New tires and maintenance

Last fall with the help from our menbers i managed to get a set of fairing lower wind deflectors from UK. I finaly got them installed. I coudnt find a set in Canada or U S A. I have 26.000 miles on the swing. So i purchased 2 new tires and got them put on the rims by my local dealer.  Bought michelin city grip 2's .Also cleaned up the variator and rear clutch and belt dust. New filter on the variator was also installed.
Belt is in good condition as I replaced it at 21.000 miles.
Also did an oil change and filter and  changed rear end oil. Replaced rear wheel brake pads. So I am ready to ride as soon as all the snow disappears.
All this maintenance i did myself with the help from the forum and great pictorials . I love reading the forum monthly plus all the maintenance tips. I can only say thank you to all that have done all the pictorials it sure makes it easy for the rest of us. Thank you all from
53scooterguy in woodstock ontario Canada.

Well said, this website is a goldmine of information for maintaining and modifying these bikes.

In future I will report and compare the new michelin city grip 2's ,versus the diablo rossos they are replacing. The diablos handled well and I got 9500 miles on the rear tire

This place is an amazing gold mine, with amazing members.

Well 53scooterguy, in my humble opinion I believe you have just fitted the best scooter tyres available.(Michelin City Grip 2s)
They are the only ones that I completely entrust my life with, mileage has never been a priority for me but trusting tyres in a cold wet city full of steamed up windsceen drivers who are late for work is.

Both my mounts are shoed the same.

99 Burgman AN400.
09 Swing FJS600 ABS.


Be safe, be seen!

I tried to replace my tires last fall as the diablos were warn out beyond my confort level. But could not find city grip 2,s anywhere to fit the swing. Even tried Petes superbike and Fort Nine in Quebec and no stock available at all. So had to wait till late January for new stock. I ended up buying them from the local bike shop cycle one in woodstock ontario . A litle more money but they installed them on the rims and balanced free of charge. If i brought the tires in and they installed them it would have cost me 10 dollars more than what they charged me. So why not give the business to our local shops and keep them alive. They are a kawasaki dealer but work on all makes and models and are very courteous and will cross referance any parts you need.
The local Honda dealer in kitchener where i bought my belt and variator rollers and air filter at 21,000k did not really want to deal with scooter parts and were rude. They have lost my business forever ( Apex Cycle ) .
Their comment to me from the part guy was why do you even ride a scooter. I replied its confortable and handles well. I can ride it all day and not be hurting. I also own a 86 honda vfr 750 interceptor which i still do track days on it , but its hard on my wrists and back for street riding. That is the reason for the scooter. He was surprised i liked the scooter. I am coming up at 70 years old and have owned many sport bikes Goldwings etc. I have riden all my life from age 7 and on the street from age 16. I have raced a 72 suzuki titon 500cc in the vintage class for close to 20 years. Now i do track days with the Ducati owners club since 1998 and love it.
Also love my Swing on the road .

53Scooterguy wrote:

... snipped ... the local Honda dealer in Kitchener where I bought my belt and variator rollers and air filter at 21,000k did not really want to deal with scooter parts and were rude. They have lost my business forever ( Apex Cycle ).

Their comment to me from the part guy was why do you even ride a scooter.

Not surprised about your APEX experience. They sell scooters but apparently don't service them. Of course they do not mention that to buying customers up front. Unfortunately, the "other" full Honda PowerSports Dealer in K-W (Waterloo) is not much better. I had a bad experience with their Dealer Principal in 2004 and haven't been back since. And since then, I've purchased 4 Honda motos, 3 other motos, 2 Honda snowblowers and a Honda lawnmower and always parts bought and machines serviced elsewhere -- by my choice of course.

Personally, I have had great service from Stratford Cycle who are a dual Honda and Suzuki dealer. Rob on the sales/parts counter and lead mechanic Jamie in the shop are both straight shooting, knowledgeable, honest and pleasant to deal with. They service what they sell including scooters. Also, they all ride so they GET IT!

Thank you for your reply on both dealers. its sad they treat customers the way they do. Thank you for the tip on stratford cycle, I will go the distance to get parts or service done. It appears most dealers dont want to work on scooters for whatever reason. Have you ever had them work on your scooter. I wish i had a workshop manual for my 05 swing if anyone has one for sale please let me know.

Thank you for your reply snouvabug on both dealers. its sad they treat customers the way they do. Thank you for the tip on stratford cycle, I will go the distance to get parts or service done. It appears most dealers dont want to work on scooters for whatever reason. Have you ever had them work on your scooter. I wish i had a workshop manual for my 05 swing  if anyone has one for sale please let me know.

53Scooterguy wrote:

Thank you for your reply snouvabug on both dealers. its sad they treat customers the way they do. Thank you for the tip on stratford cycle, I will go the distance to get parts or service done. It appears most dealers dont want to work on scooters for whatever reason. Have you ever had them work on your scooter. I wish i had a workshop manual for my 05 swing  if anyone has one for sale please let me know.

You're welcome 53Scooterguy. We did have Tri-City Cycle in Waterloo and Stratford Cycle service a number of our scooters throughout the early years before I decided to do my own maintenance and repair work. Now, I even change and balance our tires so there's minimal need for us to use dealers. We still get our OEM bits through these dealers though and find their pricing is fair.

On the Factory Service Manual, for me it was the best investment I made for my SWing's (I've had a couple of them). The FSM provides the minimally required knowledge base to do your own work. This forum supplements the FSM and between the two, there aren't many service and/or repair mysteries that go unsolved when it comes to our SWings.

The new "official" FSMs are spendy. The "new" unofficial ones less so. You can also get soft copies of them although I prefer written pages as I can add my own notes etc. Sometimes one of the members here puts one up for sale, or you can sometimes find them on Kijiji, eBay or Facebook Marketplace. You just have to be patient until the right one comes up. Personally, I bought a new one as I wanted all of the supplements through to the year 2009 ... the last year they were imported into Canada.

53Scooterguy. I happened to stumble across this Factory Service Manual file on the Facebook Silverwing600 group and thought you might be interested. It is a .pdf file.

=AZWsGTEE_cjK0C2YZLgcpmP8_l6pIfQIJ36fk8XS3CdZ3twBFESvSmsIBzH9Z-k89F7E8DMBrUGHgdo8cSapW_cwsxU_QjZZ4aN0RN6laHMjYVh9-MYroKrFkEGukFe_je454em49QPT2fGrqarSMssg--U5ycbYRcKgWG7wifqhRrcHDu6j_O3L-hTrpV3iT9VbmG7LmBX4bF_LwNZjPK0A&__tn__=H-R]https://www.facebook.com/download/195926743191732/Honda%202002-2013%20Silverwing%20600%20Service%20Manual.pdf?av=1230791399&eav=AfZ_mjQUJKdX7TTPlaZ1eFanuAV0foc8aYEbFUCM5AtZyj_GI2s4SLDSOPv-RgOUAHc&paipv=0&hash=Aco7I9ggX0GuBOTlv98&__cft__[0]=AZWsGTEE_cjK0C2YZLgcpmP8_l6pIfQIJ36fk8XS3CdZ3twBFESvSmsIBzH9Z-k89F7E8DMBrUGHgdo8cSapW_cwsxU_QjZZ4aN0RN6laHMjYVh9-MYroKrFkEGukFe_je454em49QPT2fGrqarSMssg--U5ycbYRcKgWG7wifqhRrcHDu6j_O3L-hTrpV3iT9VbmG7LmBX4bF_LwNZjPK0A&__tn__=H-R

Thank you snouvabug for the link i will try it for sure.