Greetings from Sunny Florida

Hello all! I am just tickled to find this forum. Let me state this right up front

I LOVE MY SILVERWING!!!!!!

I am a female rider - aged 46 - recently located to sunny Florida from Montana. My father raised us with motorcycles. When he rode in his youth, he rode the ol Harley Fat Boys, and helped to found the Charter chapter of the AMA in Montana back in the late 50's.

I was kinda destined to be on a Harley. Never have been though - not one of my own anyway. Never wanted one. Got my "fix" on those from my father. I never liked how much work they required to maintain, oil leaks in the garage, or the noise. I know they say "loud pipes save lives" - all they ever did for me was give me a headache, and try to shake my teeth out of my head. Not my idea of such a good time....

Fast forward 20 years. Now, I have upper body injuries and bad shoulders. My last ride on a Harley left me a hurtin unit.

I recently re-located to Florida last fall - and needed transportation. Initially, I had invested in a Chinese scooter - 150 cc. I rode that thing from Cocoa Beach to Fort Lauderdale - and within a week - had my Honda Silverwing. After that 180 mile ride on the Scooter I knew I needed more power if I wanted to cruise Florida and LIVE. Drivers are insane here - and I did not feel safe on the 150cc. Top speed was maybe 60mph (couldn't tell, as the speedometer was impeded by the rubber ring around it and it didn't move past 35) and I had nothing left at full throttle to evade the crazies with.

Well.....I have loved my Silverwing since the minute I laid eyes on it. Yesterday I rode it to Key West from Fort Lauderdale, and had the time of my life. I kept up just fine on the turnpike, and had LOTS of room for my things to travel with.

LOVE IT! I'll scream it from the top of every Mountain (back in Montana anyways - the only "mountain" here is MT Trashmore - and I refuse to even call that a mountain!)

Hoping to find some Florida riders or a Florida club. It's fun to ride, but more fun with friends!

Hope to hear from some folks!

Hey,

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your SWing. They are really nice bikes and will take you anywhere you want to go. I had a Harley Sportster for about 4 years, back in the '80's, and liked it but it was just too small a frame for me.

The Swing seems to have about the same amount of power and top speed but is so much more comfortable and smooth. We have quite a few riders in Florida so I'm sure you will be able to meet up with others for rides. And if you want to do your own maintenance then go to the "Pictorial" section and you will be able to do that and save a lot of money and not have to put your bike in the shop. Welcome and we are glad you found us.

I started a thread in the riding section

South Florida SWingers

anybody reading my intro - and from S Florida - please pop in there. Let's get some riding goin on!

Hi MamaConnect,

Welcome aboard. Rode a 1959 FLH PanHead for 20 years and sold it...I like the Silverwing better.

My dad actually moved on to a Suzuki in his 40's. Had a spiffy 750 that he only put about 2500 miles on. By the time he moved on to the Suzuki - I think he had just run his course in riding after all the years. Not sure if the Suzuki blew the wind out of his sails - or raising three kids as a widower. Either way - I was very disappointed to see him give it up.

Of all the different bikes I have ridden - I am loving my SWing.

The neighbor across the street just spent 40K on a fancy whiz bang Harley. He looked at me like I was a crazy woman - taking my bike on the turnpike. He thought they didn't do over 50 or 60.

Silly Harley riders......SWings go MUCH faster than that!

He was impressed. I TOLD him it was a 600!

Welcome MamaConnect! I did the harley thing. Now I enjoy passing them with my coffee in hand... I get the best looks!

Hi There!

Hello from the other side of the pond.

Cheers,

Welcome MamaConnect and thank you for inducing a few memories at the mention of Cocoa Beach and Ft Lauderdale.

Enjoy the Wing and I hope you enjoy the forum too.

Liking the forum so far! Just wish we had a club here. Have been informed of other riding clubs, but they are so far away.....

Hoping to get some folks together here to learn more about Florida. Montana resident for 38 years before moving here - Colorado before that.

May have to trailer my bike to MT one day just to cruise the parks. The Fire & Ice tour is AMAZING - and I fear I will miss my bike when I return to MT next week for a few weeks.

I love the freedom of riding......and the wind in my face. I even like the crazy looks I get when they realize "Hey! That's a chick!"

Ba ha ha ha ha

We need more women on the road, IMHO

Will be making another trip to Key West - but plan to make it a 2-3 day trip so I can explore more.

Need to jog back up to Cocoa Beach to see my eldest daughter too.

Welcome Mama
New here myself, spend a lot of time in the panhandle in Panama City Beach. Florida is the place to be if you've ever wintered North of the Mason Dixon line.
This seems like a helpful forum, and since I've had my Silver Wing only 4 days, I need all the help I can get.
Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a service manual to get some questions answered. Probably a good investment.
If you ever ride up to PC, we'll have to go somewhere.

AV-40,

What questions do you have? A manual is good to have but maybe one of us here can answer your question.

Sorry for diverting your post Mama.

Hi JeffR
Thanks for the offer of help.
Just purchased my 2008 Silver Wing a few days ago. Had 1900 miles on it. Wife followed me home and informed that the lights were not that bright. I noticed that the previous owner had installed LED's in the tail/brake light housings, as well as all 4 turn signals.
After some research here on this forum, found out the number of the stock bulbs for tail lights (7443). went to parts house and replaced those, much better now. Still have LED's in the rear turn signals and they are not that bad. What does need replacing are the ones in the front. They are oriented to face upwards out of the bulb socket and therefore do not project forward at all. Would like to replace the forward turn signal bulbs with stock type. Problem is, I don't know the origianl bulb number or how to access the bulb to change it. I did remove the right hand fairing box and can see the bulb socket on that side, but it does not budge when trying to turn either direction with my fingers. As far as the left hand side, I have no clue how to access that one.
Looking into purchasing a service manual with hopes it will cover the info as the owners manual is no help in that regard.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello mama.
welcome, I live in Miami, FL. Sunday...... COFE 27 (4690 U.S. 27, Weston, FL 33332) .close to where you live if you don't know the place to ask any biker ride...

okitoy wrote:

Hello mama.
welcome, I live in Miami, FL. Sunday...... COFE 27 (4690 U.S. 27, Weston, FL 33332) .close to where you live if you don't know the place to ask any biker ride...

Thank you for the tip!

Will do my best to make it over there! I know we will be sailing on Saturday - so Sunday just might work! Weston is pretty darned close to Lauderhill!

Thanks again!

JeffR_ wrote:

AV-40,

What questions do you have? A manual is good to have but maybe one of us here can answer your question.

Sorry for diverting your post Mama.

No worries! I learned something! It's all good

AV-40 wrote:

Welcome Mama
New here myself, spend a lot of time in the panhandle in Panama City Beach. Florida is the place to be if you've ever wintered North of the Mason Dixon line.
This seems like a helpful forum, and since I've had my Silver Wing only 4 days, I need all the help I can get.
Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a service manual to get some questions answered. Probably a good investment.
If you ever ride up to PC, we'll have to go somewhere.

I spent 45 of my past 46 winters N of the Mason Dixon line, and I agree wholeheartedly about FL being the bast place to be in the winter now.

Funny thing is.....the thermometer never bothered me until I spent time in FL - now I go back to MT and freeze my arse off. Such a WUSS now in the cold!

I always thought my daughter was nuts when she regaled me with her tales.....she is in Cocoa Beach and has been for 7 years now.

Headed back to MT to work for a few weeks a week from tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing family and friends. NOT looking forward to cold and mud. Mud season starts in April in MT.....

Getting down to 42 degrees tonight and I'm bustin out my buffalo robe.

Stay warm folks!

Crud....I still have snow tires on my van in MT. Just realized I have to jerk them off by 4/15......

Uuuugh

MamaConnect

Enjoy the forum and the ride. I may be able to ride this weekend if I can get the tupperware back on the bike in time. Did some changing of MODs this winter. Haven't ridden since Dec. 4th. Am getting antzy to get out.

Have a safe trip to Montana.

Back in Montana today after the flight from hell. Ye gads....never had my a** whooped like I did connecting in Houston so danged late. Left FLL at 3:30pm - landed in Spokane at 1am Pacific time (aka 4 am Florida time).

WHOOPED!

At home in Lincoln Montana at my sisters house.

4 boys here I ADORE. I had gotten some armored riding boots in Florida and am very pleased to say - 3 of 4 boys will make good use of them. The darned things fit my feet ok, but not made for a chunky woman's calf, so I could never zip up all the way to fit right.

Good quality leather riding boots too. Happy to see the boys will all be able to use and hand down. They fit Sequoia (the 2nd oldest) perfect. SO please to know Cody and my sweet Merle will be able to use to best advantage. The Honda dirtbikes are all up and running already after winter. Gas tanks are full again - and the boys be ready to RIDE!

Told their Papa "You can train the boys to keep their foot up in these and they won't get bruises!"

He has them run the track and do turns and circles. If they put their foot down he smacks their ankle with a stick. I approve of the method, as it will save their limbs one day. I just hated seeing Skye with the bruising that came with it.

I was taught the same way. Grateful for the training today......and love it when folks chicken neck me at stop lights. I hate to put my feet down and use speed and balance to stay up until I HAVE to put my foot down. On the dirtbike track saw many hauled off in ambulance because they drug a foot and caught it on something and went down. Have never been in that position myself.....Thanks Dad!

Keeping moving and feet up can be an art form.....just how slow can ya go?

Missing my SWing already......will be dirtbikin this weekend though. Hope to haul my boys south to stay one day and see sunny Florida. These are mountain kids.....it will be an adventure.

Keep ridin folks! Catch a few bugs in the teeth for me huh? Drove my van back here from Spokane and missed my SWing all the way.....would SO love to cruise that ride one day!

Wallace Idaho is my favorite place on earth!

Wonder if I can rent one here.......? I'll have to look around.

Stay warm - wherever you are!

Hiedi

MamaConnect wrote:

Hoping to find some Florida riders or a Florida club. It's fun to ride, but more fun with friends! Hope to hear from some folks!

Hey MamaConnect, welcome aboard to this board.

Here's a group down in your neck of the woods that may be worth checking out.

Florida Scooterists

Cheers, ~ sonuvabug ~

Mah SWing



[img]https://i.servimg.com/u/f77/18/22/82/57/2013-012[url=https://servimg.com/view/18228257/4].jpg[/img][/url]

Shot these on the 3rd of April on my way out the door to airport.....

I MISS MY RIDE!!!!!

Side view

Hey Mamaconnect,
Whenever you get a group together for a ride down south I'll hitch along if you'll have me.... I am getting back into riding after about 15 years. So I walked into this honda dealership looking at a nc700 manual thinking this was the bike I'm buying. Then in the back round I see the Silver wing 600.. Since my need for speed days are over with the silver wing suits me fine for now.. I ended up buying a used 2009abs model.... No regrets.. maybe in a few weeks/months a new burgman 650 is what I might be jumping into though... Anyways.. welcome to the forum....