My SiverWing was stolen today!!

My son is now 15 ½ and in Ohio you can get your motorcycle temporary license at 15 ½ . This gives you access to all street riding except highway, night and passenger. Came home today from work and my scooter was gone! Guess who got there temps? Who do you worry more for? Sure he’s my son, but that scooter is mint… .. O well guess it was coming , he has been on motorcycles since 3 ½ … On the road with a moped since 14… and spends all his free time riding bicycle bmx.  

Wish me and my scooter luck.

LOL, as long as both come home mint.

Looks like you will be asking him now to borrow it

Looks like a search will be on for a second one. Or tell your son you will be adding a side car so you can come along on his rides.

He has been running the wheels off it since getting his temps. Often calling his mom or me to find out directions to get home. He has traveled as far as 3 hours away so far. Just today he said he was going to get lunch, and called from a hour and a half away for directions home…. So to get my wing back I have found and bought a 2013 Suzuki gw250 with 3k miles on it for him. I will pick it up Friday after work. As soon as it has plates and insurance we can then ride together…  Kids…

Now you can have yours back.................at last

That Suzuki will slow him down some. Apple doesn't far from tree riding is a good thing. Bonding and shared time is good. Get him a good phone and he'll never be lost again.??? Google maps.

Great father-son interest, and you probably have more confidence in his skills since he was introduced to riding very early. Probably rides safer than most of us as long as the fresher blood has an internal governor to keep him safe.

When I saw the subject line I thought this was the case. Today I was thinking how Scooters are kind of like stick shift cars; who's going to to steal one; not exactly be a status symbol.

A month ago I came out if the grocery store after spending 2.5 hours filling up the chip aisle and found my keys still in the bike, nothing disturbed.

I think I'd get more from insurance for mine if it were stolen than if I sold it, sadly. I'll just keep mine if I can't sell it.

ScottO wrote:

I was thinking how Scooters are kind of like stick shift cars; who's going to to steal one; not exactly be a status symbol.

Different reasons: nobody wants a scooter but nobody can drive a stick.

They can on this side of the Pond. The vast majority of drivers learn in manual transmission/stick shift cars, once qualified they can drive manual or automatic cars. A driver who chooses to learn in an automatic car gets an automatic only licence and is only qualified to drive them.

I learned to drive 'stick' and I've never done it since. I've never had any desire to own any manual transmission car with a clutch. Although I didn't mind playing with the sequential gears on a couple of Smart cars I owned.

I'm sure driver training and testing is better in the UK. Driving a stick is almost a lost art here in the US--google "carjacking foiled by manual transmission." I consider my Subaru's stick an anti-theft device nowadays.

For an even smaller pool of qualified drivers, how about a non-synchronized "double-clutch" transmission? I bought an antique fire engine once and had to learn double-clutching in order to drive it home.

Left brake lever pulled in far enough to start SW would prevent most from starting it. If you don't know it won't start.

I was behind a bike a few weeks ago guy and girl. He rode away with kick stand down and I said to myself this could be bad. Lucky for them when he turned a little left it went up bike jumped up hard but no accident. Very lucky..

Skills come with experience and seat time.

Back in the day forgetting to raise the side/kick stand and riding away with it down could cause serious injuries to a rider if it grounded. Of course that isn't a problem now as manufacturers have fitted engine cut out switches to prevent this happening.

This is a very useful safety feature especially on maxi scooters where the owner puts the side stand down when getting on and off the scooter and can't start the engine until it's raised again.

Despite this, there has been a few topics on here about owners deliberately disabling the Silver Wings side stand engine cut out switch, or asking for advice about it.

Not something I'd ever attempt or do, but as an example I remember a post from a few years ago.  Someone was enquiring about disabling it, or might have had already done it, just so his Silver Wing could idle on the side stand with the engine running while he fastened his helmet up.

It's easy to disable the kickstand safety but I wouldn't do it either. My soon to be sold BMW 650 had a double protection. Put down the stand and the engine won't start and the rear brake was applied. I rather liked the brake hold, made it safe to park downhill without risking the bike rolling off the stand. It also did a good job of preventing taking off with the landing gear down. Some of the guys on the BMW scooter forum did disconnect the electrical switch allowing the engine to be started on the side stand not quite as dangerous IF the stand operated brake was adjusted right.

Years ago I did take off with a kick stand down on a Yamaha bike. I was lucky because when I made the first left turn I was on soft ground. Even then it dumped me. Some time back I remember reading about a fellow who made a left turn on a highway, had the stand down, crashed and died.

Before the kick stand safety switch they used to hang a piece of rubber off the stand foot like a wing to kick it up before metal hit. On D.J.s new bike it won’t crank and the dash just says check until you put it up.
Got everything legal and he put around 60 miles on the new bike today. Started in a big park getting used to it, then we went for a ride with me following .. He rode really well. Sure felt good.

Dan

Well, son got a second street  bike now. In addition to his gw250 Suzuki  he just got a 2018 z125 pro Kawasaki with 600 miles on it. I couldn’t pass it up,  I work with the owner and last January he bought it on impulse. Well he asked if I wanted it for D and we came to much less than ½ what he paid for it and about a grand less than nada value.. Cash today sale. Can’t say I could live like that, buying and selling on a whim,  but it works well for me( the buyer).
D fits it well and it makes him feel like a real racer….  I can ride it and have but hurts my hips if I ride like that to long…

Also he passed his state run motorcycle safety foundation course. Spent a 6 hour night class then  8 hour day in the rain riding around a parking lot on a vanvan, then a cold day doing the same 8 hours in the parking lot on a vanvan. So in less than 10 days on his b day he can walk in and get both his car and motorcycle full licenses…. I’m most scared about the car, he seems not to take it as serious as the bike….

Wish us all luck!