Hi from Princeton, MN

I'm a retired truck driver of 36 years and have ridden motorcycles since the 60's.

My first bike was a Ward's Riverside 125 cc that would do about 55 mph down hill with a tail wind. I traded that for a 65 Ducati 350 one lunger that I had for a few years. It sounded like a sewing machine but always started with one kick and ran great. It had the ugliest pea soup green gas tank and leaked a bit of oil but I didn't mind. I could park it anywhere and nobody would touch it because it looked like crap. My next bike was a brand spanking new 77 Yamaha RD 400 two stroke twin. That thing moved!

I went bike less for a few years until a driver at Wonder Bread, where I drove truck also, said he had a 1974 Honda 750 that had been sitting for a couple of years. It was made in Japan to stay in Japan. It had a sticker on the back fender with that Japanese Hieroglyphics that nobody can read and a small one between the speedo and tach with about 8 characters on it. I bought it for $200 and after some TLC and parts got it running. I drove it for several years and took a trip to Pensacola, FL on it with my wife. My son rides it now as I sold it to him about 3 years ago. My wife's health was going down hill and she couldn't ride with me anymore so the enjoyment wasn't there without her on the back. She passed away August 5th 2013 after 47 1/2 years of marriage.

My sister in Pensacola has a 2008 Silver Wing that I'm going down to buy from her this spring. She hasn't ridden it for a couple of years so I will trailer it back to MN and do the TLC thingie with it. I'm figuring tires, battery, clean the fuel system and maybe a new drive belt. I've read some great reviews about the Silver Wing and with Honda's reputation I'm sure it will be a great scooter. The 74 750 is still running like a champ so if this one lives up to that I should be good to go.

Dale N.

   Howdy from Texas. Let's see, the 74 750 is still running forty years later, so the 2008 Silver Wing should be going strong in 2048. I only hope you are still running strong!   

Hi "Hi Yo".

Almost sounded like I stuttered there for a second.

I'm hoping to be around that long too. Time will tell.

My son is going down to FL with me just for the heck of it so at least I'll have company to talk too.

This looks like a very nice site. Lots of info here. I've got to check and see about instructions for putting my drive belt on myself once I get the scooter. I enjoy doing what ever work I can on my equipment. It keeps me busy and out of trouble.

Hey Dale,
Does your sister have the service manual?You'll want one for torque specs,ect...
You can make a varo tool to change the belt now instead of waiting till you get back home .
Big bird has a vid on how to change the belt.

Hi Mudnman, Yes she did but sent it all to me in a package along with other stuff. I've been looking through it also along with this site. Lots of info here. I'm glad I found it.

   

Hello from Seattle! Have a safe trip to pick up your bike.

Dale N.

Welcome to the Forum from another Dale who grew up in North Branch, MN.

Sorry to read of your wife's passing, pray that you heal well from the sorrow, but keep the memories.

Enjoy the Ride.

Hi Everybody,
Thanks for the warm welcome.

Jdeereanton, some days are good and some not so good. I'll hear a song that we both liked and it will either tear me up or make me smile. But it's getting better, if better is the right word to use. I know where North Branch is. I used to work with a guy from there while at American Freight. His name was Bob Hozempa, if I spelled that right. He had a pig farm up there. That was back in the late 70's through Aug. of 88 when American folded.

Hi lalee, Hopefully the trip will go smoothly. My son and I will be switching off on the driving so we should make it down there in about a day, give or take. We'll be stopping for food and fuel and sleep in the back of the pickup while the other one drives. It will almost be like my old sleeper team driving days at American Freight, sort of. Four on, Four off.

Mudnman, I didn't find the video but did find a very nice pdf from JeffR that had some very nice photos and instructions. If JeffR reads this I want to thank him for putting that out. It doesn't look all that hard to do. I'll just have to remember to get the pins/rollers and the wrench at the same time I get the new belt. Unless the belt and pins come together in a kit sort of. Time will tell.

With only about a month and a half to go I'm starting to get a bit excited to make the trip. My sister owes less than a grand on the scooter so that's what it will cost me. She's had a couple of people wanting to buy it but she told them no seeing as I'm coming down to get it. I'll pay it off for her and throw in an extra $500 cash for her sort of as a tip. I know I'm getting it at a very good price so the extra $500 won't be out of line. And it will help her out a bit too. Then I figure on new tires, battery and belt/pins and clean out the fuel system, change the oil and coolant and it should be good to go.

There's a Honda dealer in Cambridge, MN about 1/2 hour away and I'll take the tires off the Swing (I guess I've got to start calling it that seeing as everybody else does) and bring them to Larson's and have them mount the new tires on the rims. I did that with my 74 750 Honda and it went well.

I'll keep updates coming once I get it and upload some pics of it too. Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Dale I live not far from you. I got my new Silverwing from Larson Honda Dealer in Cambridge in 2010 . This summer if you see me on my silverwing stop me and tell me you are Dale N. from the Silverwing forum and I will talk to you . You can tell my silverwing because I run with one GVi top box and two black GVi hard saddle bags on the sides and if I do not have the black side saddle bags on my silverwing  you will see the chrome brackets on the rear sides of the silverwing that the saddle bags mount to . I do not thing you will ever see anyone else around here with a silverwing with hard saddle bags or the chrome brackets for hard saddle bags  on a silverwing due to it is hard to get the mounting brackets that will fit the with out doing Mods to make the brackets fit the silverwing . I rarely ever see a silverwing around here ever . You can see the color from my avatar photo . I drive the silverwing to work every day from Ham Lake to Roseville rain or shine cold or hot and I run a lot on Hwy 65 & 95 & 169 a lot all summer when I am just riding around . I drive the silverwing a lot more then I drive my truck or my car .   Ray.

Dale,

Welcome to the site and hope you enjoy it. And congrats on your new SWing as well. You will find it will take you anywhere you want to go in comfort. And I'm glad you have found my pictorials helpful. When I first bought my SWing I tried to use the manual on how to do basic maintenance and found that it wasn't all that helpful. So I just started to take pics of each step and include notes on what to do. If you plan to change your windshield I have a pictorial on that as well. Just be careful about the fasteners that can fall through very easy.

Again, welcome and are you also going to ride some on the way back from Florida? It would be a great way to get used to your SWing and have fun too. Don't be surprised if you find the SWing about even with a 750cc m/c in performance.

Hi wingmann, I'll look for you this summer. I live just North of 95 on Rum River Drive in Princeton just for info sake. I'll keep updates with how the Swing is going on my service/maintenance. I'll post pictures of it once I get it near running condition.

Hi JeffR, I really liked the pdf on how to change the belt. It will help once I get the Swing.

I'm going to look and see if there's an area where I can post the only photo I have so far of the Swing. My sister is sitting on it but at least you can see what it looks like.

After doing a quick "directions search" on google, that looks like a 2500 to 3000 mile round trip. Very ambitious!!! I wish you a safe trip.           

Hi Hi Yo,
It will be about 3000 miles but we are going down and back in my pickup and pulling a trailer to haul the Swing back to MN. The Swing hasn't run for almost 2 years so I'm not even sure if it will start. My sister says the battery is dead but I can maybe jump it with the pickup to see if it at least turns over. I'm planning on new tires, battery, oil and filter, new belt and rollers/pins, cleaning out the fuel system and changing the coolant. It should keep me busy for a couple of months.

Dale N.   As an ex-trucker (is there such a thing?), I'm sure you know all about tying down your load. If you go to the search box and enter tieing down, you will find some helpful hints specific to the Silver Wing. Especially tie down points. They even have pictures!   

Welcome from New Port Richey, Florida!!! Hate to see a Wing leave Florida but you are going to love it. I have a Voyager Trike kit on mine and run up to Oklahoma and I hope also to Arizona this year.

Good luck...

Magoo Triker