New guy from NW Arkansas

My name is Bob, at the present time I live in northwest Arkansas. I have had motorcycles in one configuration or another since I was 12 years old. That was 56 years ago. Oh my ! That makes me old. Started out with a Whizzer I bought with paper route money. My Mom didn't know about it until the truck pulled up to deliver it.

We had quite a discussion, technically I had asked for permission, ( I asked her if I coud buy a "bike"!) I have to say I was a handful when I was a kid. I got payback in the end I raised 4 of my own, God got me back!

Since that first Whizzer I have had 5 more Whizzers that I started to restore and lost them all in the flood of 1971 in lower New York, Genesee, Wellsville area. A Honda 175, a 125, a 90, Oh-Oh a Harley 130 made only 2 years and sold by Sears in 1974 it was not much fun, ended up giving it away just to get rid of it! I'm not even sure Harley Davidson manufactured it or some other company, and tagged it with the Harley name?

In the following years I have had, a Honda 350, 360, a 1982 Silverwing 500, a 1983 Silverwing 650 & a 1983 Goldwing, the Silverwing & the Goldwing were a matched pair, a suzuki 650 sport, a Suzuki wenkel, (I'm not sure the model anymore only had it to do some trading with). Many, many, Goldwings, currently I own a Suzuki Burgman 650 that I have had for nearly 5 years along with a Goldwing Mototrike.

There is a pretty common thread here. Most of the bikes I have owned have been Honda's for a very good reason! (My own personal opinion) The dependability of honda motorcycles has been proven over and over again to be the best! Again my opinion.

Anyway at the moment I don't own a Silverwing but am considering one for my future bike. I joined this forum to mine as many brains and listen to as many opinions as I can get. So far I have seen the same things that the Burgie has are part of the Wing crowd too!

One thing that REALLY interests me is the "engine braking", I have always thought it to be a property of the burgie, and now find a thread hear about the wing doing the same thing.

The Burgie does it from the time you let off the throttle until about 7-9 mph, then it goes into free wheeling. It's a little disconcerting until you get used to it! You can use it to your advantage when slowing down but you do have to touch the brake lever to activate your brake lights. Thereby letting following traffic know you are slowing down.

Anyway I'm getting into too much for my first post. I'm sure this will come up along with many others in the future.

Lets see -- 56 + 12 is Old? Naw, that's only 68.

I think the Allstate (Harley tag) bike was probably made by Bennelli. There is a thread on Maxi Scoots about that same bike.

Welcome to the only SilverWing forum worth while.

Jon

:flower:

Bob G wrote:

One thing that REALLY interests me is the "engine braking", I have always thought it to be a property of the burgie, and now find a thread hear about the wing doing the same thing.

The recent thread discussion was for cold weather after warming the engine braking returned to normal.

I found the engine breaking can be reduced/tuned with a Power Commander and reducing the fuel for the 0% throttle.

Welcome from Seattle.

We really enjoy detailed ride reports with pictures so when you buy that Silverwing, we need to see pictures of it.

The Burgman is a fine machine.... but some folks are having to pay $3,000 for a transmission repair. I am just saying....

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum, as others have said there is a lot of information here and great people. I remember the flood of 71 very well as we were living just over the border in PA. Many a town was underwater during that time.
Your list of bikes is very interesting, there a several of us on this site that ride both GW's and SW's.
I still get up to the Corning/Elmira, NY/Wellsboro, PA area a couple of times each year. Nice riding all around. Bob's Honda in Sayre was the largest dealer at that time.
Take care and take advantage of the Ozarks, both Arkansas and Missouri while you are there. Dick

Welcome Bob! There is alot of info on this Forum as well as ideas and even friends! Hope you will give us your 2 cents worth too!

dickie wrote:

flood of 71 very well as we were living just over the border in PA.

Was in Vestal ( west of Binghamton ) during that time frame. I remember a bunch of floods ... though not by year.

Welcome Bob.

Thanks for the welcome and all the kind words. I have looked at many Silver Wing forums and chose this because there doesn't seem to be any anmosity between members. A discussion stays just that, no one gets upset, at least not for long.

Hello Jon, it's so nice to find someone that also remembers that Harley bike. I have mentioned that to some Harley riders and almost got mugged for saying Sears sold a Harley. You may be right about it being Bennelli who manufactured it. Actually I think, that was during the time when the "other" company took over Harley and decided to expand the customer base. They didn't do a thing for quality though.
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So Bill, what you are saying is, the Silver Wing has the normal amount of engine braking, or does it go into free wheeling during warm weather?

I have gotten used to the almost extreme engine braking on the Burgman 650. The clutch doesn't dis-engage until around 7-9 mph. It varies from bike to bike but will always be between those figures! You can imagine the difference between having the engine barking and all of a sudden no engine braking.

I'm wondering if it is a trait of all CVT's. I have ridden small displacement scooters but don't remember them having an extreme amount of braking.

Bill, That was the year it was my turn to get the camp deer and I had already gotten one in PA. & NY. off both hunting license. I had all 3 cut up and packaged in a freezer on my back porch. When the water went down that spring the meat was spoiled beyond use! The Genesee river has a habit of over flowing it's banks! That year was the worst it had ever been up to that time.

By the way, I spent about 9 months in Wichita Falls, Texas recently. Does that make me a Texan? Although I have to admit I wasn't there full time.
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Larry you are sooo right about the $3000 for Tranny repair. This is one of the reasons I am looking at the Silver Wing. At least the belts only cost around a $100 to do them yourself.

There are also so many service items that cost more than they should because of the tupperware that has to be removed.

There hasn't been any effort on Suzuki's part to remedy that fault either. They know what is "thought" to be the cause and have finally beefed up that part, but it has gone on long enough that I'm not real comfortable riding it any more.

Seattles coffee is the worlds best!!
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Dick in Virginia, We stayed in Manassis, Va. for about 8 months back in 2005 I think it was. It was during the time when they had the freeway shooter around DC. I'm sure you'll remember that?. I for one will never forget it.

I'll make this short, I was on my way back to our 5th wheel when I got stopped by a bunch of Cops. They looked like a herd as they surrounded me. Asked me to get out of my truck, from then on it was about 3 hours later they told me I could go, they were sorry for the delay but it couldn't be helped! At the time, no explanation, nothing. Discovered later that the shooters had used a truck identical to mine and the description of one of them was similar to me.

Other than that I had a great time there, Spent a lot of money in Sam's Club in Woodbridge! The manager was the only one we ever ran into that would bargain to sell a larger item.

I get up to Whitesville, NY as often as I can. My son is buried there next to his mother. I go up to visit his grave and see some of the people I used to work with. I worked for, Worthington Turbine International, in Wellsville, NY. from 1968 -1973

Some great riding up there.
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Nazianz, Wi., is that anywhere near Milwaukee or Madison, WI.?

I've been to Madison for Wingding in the 80's, went to a Model A club grounds north of Madison for a bike rally 3 years in a row until some woman fell off her sidecar and got hurt. Sued the Model A club and they quit the rally! Also spent the summer of 2005 in Milwaukee at "the only campground for 35 miles around". That is the campground on the state fair grounds. There is a story behind that statement.

If you haven't been to Wisconsin you don't know what "Cheese Curds are"!! I Love Them!! Just can't find them "fresh" anywhere else. They squeek when you bite into one! The louder they squeek the fresher they are!
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Thank you Waspie.
I haven't been to the UK yet but came close. In the early 60's I went to Australia to do a small job for my former employer, I was only there for 3 weeks. They used to be part of the great United Kingdom, I believe. I did have an aunt by marriage from London, England. She was my first wife's aunt.
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Thanks again, everyone, for the kind welcome!!

Bob G.

AMF (the bowling ball people) almost drove the Motor Company out of business. The only good thing about the AMF years was that it forced the Motor Co to buy itself back and make sure that mating surfaces were relatively true to one another (not like the English).

I've been told that most of the old macadm surfaces on highways in England and around Milwaukee happened from the leaky cars and bikes that used them.

In any case, I'm glad that you have chosen our wonderful forum.

Jon :flower:

Hey Bob, you can really type! St. Nazianz is about 80 miles north of Milwaukee and 50 miles southeast of Green Bay. As far as Sqeeky Cheese. I can buy them still warm about three miles from here. Fresh out of the vat. That is the best way to get them!

Hey Bob,

Welcome to the forum. Always good to have more experience participating!

Re: engine braking. I borrowed a neighbor's B650 for a test ride before getting the Silverwing. I considered the engine braking on the B650 to be extreme and somewhat unnecessary. I had to give it some throttle while "coasting" to keep from lurching. The Silverwing is, in my opinion, a smoother riding experience. Letting off the throttle suddenly or completely is not a jerky experience. However, it will allow you to slow on grades of 8% or more without touching the brakes.

One thing that is annoying with all of these scooters - when following someone on a Burgy (and probably following a Silverwing) it is a pain in the neck when they slow so quickly that you have to jump on your brakes to avoid riding up their butt. I'd rather see a brake light come on so I know they are slowing. I usually tap my brakes to inform following vehicles that I am slowing.

Welcome Bob G., If you spent a summer in Wichita Falls, you're not a Texan.... You're a tough Texan. That's where they stage the Hotter'N Hell Hundred bike race (as in bicycles--not motorcycles). This year it's in August for any of you bicycle riders out there. Bring your own Gatorade! :lol!: I think I would rather go to the Ozarks.

"Hi Yo", We were in Wichita Falls during the 100 plus day of over 100 degrees temp! I think even God deserted the falls this past summer.

The Hotter'N Hell 100 was during that time. Those "bike" riders have to be among the toughest people on earth to endure that heat and still peddle at a rate of at least 30 MPH. I didn't get to see that race, that was one of the times I was absent from Texas. My fiancee was there at the time, she got to patchup one of them up from a severe crash.
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Buddy, You are right about the engine braking being a pain if you are riding behind one! That is one of the reasons I tap my brake lever also. It helps to keep cagers from running up your tail-pipe too.

Bob G.

Welcome Bob from another NWA rider! I live in the curvy back roads and hills of Bella Vista!

Recently purchased an 08 Silver Wing and hope to ride more in the spring. Too cold for me now.

This is a great forum and everyone is extremely helpful. Very positive experience so far.

Thanks,
Twila

Hey Bob,

Welcome to the site. I think the SWing has the perfect amount of engine braking. If you are going down a hill and you notice it start to 'free wheel' you can just give the throttle a slight 'blip' and the engine braking starts up again. I have had many m/c's and also the Reflex (250cc) and the Majesty (400cc) and didn't notice the engine braking like the SWing. I do remember the Majesty having a bit more than the Reflex though.

But I have read many posts on the burgman site of people new to the B650 not liking the amount of engine braking on it. But it seems they got used to it after awhile though. I like the engine braking and it saves on the brakes and is really nice on hills too. I have rode with Burgmans and a couple of times they have asked if my brake lights were working while going down the steep hills. I know I don't use my brakes a lot and just use the engine braking, and I was surprised they asked me. I guess they just didn't use their brakes as much as I did.

I hear the B650 is a tad bit smoother on the interstate but I'm very happy with my SWing. It seems very smooth to me and very comfortable. I would be leary of the tranny issues (on the B650) if I had one, but I would make sure I had the extended warranty also. If you decide to get a SWing one day their first mod is probably the windshield and then I would suggest the Hyperpro front springs. I changed to those springs and it gives the SWing a m/c feel. But welcome to the site and I enjoyed your posts.