New guy Introduction

My name is Larry D from Thunder Bay Ontario.  Have been riding large motorcycles for over 200,000 miles with trips to Sturges, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain national park,  most northern states including a trip to New York state, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire.  Was also a motorcycle instructor for over 20 years.
I do most of my own regular maintenance, but still have trouble changing tires in the garage.  So I let the motorcycle dealers handle that job.  Even tried dark siding my latest ride and found very little difference in the handling

Having difficulty (79 years of age) pushing the big cruisers/baggers around the garage (afraid to drop it against the van) so have decided to downsize to something lighter ,     and,    maybe with a little more wind/rain protection.  Our riding season is only about three enjoyable months in Canada and two additional cooler months.   Then I pack up and head to Yuma Arizona for 5 months during the winter.   Not too many curvy roads in the Yuma area, so I spend some time golfing and riding a side-by-side in the desert twice a week.

I purchased a 2004 Silver Wing with just under 12,000 miles about two weeks ago.  It was prepped by a slightly younger biker to be his ride.  New tires, givi two piece wind screen, fork front fork seals, electric plug, belt, back box and a good servicing by a bike shop.  A triple bypass surgery ended his riding while doing this, so I picked it up to extend my riding for  ?? years.

Only two tanks of gas in, adjusting my riding (a clutch lever replaced by a brake lever,  exciting) and enjoying the ride but find the fuel economy not much better than my  2008 Yamaha Vstar 1300,  about 13/14 miles per litre.  Is this normal, or is there a way to improve this?  Other than reducing my speed to 50 mph.  I normally cruise at 6 to 8 mph over the speed limit, except in South Dakota where the speed limit is 80 mph.   70 mph is good enough for me.

Looking forward to following your  posts and learning more about maintaining and repairing this bike.

Welcome Larry. The SW is surely a unique experience but there are some who say that it is rather heavy for its' size and some of us have almost 'lost it' when moving the bike around and three-point turning.

Of course I would guess that, compared to the big cruisers with all the kit, the SW will feel much lighter. Enjoy your SW and the forum, there's usually somebody around here with an answer and advice should you need it.

Welcome Larry. I pray that you have many happy years of riding ahead of you.

I'm not quite sure of my calculations, but down in here in the Excited States (as my Irish/Canadian friend would refer to us) we measure miles per gallon. I'm getting between 50 - 54 miles per gallon. Now, I live in the -fairly- clean, mile high atmosphere of northern Colorado which might have something to do with it. But that looks like about what you're getting. Not bad for a 20 year old scooter that can easily take you up to speeds that folks like us shouldn't be messing around with.

Now, my old Honda Helix would top out at 70 mph and get about 70 mpg. So you could always look for a smaller, single cylinder scoot like a Forza 300, even lighter and much better gas mileage.

Nights must be getting cold about now up in Thunder Bay. Have a safe trip south.

Welcome Larry to the BEST SWing forum on the net.
I have an 08 SWing that I had a Motor Trike kit installed in January of 2018 and have no regrets. It cost a total of $8,000 to have th kit made, shipped to a dealer near me and for them to install it. With my age and arthritis hips it's good that I can still ride it with no problems.

wow, I did not know sw's can be triked.

what is the white line along the edge, is it some sort of protection, or just paint??

It does not matter what you ride, but stay young and keep riding.

Larry

To COMick

My bad, I should have coverted to US mpg which is 49. I wanted to get a larger scoot like a sw as we ride mainly highway around here. Not much else as we are pretty isolated from the mainstream.) Yes getting cool here with a high in mid 50's today. Nights will get to freezing soon, same as you in the high country.

Welcome, Larry! Congrats on your Silver Wing, I think you will like it. Be sure and check out the maintenance pictorials here on the forum, they make most jobs easy!

As to fuel economy, I believe in 2008 Honda installed O2 sensors to our scooters and that increased fuel economy on the newer models.

My 2012 gets 55 MPG plus with little problems, a bit less with strict in town riding. Keeping the speed to 55-65 MPH I can see 60-62. Enjoy!!!

Thank you for the mpg info. I will just have to accept it for what it is and enjoy the ride.

Welcome aboard the board Larry from a fellow Canuk. I average between 21.5 and 24 km/liter with an average tank range of around 375 (worst was 350 km and best was 404 km ... twice).

With the proper gear, layered correctly, we usually ride from late April through to end of October.  Last year it was Nov 23rd which was a bit if an anomaly. Current temps here in Mid-West ON have been in the low 30*C for us.

I respect and admire the fact that you are still riding and performing much of your own maintenance ... good for you!

sunofabug Thanks for the mileage info. The main reason I worry about mileage is the lack of fuel stations in our area. Sometimes I need to top up the tank at 200 klms as do not have the range to get to the next station. So be it.

Sounds like you are in the London area. You guys do have a longer riding season that we do.

Still riding, why not. I overheard a friend saying that he hopes to be able to ride for another 5 years, I replied with what --I was supposed to stop riding 9 years ago? It does get a little harder bending over to do mtce, but a little bit at a time and the job gets done. With the center stand, it only takes 1/2 an hour to change the oil and filter.

Enjoy your riding.

I'm in K-W. Be aware the fuel gauge on our SWings are deceptive. For example, of the 8 fuel bars, the first and last "bars" on my SWing represent almost 1/4 tank of fuel EACH.

I tracked and analyzed 24 tankfuls of fuel to get accurate data. If you use the search function here, you'll be able to access my post where I outlined my results. My top travel speeds were somewhat less than yours (typical max around 100 kph on secondary roads for me) so our results will differ. We avoid the 400 series highways around here if at all possible.