Swing accesories

I notice that the "Accessories & Modifications" board mainly describes the Dr Pulley.  I'm a newby and while this discussion is very much worthwhile reading, I have a need to "deck out" my Swing.  Started with the obvious - GPS, topbox internal square LED light, topbox external LED strips, modulating brake lights, easy readable digital clock and an ambient temperature guage, general maintenance service (oil, oil filter, air filter & plugs) and serious cleaning of all the pannels that had to be removed for this purpose.  But what other accessories are worthwhile looking at? TPMS,  platform pegs for pillion, rear view mirrors with LED lights, are on my list.  Maybe wind deflectors also.
My reasoning is safety, comfort, and "delight" of tampering. The probe in my neck of the woods is availability, e.g. does platform pegs even exist? Where do you fing it?

Am I alone in this "love" for my Swing?

I'm spending an more and more joyfull time on this site. Thank you to all participants (says a retired motorcycle enthusiast).

Hi Francois, you have hi-jacked another thread, but while we're here.

Ride long distance every day = TPMS for those unexpected punctures. Also a cruise control mod.
Ride both winter & summer rains = hot grips mod
Expecting to have the Swing for many happy (s)miles = modify air filter with a sponge instead of the exorbitant standard Honda air filter.
Experience blind cagers daily = additional LED spots & noisy exhaust

Mighty Mouse wrote:

Hi Francois, you have hi-jacked another thread, but while we're here.

Ride long distance every day = TPMS for those unexpected punctures. Also a cruise control mod.
Ride both winter & summer rains = hot grips mod
Expecting to have the Swing for many happy (s)miles = modify air filter with a sponge instead of the exorbitant standard Honda air filter.
Experience blind cagers daily = additional LED spots & noisy exhaust

Apologies! I plead geriatric side effects!

Will try to move it to the right thread.

I'd have thought treating your tyres with a dose of Puncturesafe or similar in tyre sealant is a more effective and peace of mind alternative than relying on a TPMS. Good luck on fixing any unexpected tyre puncture out on the open road.

Meldrew, our SA roads are bad and a tyre sealant is usually not enough to fix the bolts and such which we find laying around on the freeway. A TPMS at least warns you that you are about to run into trouble, leaving time to drive to a service station for a tyre plug.
Without it I would find myself 10km's from the nearest offramp riding on a flapping flat, unable to turn left or right without a butt puckering rear end wobble!

I split this off, FrancoisJ. It will be less confusing and get more traffic.

Mighty Mouse wrote:

Without it I would find myself 10km's from the nearest offramp riding on a flapping flat, unable to turn left or right without a butt puckering rear end wobble!

I'm familiar with that butt puckering sensation you speak of. After one incident I was asked if someone had been biting my seat cover.

If you have to have TPMS to tell you , you have a loss of tire pressure? You probably do not belong on 2 wheels!!

FrancoisJ wrote:

... snipped ... I have a need to "deck out" my Swing ... started with the obvious - GPS, topbox internal square LED light, topbox external LED strips, modulating brake lights, easy readable digital clock and an ambient temperature gauge ... But what other accessories are worthwhile looking at?

Hey Francois, when it comes to farkles ("f"unctional s"parkles" -- accessorizing with aftermarket add-ons), it is very much one's personal choice.  One person's necessities is another person's "excessities" (my word).  

For example, you state a GPS is "obvious" for you.  Well, maybe for you it is but for others, it is not.  That can lead to some, let's just say, very subjective, "pointed" opinions which at times, raise people's emotional hackles.  

Just be prepared for those who will bash anything you may want or do that is different from what they believe. 

As for me, I say if it makes you happy Francois ... then go for it. It's your ride to enjoy!

Looking at a certain above thread, the older you get the more stupid comments you make,!

I’m with Sonuvabug, ask all the questions and enjoy the forum FrancoisJ.

sonuvabug wrote:

FrancoisJ wrote:

... snipped ... I have a need to "deck out" my Swing ... started with the obvious - GPS, topbox internal square LED light, topbox external LED strips, modulating brake lights, easy readable digital clock and an ambient temperature gauge ... But what other accessories are worthwhile looking at?

Hey Francois, when it comes to farkles ("f"unctional s"parkles" -- accessorizing with aftermarket add-ons), it is very much one's personal choice.  One person's necessities is another person's "excessities" (my word).  

For example, you state a GPS is "obvious" for you.  Well, maybe for you it is but for others, it is not.  That can lead to some, let's just say, very subjective, "pointed" opinions which at times, raise people's emotional hackles.  

Just be prepared for those who will bash anything you may want or do that is different from what they believe. 

As for me, I say if it makes you happy Francois ... then go for it.  It's your ride to enjoy!

Francois, just don't ask for a recommended tire. LOL!!!!

Easyrider wrote:

Francois, just don't ask for a recommended tire. LOL!!!!

That's right ... because everyone knows that Michelin Power Pure SC's are the only way to go.

You can ask about oil though.  Hardly any thing to say there!

I share your love Brother!.

In my opinion the SW is a work of art. Bling it up any way you like. I'm going to fit 26g Dr Pulley sliders and sliding pieces soon so that will be a revelation for me.

Access to the bike after removing all the tupperware can be a pain in the a***, but discovering how the whole thing fits together is even more interesting. Honda really gave this bike some thought...apart from the 'Monday morning and Friday afternoon' bits.

Enjoy it

If there are accessories a SilverWing really needs----#1 Givi adjustable windshield if you enjoy/need somesort of comfort on long trips #2 Givi rack and box---they do not break or fall off! The rest of the add on's are probably junk. My experience with SilverWings is 2 new ones and 90,000 miles---they work if you leave them alone and remember they are SCOOTERS.

I agree on tires--Michelin Power Pure SC in proper size and pressure----they wear round and perform about same there entire service life. My record on rear, but on Burgman 400 returning from Alaska is 11,000 miles!

Regarding my earlier post about TPMS, they're useful if your a bit lazy about regularly checking tyre pressures but they don't prevent punctures in any way. Our car has a TPMS according to the Owners Handbook but I've never been aware of it's usefulness as it's never lit up. Maybe it's because I regularly go round check the tyre pressures  using an old fashioned pencil gauge and adding air with a cycle track pump.

I do the same with all the maxi scooters I've owned, and it's a lot easier with the Forza than crawling round under the Silver Wing. I've only ever had one puncture with tubeless tyres and that was back in the late Ninties on the rear wheel of a Helix that hadn't been treated Puncturesafe.

Unlike tubed tyres a punctured tubeless tyre deflates slower than a tubed one so there was time to come to a controlled stop by the side of the road. After finding the puncture site and removing the nail, I found out that the tubeless kit that would save the day in such a situation was absolutely useless. The rubber plug I inserted didn't work and the CO2 cartridge weren't upto  the job either.

I went home that day with my Helix on the back of a recovery truck. I binned that tubeless repair kit when I got home and I had to buy a new rear tyre too. So even though it was 20 years before TPMS were available, it would have been stating the obvious that I'd lost tyre pressure.

So I started using  Puncturesafe after that  and I haven't had a tyre puncture on any maxi scooter I've owned since then, I'll treat any replacement tyres with sealant, and I carry a top of the range tubeless repair kit and gas cylinders. I've tried cycle hand pumps and mini foot pumps and they're a waste of time and space. That tubeless repair kit is just another piece of kit to take up under seat space.

Another waste of money were those replacement valve caps that showed a little green plastic stem under a clear plastic cover when your tyre pressures were in spec, and a red one when the tyre pressure was low. Seemed a good idea until I went in my garage one day and the rear tyre was flat. I found the red, green, clear plastic parts of the valve cap over the other side of my garage.

I bought them after I’d read a couple of forum posts about them being a good farkle. Now imagine if that valve cap had blown if I'd been out riding at speed, I'd have most certainly came off or been hit by another vehicle.

So I'd recommend any new Silver Wing owner to be wary of some of the rubbish that's recommended on here. The usual crap that 'make the ride your own'. Not fork springs and stuff but rubbish things like highway pegs, flag mounts, cup holders, leather handlebar streamers, unnecessary chrome bling like big fat chrome grips, Grip Buddies, I could go on and on but I've said it all before.

Not a farkle but a useful thing nonetheless is mini electric tyre inflator. A TPMS might tell you a tyre is going down but a pump blows it up again and as Meldrew points out deflation in modern tyres is usually slow.
A syphon tube is also handy for emergency scrounging of petrol.
I guess I'm more concerned about keeping riding than cosmetic stuff.

I carry hand pump----bad experience in rural Maine with small electric pump=killed modern battery, had to rely on jump starts from others to get home to TN---new battery then required once I got home. I probably should have left engine running when I used pump. Walking sucks.

I'd disagree with the 'walking sucks' line you constantly add to your posts. I don't mind walking at all. I'm not into muddy country walks or mindlessly plodding up hills to see the view, but as exercise or a way of exploring a town or city it’s great. Walking requires no special equipment, and anything that either gets your heart rate up and burns off lockdown calories only has to be a good thing.

I have TPMS on both my cages. Feel it is not a necessity for me. However that said, it is handy on my wife's car as she has come to me to say the light is on and I have found a low tire with a nail or something. I am rigid about checking my pressures before driving any distance. 2 or 4 wheelers, I believe this helps with tire mileage as well.

Another safety gadget that has some value, but I wonder how much this adds to the price of the vehicles we drive?

Thank you so much for all the inputs/advice.  It left me with quite a task to incorporate in my thinking!

I'm especially chuffed with learning a new word for accessories - farkels. It is not well known here, but rest assured - I'll use it from now on as if it is my own!

The TPMS issue seems to have different opinions (as can be expected). But here's my (less than properly informed) thinking.  I check the tire pressures before every ride (OK ... almost every ride! ) But I remain apprehensive about the part where I ride and a tire gets punctured. Having been riding for a very long time, it has NEVER happened to me (GIG).  So I decided to always pack a good repair kit.  I also pack the "fix punctures in a can", reasoning that I would need to inflate to some extend in order to be able to ride to where it can be permanently addressed. The TPMS would (hopefully) give me some peace of mind when I spring a puncture, to react before disaster strikes?

Which leads to another aspect - a small emergency pump.  My Swing has a sigarette lighter outlet in the left storage box in the cockpit.  There would theroretically be no prblem to use it with the motor running, thus eliminating battery issues?

I need to "boast" that I today finished my first routine service - airfilter, oil, oil filter and spark plugs.  I'm including some pics - perhaps as a wakeup call to newbies to the Swing (like me).  It doesn't mean anything if it looks spotlessly clean.  You still have to get peace of mind as to the basics of maintennance. There is a pic of the old and new airfliter, as well as a nifty oil filter wrench that will work on all sizes.

Thank you all for looking over us "old souls" (Lol) by your precious reaction to our posts!

Fancois, I've run my mini-compressor from that socket.
As you suggest, I keep the engine running when I do it and it causes me no problems.

I've rode on new Michelin Power Pure SC tires for two years (15k) miles and hated them. I always use Ride-On balancer/sealer in my tires. Maybe it is our tar snaked highways but it always tried to follow them. Good thing I got a new 2013 swing. It came with IRCs and I really like them. I got around 13k on the front and 16k on the rear. Now that I am retired, I travel less on my bike. I average maybe 80 miles a week.

You should always run the engine when using a tire pump. I learned it the hard way. Just like John, I aired up my tires that were low without running the engine, and could not start my bike. Thankfully I was at home when this happened. I was checking my tires before a ride. I now rely on my TPMS 100%. After installing my TPMS I would check my tires for pressure and visual inspection. After four years, I only do visual inspection. Have been using the same system ten years now and it has never fail me. I can see in real time my tire pressure for both tires. I set a high and low pressure where it will send me a warning if out of my specified range. Yes I've gotten lazy. I only inspect visually.

I just check tire pressure before any long trip. If the tires are low it handles differently. Been riding so long don't need no stinking monitor (lol) I do care a can of fix a flat.

The AirHawk seems to be the solution that's it's lauded-for. I installed mine under my 'breathable' mesh seat-net. When they tell you to just have minimal air inside of it, they're not kidding.