Newbie in UK

Hi, just joined. Just agreed a deal today on a 2014 S’wing in silver with leg deflectors and Oxford grips (not the Honda originals). Have been doing a 65 mile motorway commute for the last couple of years on a Honda Deauville 700 but although it’s a great bike for doing that journey I’ve always found it too top heavy to use elsewhere so I have an enduro for fun local riding. Also got fed up with wet feet in the rain so having been a Tmax owner 15 years ago I thought I’d come back to big scoots. Really looking forward to it actually.

You picked the right spot for SWing owners. Welcome to the fold. You are no newbie to biking and your set-up on the SWing is perfect for cold weather riding. Perhaps we could all share bits of nugget info on riding in general.
Jay.

Hello v23nb. Welcome to the forum. That's a heck of a nice Boxing Day gift you've gotten.

Lots of good info here via the Search function and friendly folks on the forum to help you as well. Being a refugee from the T-max it will be interesting to hear your take on the differences & advantages of the Silverwing vs T-Max.

Tim

Many thanks for the warm welcome. I have spent several hours over the last few days looking at many posts on this forum which was very helpful in giving me useful knowledge at the dealers. I had the choice of 5 used machines so it boiled down to knowing the differences in the optional extras from the research. The bike I’ve bought has a Givi Monokey rack but no top box. I have however agreed with the dealer that I can keep my Deauville box which is the exact same Honda original that I see on so many other UK examples. It’s colour is a slightly darker metallic grey rather than the metallic silver but it’ll be fine. It’s behind me anyway so I won’t see it!

My next purchase looks like it needs to be a Givi AF214 adjustable screen. A bit confusing as all the online sellers seem to say they are for bikes up to 2009 however my research here seems to imply there are no differences in the windshield for any year.

Welcome v23nb to the best SWing site on the net.
I have an 08 SWing and have learned a lot on how to maintain my SWing by being a member here.
I know you'll have as much fun riding your SWing as the rest of us have. It's a very reliable machine and will surprise lots of "real" motorcycles.

Hi v23nb welcome to the site. I've got an older one but they are a very useful tool for keeping dry on a commute. I put the adjustable screen and deflectors but I would go for a Tocano urbano leg cover first. Also their neoprene muffs even with heated grips to keep dry. Neither will affect the screen when you fit that.
What area in the UK are you.

Sorry, I should have mentioned... I’m about 5 miles from Brighton. My commute is to Heathrow airport with baggage for trips away for 3 or 4 days at a time. I found that I can pack the single underseat space on the Silverwing more usefully than both panniers on the Deauville. Width is probably a little narrower on the Silverwing which is a plus but the lowering of the centre of gravity while filtering at slow speeds will be a big stress reducer.

Welcome v23nb. I had two Deauvilles before I bought my first Silver wing (now on my second Silver wing). I had the twin spark 650 models, you will find the Silver wing far easier to service and work on. After a while you will be able to throw the wing around just as much as the Deauvilles.

Another of my big reasons for the change was for easier maintenance. Removing the backwheel or even just removing the rear brake calliper is a pain in the butt on the NT700V. The panniers on the Deau are very good but the catches on them are brittle plastic and very weak. Every time I use my panniers (which is every time I ride) I get nervous that they will break and have already repaired them once. Access to them for repair is a monstrous job that takes hours and hours involving removing what seems like half the back end of the bike.

The Silverwing seems to be a logical sidestep to me. I was supposed to be going to pick mine up tomorrow morning but the forecast is now heavy rain so I have rearranged to collect this afternoon instead.

Welcome from o-HI-o v23nb enjoy your new ride.

Just got back in from an enjoyable 30 mile ride home. What a capable scoot. Glad to be back feet forwards again.

Welcome v23nb! Glad you've become a new member! You'll find plenty of helpful folks on here that can guide you if needed.

Steve

The welcome has been very warm Steve! I have shelved the idea of fitting the top box from my Deauville as it turns out my mate has a nice big Givi Monokey top box off his old Blackbird he sold in his garage which isn’t doing anything and I can have. Result!

Is it possible to confirm my suspicion that a Givi AF214 will fit any Swing 600 of any year and not just the earlier ones as the adverts imply?

Welcome aboard v23nb from the oher end of the country.
Everyone talks about the screen but I find it fine, see how you get on with the standard screen first before spending more.
Enjoy the new bike :-)

Assuming that your Silverwing is an FJS/FSC 600 model that Givi AF-214 windscreen will fit. If yours is a SW-T model (twin headlights), I'm not sure. Someone on your side of the pond will have to answer that question. The SW-T model wasn't brought over here to North America.

Hey, are you actually allowed to have a maxi scooter in Brighton? I thought Brighton was the last bastion of the nattily dressed scooteristas.

Tim

Yes it’s one of the last produced FJS 600 models. My bike will spend 90% of its life on the motorway as my work takes me to the US 5 or 6 times a month for 3-4 days at a time. I need the storage to carry my trip baggage while travelling but also to store my biking gear while I’m away.

Today I found the physical buffeting to be just a bit more than the Deauville (NT700V) was with its excellent OEM screen in the highest position. The noise however was quite a bit greater though and I found it strange not to be able to hear the engine at all. I listen to the radio while travelling and wonder how much of my in-helmet audio I’d be able to hear with the noise from the standard screen. As my time is mostly between 70-75mph I have taken the plunge and ordered an AF214 from a bike dealer in the northwest via eBay which was £129 delivered. Seems a bit of a bargain to me after hearing what other people have paid in the searches I have done on this forum.

I’m also considering the Urbano Turcano leg covers (model R036). Again these say up to year 2009 but I’m assuming they should work on all again. My bike has the Honda leg deflectors fitted but as it was zero degrees C on my ride home I still felt a draft round the underside of my thighs. Can the Termoscud be fitted in addition to the leg deflectors or would I have to pick one or the other? I tried searching for this answer but couldn’t find one.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

Assuming that your Silverwing is an FJS/FSC 600 model that Givi AF-214 windscreen will fit. If yours is a SW-T model (twin headlights), I'm not sure. Someone on your side of the pond will have to answer that question. The SW-T model wasn't brought over here to North America.

Hey, are you actually allowed to have a maxi scooter in Brighton? I thought Brighton was the last bastion of the nattily dressed scooteristas.

Tim

On our side of the pond the SW-T version of the Silver Wing has never been in the Honda UK range, and the Airflow version for it is the AF318.  

Scooteristas? Really, the nattily dressed Vespa and Lambretta riders were called Mods, and all that nonsense between Mods and Rockers in Brighton, Southend, Clacton, and a few other traditional English seaside resorts happened on a few Bank Holiday Weekends in the 1960’s.

Trad scooterists that still hang on to the last vestiges of that era, and the clones dressed like extras from the film 'Quadrophenia' or 1970’s Skinheads really are a weird bunch of mainly old blokes. But so are old blokes that dress up like their protagonists the Rockers and hang around the Ace Cafe in London.

I read some years ago that the Silver Wing and other modern twist n' go maxi scooters are regarded by trad scooterists to be nothing but "plastic fag chariots". So really they're no different from the average motorcycle rider that scorn maxi scooters generally, that is until a bad back, knackered knee joints etc gets them onto a maxi scooter.

Fortunately I live 5 miles outside Brighton. I believe these days you need to be LGBT to be allowed to live in the city.

Hello & Welcome bud

Did an 80 mile round trip to a friends house today to pick up a Givi Maxia E52 box to go on the Monokey rack that was already on the back of my bike. I had been a little concerned that such a big box would upset the aerodynamics round the back but the ride home showed it made bugger all difference.

I also decided this morning to bite the bullet and order the Tucano Urbano blanket for the Swing. Looking forward to trying this having seen a load of YouTube videos about them. Earlier in the day I went through the paperwork that came with the bike. I noticed that on initial purchase a Vario Touring screen had been fitted. Before I collected the bike yesterday I had asked them to tidy up the rubber seal at the base of the screen as it wasn’t properly fitted. I now reckon someone had taken a fancy to the other screen while it was at the dealers so it got swapped back to the original. Oh well, my AF214 is on the way which I believe is a better screen.

The tucano urbano leg cover fits easily with the wind deflectors. When you fit the screen you wil see two little metal brackets in with the screen. When I fitted mine I found that they had been left on the scooter. I also found scratches under the bodywork on one side, so I guess the bike had been lightly dropped and the screen broken around the bottom side and the previous owner had put the old screen back on. At least you won't have to drill the plastics to fit the bracket, which with the terrible instructions from Givi is a blessing.

Thanks very much for the reassurance that the leg cover will fit. Useful info.