Newbie, sorta, Alabama USA,

Good day I'm John shelnutt Montgomery Alabama USA a 60 year old man retired plumber . Divorced 4 times latest 17 years ago.currently full time driving a 56 passenger tour bus for a company here in Alabama I enjoy flying remote control aircraft as well as exotic animals, working out
I have ridden motorcycle since I was 17 and have owned anything from a 50cc up to a 1300 cc currently I have a 2015 Suzuki tu250x and tomorrow I'm planning on purchasing my first Honda Silverwing 600 and bringing her home.
She's a 2006 with just under nine thousand miles going to check her out real good the owner claims she runs out just fine I know that's a very low mileage for 2006 which kind of concerns me sometimes more than higher mileage however possibly I am really getting a good bike and I don't have a clue what to do with her maintenance wise I am a pretty good shade tree mechanic and do a lot of my Motorcycle Maintenance and have for years I know I need to buy a service manual and get on the forums is very interesting to me I have never owned a scooter that's automatic with the Transmissions that they have.
I hope between my Suzuki tu250 and this new girl Silverwing 600 I can pretty much keep my 2006 Kia Sportage car parked under the shade tree and just take her out in the heaviest of rains I'm not much of a rider in rain.


other than that I love riding every day if possible and the older I get the more often that I do want to ride if you are around my age you know what I mean,
I'm a lot closer to the end than the beginning and I feel some of my happiest times for when I'm on a motorcycle.
so I hope to make some good acquaintances here on the forums and hopefully I can even be helpful sometimes take care

Hey John,

Good intro and welcome.

You made a good choice. Silver Wing's are known for their reliability and longevity -- 9k miles is just getting warmed up. They're also easy to maintain. You'll be happily surprised how easy your Wing is to work on. Pdf's of the shop manual can be found online for cheap.

With a 13 year old bike, I'd go through everything (which I've done three times with three Wings).

Engine oil and filter.

Gear oil (same oil as the engine).

New plugs.

New air filter and CVT filter.

Flush coolant and brake fluid. Pneumatic brake bleeder for $24.95 at Harbor Freight works great.

Check brake pads and battery (I'd replace both unless new). Same with tires. Check the date of production stamp on the sidewalls. Anything over 5 years, I'd replace.

New drive belt. It will probably look fine, but should be changed if it's 13 years old. Clean the variator faces while you're in there. Also check and clean the 8 slider weights inside the driven pulley. Many Wing riders replace the OEM weights with Dr. Pulley weights. I put in 24 gram weights and noticed a difference in pickup and smoothness.

For your trunk light, make sure the seat is closed or it will drain your battery. You can take out the bulb or replace with an On/Off switch from Honda.

A lot of people replace the stock windscreen with a tall GIVI 214DT. They're $99 and take 20 minutes and 10 screws to switch out. Makes a huge difference.

You can remove the buttrest with two screws and stretch out your legs while you ride.

A 12V power socket can be added in the left glove box for a GPS or charging your phone.

Them are the basics. Fill it with regular gas and enjoy. I've ridden motorcycles for four decades and I will never go back to a manual clutch. Automatic is much more enjoyable and reaction time is instant when you don't have to calculate what gear you're supposed to be in.

Welcome John, the Silverwings are great! I have two 2013 & 1981 gl 500, both black. Paul

Delray
Thank you so much for your time and input on what to really get down roll up your sleeves and do that's one of the most enjoyable Parts in motorcycle on for me it's tinkering around in my shop I really appreciate it and I will definitely update and hopefully be able to help someone one day here.

"Thank you so much for your time and input"

Glad to help. Just paying it forward, that's how this place works.

"one of the most enjoyable parts in motorcycling for me is tinkering around in my shop"

I hear ya. I sometimes wish there was more to do re:maintenance. I enjoy it.

I know what you mean, I just make up things to do, small errands, get out to eat , just get on the road.
Glad to have you here

Welcome John. Your history parallels mine to some extent. I've owned and ridden motorcycles for over sixty years, am a fair to middlin' shade tree mechanic and once I retired from impersonating an electronic technician with the FAA I spent ten years driving school buses and tour and charter buses. Van Hools, LAGs, Prevosts, MCIs, you know the types.

I've tried a lot of different bikes and a few different types of scooters and finally ended up coming back to the Silver Wing which was the first maxi scooter I ever rode. I think you're going to like the machine. It's not the highest performance scooter but it's one of the best overall in maintenance costs and reliability of any you'll find anywhere.

Here's hoping you'll have great rides and ride safe!

Exavid.
Also relate I drive a school bus as well part-time as well as the MCI 4500 that I drive for Cline I'm here to pick the Silverwing up actually today going to trailer it about a hundred and twenty-five miles back to Prattville Alabama around Montgomery Alabama area put it up in the shop and start working on it the next few days to check everything out real good before I take it out officially...
Got to get the insurance and the title and tag and all that transferred over as well I believe I'm really going to enjoy it from what I've seen so far and I've been doing a lot of research I have a Suzuki 2015 tu250x I really like it's one of the Retro models that Suzuki has made it looks like a 70s bike

Anything on two wheels with a motor is great fun. I think you'll like the Silver Wing I've tried four maxie scooters and ended up coming back to the Silver Wing. Most of the time before the scooters had to share a garage space with one of my motorcycles but those are gone now. Just too many complaints, arthritis, back pains and the other glories of being on this planet so long. The Silver Wing will remain until I finally hang up the helmet for the last time. Hoping that isn't very soon.

Nice intro. "Divorced 4 times latest 17 years ago." That means you or the Swing will outlast the other. I wouldn't bet against either. Stay strong.

Tks bikehiker, an exavid
Well I got my 2006 Silverwing , 8,652 miles
today I went and picked it up it was a 250 mile round trip and I trailer her back check all the fluids before I took her out went for a brief ride first time I've ever been on the scooter it was really weird I kept pulling for the clutch on the left side course that be in the front brake kept surprising me a little bit I rode around in a parking lot for a little while till I get the hang of it every time I stopped I wanted to pull the clutch in and then it was just weird just sitting there with my feet on the platform
No foot brake


so it is a different experience from anything that I've ever had from a 50cc up to a 1500 cc motorcycle.
1. I'm
Five foot six and as I got on the interstate I can just see over the top of the windshield it has really good air flow blockage however when I got up over 82-95 it was buffeting my head to the point where my vision was kind of blurry it was hard to focus on things a little bit I've never experienced that before on any motorcycle???? Proably jus old 60 yo man thing, lol or need a higher windshield.
2. Ihave to do a switch on the trunk light,
So cool to have a lite tho
.
3. went to the store before I put her up in the motorcycle shop I got 20 pounds of chicken thighs and legs two rolls of paper towels small box of garbage bags a drink and two and a half dozen eggs in the trunk and didn't crush the eggs that was a lot of groceries to me.
4.Had to keep
Watching the speedometer around my neighborhood we have a lot of Barney's from Mayberry, in this little Prattville Alabama town and it didn't feel like I was going 50 to 70 in the 45 mile per hour zones but I was so
it's impressive just a few minutes I've been on it so far

Here she is fresh in from pickup

Susie Q600 wrote:

[Snip]
1. I'm Five foot six and as I got on the interstate I can just see over the top of the windshield it has really good air flow blockage however when I got up over 82-95 it was buffeting my head to the point where my vision was kind of blurry it was hard to focus on things a little bit I've never experienced that before on any motorcycle???? Proably jus old 60 yo man thing, lol or need a higher windshield.
[Snip]

Noooooooo... 

Not a higher windshield, a better windshield. The OEM windshield notoriously sucks. Most of us here have upgraded to better, wider, windshields. So far the Givi Air Flow (AF214) has been acclaimed to be the best —because the height is adjustable. Followed by the, less expensive, Givi DT214 screen which has a fixed height. There are also other wind deflectors which mount on the OEM windscreen, such as the Laminar Lip and also various clip-on windshield extensions spoilers (like Wunderlich). 

But you don't want to be looking thru the windshield. You should have proper eye protection and be looking over the windscreen.

Tim

Tim!. Tks so much,
I'll be lookn close at the writing on the existing windshield to see what page imbon.
Will be workn on that as well other items soon.
Tks again

Welcome from Nova Scotia, John. Yopur bike looks to be in mint condition. Congratulations. The difference in the OEM and Givi windshields is phenomenal. I went with the DT214 as a friend with a 2006 Silverwing had one on his. He let me drive it and when back home I ordered the screen. I don't ride in the rain, so looking through the screen hasn't offered any problems for me.

Tim, I have often heard that we "don't want to look through the screen" ..... is there any other reason than rain or mist becoming the problem? I may be missing something most basic.

Mike

Mike from NS, how's the weather.
Hot as a frying pan at breakfast
Here in Alabama USA still running 93 to 100 degrees every day the hottest hopefully they will cool off and be good riding weather soon.
Just my initial observations with my 2006 I set on the passenger seat and it looks like my passenger of course will be up higher which would be taking more air flow so I kind of like the idea of a higher windscreen I don't ride in Rain much myself I'll ride 24/7 other than in rain of course you get caught occasionally you can't do anything about that being in the rain so thanks for all the options everyone's been giving me I appreciate the support now I just got to catch up on other chores and duties and work where I can go play on my Silverwing.

Hi John and welcome to the BEST SWing forum on the net.
I noticed in your intro that you said, "I enjoy flying remote control aircraft as well as exotic animals"
OK. Here goes your first intro to my warped sense of humor.
How do you fly exotic animals? Just askin'.

Very nice looking SWing. Hopefully it's as mechanically good as it looks. I have an 08 that I converted over to a trike with no regrets.

Looks just like my 2008 other than I have a Givi top box on the back most of the time.

Tks exavid,, Dale N. Well if it's a Tarantula,
King snake, , etc,,,u fly them very carefully.
. Yea I'm seeing not a lot of production run differences. In body style. Course I'm a newbie to the silver wing world, lot to learn.
Yeah I do have plans I would like to get one of those Geva boxes for the back as well as switch that I can install somewhere for that refrigerator light under the seat lol.

She ran out really well on the interstates up to bike 98 miles per hour. She still had more to give, The driver didnt,,,,lol. briefly was really responsive around town briefly last night there is some plastic Buzz Inus when you first pull off I'm going to go through and check all my connections fittings Etc course she looks like a big Tupperware motorcycle so I know there's going to be some Buzz Enis I did notice that when I'm standing still and I begin to accelerate it idles at about eight hundred RPMs the indicated shows it doesn't actually start moving till it gets up to 2500 RPMs the happy spot seems to be about 5000 RPMs at around 69 miles per hour I'm not real familiar with a scooter since it has a clutch with that drives it it takes a minute spin around to start moving very similar to the small outboard motors that I run on my little boat so I'm wondering so far I've got a learning curve here and it's going to be fun

I'm off today I drive a commercial 56 passenger bus for a living driving me crazy doing household chores doing things I need to get done Bill wise and my Silverwing is sitting in my motorcycle shop with a tarp over it that doesn't seem right

John,

The Nova Scotia weather has been really summer like over the past weeks. Well, NS summer like --not Alabama summer like.  We had Dorian pass through (It missed you although it wasn't supposed to according to "doctored" weather prediction maps).  From Dorian, there is still a collapsed construction crane drooped over the building it was working on.  Still shirt sleeve weather here, except some mornings have been cool.  For tonight there is a call for widespread frost.  The leaves are just starting to turn for fall. September and October have seen some of our best weather in recent years. Right now it is a pleasant 22°C, sun & cloud. Have a look at a local tourist trap :
https://www.novascotiawebcams.com/en/webcams/peggys-cove-lighthouse/

Here's a suggestion ... have someone drive your S'wing while you ride on the passenger seat. May give you a new perspective of the bike.  I had never been a passenger on a bike until a friend drove mine while I was passenger.  I wonder how many on the site have ridden as passenger?

Mike

One thing you'll also notice with the clutch is that it disengages at 2000 rpm when slowing down. It's kind of a weird feeling at first. It disengages and you feel like you're going a bit faster.

"I begin to accelerate it idles at about eight hundred RPMs"

You might do better to have the idle run up a bit to 1200 - 1300 RPM at the next service. The pull away won't be so slow. Also I have discovered it really only starts charging the battery at over 1000RPM.