Newbie to Silverwing

Been riding motorcycles since 72. Had to switch to scooters a couple years ago, due to left hand and back/ shoulder/ neck issues.

I have a little 155 Yamaha that gets me around town, but wanted something bigger for highway and 2 up.

Tried Suzuki Burgman. Was not impressed with the quality or support.

Knowing Honda quality, I started looking for a Swing.

Today I brought home a literal barn find ‘08/D with 977 miles. The older ( than me) man bought it from OO in 2018. Put about 300 miles on it and parked in his barn (modern dry).

Found on FB. Only an hour from my home. Scoped the tank..clean. Old gas (avgas) was red from a ton of Stabil. Original hard as rocks square tires. It started and ran ( with a little miss).

Trailered home, sucked out old gas. Put in a half gallon of fresh non-E gas with some SEA foam. Runs smooth now. New Bridgestone Hoops ordered.

Other than a little barn rash, it is a new scoot.

Can’t wait to get her on the road. ( I did do a little 2 mile loop, with the Flintstone tires).

Leaving in the morning on a fishing trip, so it will be a week, before I can swap tires and go.

Oh yeah, PO has a lawnmower battery in it. A suggestion for a brand that is the right size, I would appreciate, as well as any important mods, like emergency seat release ( a Burgman thing), would be appreciated.

Happy Trails

Welcome to the fold.
Besides tyres and fluids I would replace the drive belt as a precautionary measure and I would remove the underseat lamp bulb (if the seat doesn't latch properly the bulb stays on and you have a flat battery).
There is a wealth of information in here on Silverwing ownership, the search bar is the key to most things.
Although it's a faff on getting beneath the plastic these bikes are quite easy to work on I you enjoy that sort of thing. A bit of searching should lead you to a copy of the service manual too.

Hi Hop, and welcome to the Forum.

I think steve_h80 has covered the "first things to do" as a new owner of a Silverwing.
Replacing the drive belt is a must, just due to age and none use, it's a heavy beast when you have to push it!

Here's a link to the manual and other literature.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cpsqEmvlpa4A4qDPLVGbqlwMfpqnZ0EM

Look forward to reading about your adventures.

Welcome aboard the board hop!

Welcome! You should have lots of riding down in Texas. As to your battery, I order mine from batterysharks.com. Very reasonable and they work fine. I live in the heat also, and I replace mine every 2-3 years without fail. Good luck.

GHM-PM wrote:

Welcome! You should have lots of riding down in Texas.  As to your battery, I order mine from batterysharks.com. Very reasonable and they work fine. I live in the heat also, and I replace mine every 2-3 years without fail.  Good luck.

Looking on Battery shark, they only show one non-LI battery for the Swing. It is a sigma tek. Looks like an SLA. Is that what you use? It mounts on its side. Do they ever leak on you? Was thinking about a gel cell, if one available.

All new rubber is on the way. Bando belt ordered. Gonna order Bridgestone Hoops.
Guess the grandkids Christmas stockings will be a little skinny this year.

Hop wrote:

GHM-PM wrote:

Welcome! You should have lots of riding down in Texas.  As to your battery, I order mine from batterysharks.com. Very reasonable and they work fine. I live in the heat also, and I replace mine every 2-3 years without fail.  Good luck.

Looking on Battery shark, they only show one non-LI battery for the Swing. It is a sigma tek. Looks like an SLA. Is that what you use? It mounts on its side. Do they ever leak on you? Was thinking about a gel cell, if one available.

All new rubber is on the way. Bando belt ordered. Gonna order Bridgestone Hoops.
Guess the grandkids Christmas stockings will be a little skinny this year.

I use this one:

https://batterysharks.com/yuasa-ytz14s-battery-replacement.html

Actually the Silver Wing uses the YTZ12S but the size is the same and the 14 is 230 CCA instead of 210 CCA. They are AGM so they work fine on their side. Good luck.

JohnyC wrote:

Hi Hop, and welcome to the Forum.

I think steve_h80 has covered the "first things to do" as a new owner of a Silverwing.
Replacing the drive belt is a must, just due to age and none use, it's a heavy beast when you have to push it!

Here's a link to the manual and other literature.



Look forward to reading about your adventures.

Thanks for the seat tip Johny. (not enough posts yet to PM ) I’ll check it out when I get home.

One more modification that I did for my Swing - I cut off the front hoop for the front seat latch. Peace of mind knowing that I won't have to somehow reach in there with a hacksaw to cut it off if for some reason the locking mechanism gets dirty and sticks.

Why did Honda think we needed two latches for the seat? The rear one works perfectly well by itself.

And without the front latch, you can do the Burgman hack of having a hidden wire to pull in case the key gets locked in.

Or you could just leave an extra key in the unlocked glove box. The fact is, a 20 year old Honda Silverwing is not a highly valued motorcycle here in northern Colorado, so no-one gives it a second look!