New here, Hello from Santa Cruz, 2008 SWing

Hello all!

Just picked up a 2008 Silver Wing 600 ABS, and rolled it over to 11k miles on my 2 hour drive home. Garaged its whole life and in excellent condition - except for the known low-speed vibration issue, which is very noticeable on this guy. Thanks to folks on this forum, I am going to try Dr. Pulley weights in the variator to see if this resolves the issue. I just purchased 24g slider weights. And since my mechanic will be going in there, I guess why not replace the belt? About 7k miles early, I know, but probably worthwhile. Other than that, I want to wire up a phone charger - need to research best mounting place - and some hookups for a heated jacket. Will scour forum for that soon. I wish I could try to do the work myself - great DIY videos posted here - but the work flares up my arm injuries.

This is my first scooter. I've ridden motorcycles for 25 years, have had about 15 different bikes, but bad tendonosis in both elbows has gradually made pulling a clutch increasingly difficult (and being in traffic is a nightmare) to the point now where after a few pulls (even a hydraulic clutch) takes my hand out of commission. Not goood! Too much typing on the job for years on end. So after 2 years of not riding at all and making "I'm jealous" faces at everyone passing me with 2 wheels and an engine, I finally realized that I need to shift gears and join the scooter club! Have to re-wire my brain so that my right foot doesn't stomp on the floor board when I stop, and my left hand needs to learn that it's pulling a rear brake!


On my 2 hour ride home after buying this guy, I was happily surprised to find that it's THE most comfortable ride I've ever been on, by far, and I also felt the safest I've ever felt on 2 wheels, especially on the freeways. I guess I've been missing out all this time!

Debated much about the Burgman 400 or 650, and feel confident in the Silver Wing choice. I've been searching for about 6 months, and am excited to finally manifest the dream!

Thanks to you all for the info so far, I will post more about the vibration/Dr. Pulley results here: https://www.silverwing600.com/t1106-just-changed-the-belt-and-installed-new-21gr-dr-pulley-sliders#83951


EnJoy!  
-Cathy

I would suggest before you make any changes/modifications, go ride the bike 5-10,000 miles.

AS it is older, however, I would do belt change, just to be on safe side and keep old belt a spare.

Welcome to the forum Cathy. That was a very nice introduction and it seems as though you did your research before buying.

    Try putting Dr. Pulley sliders in the search box. There are a number of threads that tell about them. There is an excellent video of Bigbird "helping" install them on Roger's scooter.     You can show it to your mechanic. Try http://tinyurl.com/oo95c71





                                                                                :flower:      

Cathy welcome to the best Silverwing forum on the web. Thank you for informative introduction. You've made a wise choice with the Silverwing.  
Here's a link to buy Dr Pulley sliders but you can probably find them cheaper if you search around.  
And HERE'S a link to the video "Hi Yo" mentioned.
If you are looking forward to learning about the Silverwing you'll find you can do anything you need or want with the service manual and help from this forum.

I add the paragraph below for most new members because there's a lot of information in the links and may save you some work.
Here are some links(3 below in blue)that will help you learn a lot about your Silverwing. If you can't find what you need in the links below the search on this forum works good, and if you still need help just ask and someone will do what they can to answer your questions.

Maintenance, Tips and Hints
Maintenance "Pictorials"
Accessories-Modifications

It doesnt take long to re wire ones mindset, however I do want to say....Do NOT grab a handfull of left bar lever at 60 thinking about a down shift!  Other than that the scooter is easy to ride and fun as heck. Its a honda so it doesn't need many upgrades. Enjoy the ride.

A BIG welcome from Texas Cathy. Glad to have you as a member of the sane scooter world. I too had a hard time training my feet to do nothing until I was stopped. Once learned it sure it nice.

SteveO

Cathy,

Welcome to the site and congrats on your SWing. You should find it a very comfortable bike and more powerful than most expect from a scooter. You are in a good area to ride. I love to ride my bike from Fremont to Santa Cruz and ride up Hwy 1.

Welcome Cathy to the best, by far, SWing site on the Net. I also have an 08 SWing with just over 22,000 miles on it. This is my second season on it and I love it. It didn't take much getting used to but I did take it around my smaller town for a while to get the feel of it. First time on the highway with it I was doing over 85 mph before I realized it. Mine revs up to around 4500 rpms then starts to climb as the speed catches up to it. I also replaced my belt and put in 26 gram sliders. I did save the old belt as a spare. I vacuumed it in a foodsaver bag and keep it in my Givi top box just in case. It's a great scooter and will do Interstate speeds without breathing too hard. I get around 50 mpg.

I suppose I should clarify my rpm comment a bit. It doesn't rev up to 4500 then start moving. The clutch engages at 2000 rpms and the SWing starts moving. It gets to 4500 rpms pretty quickly and as the speed catches up to the rpms they both start climbing. That was the part that I had to get used to. You're going faster and the rpms are at 4500. Once you start going faster than that the speed and rpms increase. That was kind of the "weird" part of learning the SWing. All of my other rides needed shifting to go faster.

SteveO wrote:

A BIG welcome from Texas Cathy. Glad to have you as a member of the sane scooter world. I too had a hard time training my feet to do nothing until I was stopped. Once learned it sure it nice.

SteveO

  After 5 years of Silver Wing fun, I sometimes catch my left foot wanting to downshift when approaching a stop. Haven't grabbed the clutch yet, so I guess I'm OK.

Hello & Welcome