerates well and is great at highway speed.

Is it just the clutch engaging that causes the shudder and just a quirk of scooters with CVTs (I’m a motorcycle guy historically, so this is my first CVT scooter)? By the way, mine only has about 7200 miles on it.

I did a search here as well as on Google but some of the other links about rough acceleration didn’t seem to apply.

Thanks for any responses.

Is it properly warmed up?

Enter "shudder" in the search bar upper left and you will find a couple threads on this. Seems to be common for Silver Wings.

I believe the culprit is a glaze of rubber belt dust on the variator face. This is more likely to happen if the bike has been ridden with slow, smooth acceleration.

Easy fix is to hold the brakes tightly and rev up the throttle until the bike wants to move -- five or ten seconds max. This is similar to the old car trick of stepping on the brake pedal firmly while pressing on the gas to make the back end rise up and test the transmission. Repeat as needed for the Silver Wing until the shudder is gone and the bike takes off smoothly.

^^ Very good- thanks to all for the advice. It runs well otherwise so I didn’t think it anything serious.

My SW is a different beast once it has warmed up. Like me, she doesn't like rude awakenings.

As said it most likely is clutch pad glazing causing a grip / slip as the clutch engages. The easy fix described above does help, although it releases more dust into the system.
The next time you have the transmission apart pull the clutch off and give it a good clean, those pads should swing smoothly on their pins.
It will of course only get filthy again so it does need to be done as a maintenance item. As with most goings Silverwing it's not a difficult or complex job, but it does take a while - allow for a couple of coffees and a beer or two upon completion.

I spun it up in the garage yesterday (~ 5 sec up to 4000 rpm with the brake held), so I haven’t had time to try it out on the street yet to see if it’s smoothed out (but doesn’t shudder now when on the center stand and back wheel rolling). It only has 7200 miles on it at this point, so I’m hoping it’s not too dirty- when I changed the belt and swapped the rollers to the sliders, there was some dust in there but not a terrible amount, but I didn’t pull the clutch at that point.

Thank you all for the tips!!!!

It's easy to pull off the CVT cover and remove belt dust with a leaf blower. Even a hair dryer if it's strong enough. My most recent Wing had 21,000 miles and my leaf blower produced a big cloud of black dust. Also used the leaf blower (carefully) to clean the foam CVT filter.

Mine shudders like a shudder should with dose of the shudders on take off. My clutch drum is banjaxed and rough as a bear's behind. Once the clutch hooks up, it's smooth as.

Try blowing out the clutch. You might measure it while you have it asunder. That might save you from a lot of trouble.

Delray wrote:

I believe the culprit is a glaze of rubber belt dust on the variator face.

I don't agree at all. The belt should never slip on the pulley and there should never be any kind of crud on either the pulley faces or the belt.

To be clear, I wasn't speaking authoritatively, which is why I said "I believe." You are the second person to point at the clutch as the possible source of the shudder, and that may well be right. What I know for certain is that across five Silver Wings I've owned, every one shuddered and every shudder was corrected by the brake/throttle dance.

Belts slip when they bottom out in the vee of the pulley rather than grip on the sides. On the sides they self tighten but once they wear the sides enough to ride too low, that's when they're actually finished. They may reach other limits before that point.