Picture of my SilverWing

You wouldn't want to see it. It's tires, frame and engine. Stripped it last week. My buddy of 40 years ran this SW into a field on July 19th and died from the injuries on Oct 30th. He was the most knowledgible guy on foreign bikes I knew. Me- a Harley guy. But I'm gonna fix the SW up and keep it since it was his. I know it will cost more then it's worth, but.... Might need some advice from the group over the next couple of months. About all the "paint" or body parts need replaced. Any after market stuff out there?
Ride in Peace - Jed "the ChickenHead" Minaya - 1949 to 2008. Go to www.tmisc.org and click on members, then the picture of Jed to see "The Scooter Guy". Love to ride that SW w/the Harleys. They go like hell!

George Conrad aka PossumHead
Huntingdon, PA

George,

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. It's good you are going to keep the SWing to repair. If there is anything I can help you with please just ask. I am going to put some maintenance "Pictorals" in the maintenance section after Christmas. I'm kind of busy with XMas right now to do it. Have a Merry Christmas and thanks for joining.

But, as you do this work on the SWing it may be good to take alot of pictures in the state it is in now an as you repair it. Not too many people have done this before. Also, there a few other sites you may want to join, if you haven't already:

www.silverwing.org
yahoo groups silverwing section ( i can get the address)
www.leroybeal.com (He has done alot to his swing and has a site)

Aftermarket sites are in the mods section with links to sites. I am going to put more in there too. And if you come across any please feel free to post them too as you do your work.

Take care,

JeffR

Hi There, Mr PossumHead!

Curious name! Do you breed possums? Or do you share a resemblance? Joking!!!!

I was gutted to read your post about your friend..... Difficult to know what to say... A few months ago one of my relations had a nasty spill, but thankfully has made a good recovery.... Anyway, I think it's fantastic what you are doing restoring Jed's S'wing, and I wish you well!

I'm no mechanic, but have had a few mods made to my S'wing. If it's performance you want, you might want to consider slightly bigger bore exhaust downpipes, the stock ones although stainless are a bit narrow. Also, leave out the stock muffler, it's heavy and has a power sapping CAT. Also, unless you bore out the variator weights to make them lighter, or buy new (lighter) ones, you'll also need a decent aftermarket variator. The Two most popular are the Malossi Multivar 2000 and the J Costa. The first one comes with a set of weights you can mix and match, and is therefore much more tweakable. The J Costa is already optimised, no tweaking needed. From my research (mostly online) the J Costa seems to be the most popular with a few folk having had the Malossi, moving on to the J Costa. Both variators as well as improving performance, reduce annoying belt slap...

Good luck! And as Jeff has suggested, if you take loads of photos as you progress and share them online, loads of folk around the world are gonna love you (and Jed) for it!! :D

Happy Xmas

George,

Kim and I pass along our condolences and best wishes.

Do post images of the bike in its current condition. I've taken almost all of the tupperware off of both of our SWings and I am truly not mechanically gifted. But with a service manual, available from Helm - (http://tinyurl.com/6sladz) for $60.00 almost anything mechanical can be done, even by the inexperienced.

As for the tupperware (plastic parts) there are at least three options as well as you local Honda dealer. And I can only remember the one I use the most - www.servicehonda.com. They have a clunky website that can be hard to navigate at first. I often get pricing online and then let my local dealer match the price. I need to make sure the local guys stay in business and they want to stay in business so typically will match the on-line price.

Dale

So sorry about your friend. A moment in time changes everything and I'm sure you miss him.
I actually know where Huntingdon is. I supervised part of the Erie City Mission several years ago and have kept in touch with one of the guys, who is now in prison there...go figure. But he is one of the funniest people I have ever met. I am part of his support structure and I visit once or twice a year. My dad is on Lake Erie, east of Erie and I visit him on my way sometimes.
That area is a beautiful area to ride. Maybe next year I can try that on my Silverwing.
Ride safe~